Kashf Al-Asrar Tafsir — Al-Fatihah 1:1 – Al-An'am 6:162

In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.In terms of allusion and in keeping with the tasting of the lords of recognition, the bi of bism [�In the name�] alludes to the �splendor� [bahāÌ] of Unity, the s to the �brilliance� [sanāÌ] of the Self-Suffi- cient, and the m to the �kingship� [mulk] of the Divinity. His splendor is self-standing, His brilliance self-sustaining, and His kingship everlasting. His splendor is eternal, His brilliance generous, His kingship tremendous. His splendor is with majesty, His brilliance with beauty, His kingship without decline. His splendor steals the heart, His brilliance increases love, His kingship has no annihilation.O You whose majesty runs before all that is beauteous!O You whose perfection is far from deficiency's blight!Venus rejoices on hearing Your music,the sun is jealous on seeing Your beauty.B is His kindness [birr] to His servants, s His secret [sirr] with His friends, m His favor [minna] toward His yearners. If not for His kindness, how could the servant make ready for His secret? If not for His favor, how could the servant reach union with Him; how could the servant find a place at the threshold of His majesty? If not for the beginningless affection, how could the servant be endlessly familiar?How could water and clay have the gall to love Youhad You not chosen them with Your beginningless gentleness?Love is Your Essence, O God, this is the friends' belief-remembering Your description, O Lord, dispels the sorrow of the sorrowful! [DS 211]This world is goodly only through His name, the afterworld goodly only through His pardon, and the Garden goodly only through His vision. If not for the message and name of God in this world, how could it be the servant's home? If not for His pardon and generosity in the afterworld, the servant's work would be difficult. If not for the heart-brightening vision of Him in paradise, what would make a poor man happy?One of the pirs of the Tariqah said, �O God, we see through Your marks, we live in Your recogni- tion, we flourish though Your name, we are happy in Your remembrance, we are joyful through finding You. It is we who are drunk with love from Your cup, we who are prey to passion in Your snare.

Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds.This is praise of the lovingly kind God, the Creator who provides daily provisions, the One in name and mark, the Lord who is found without seeking, recognized without being found, loved without being seen. He is powerful without contrivance, self-standing without the changing of states, safe from decline in kingship, transcendent in essence and attribute, without beginning and end, de- scribed by the description of majesty and the attribute of beauty. He saw the servants' incapacity to recognize His measure and He knew that as much as they tried, they would not arrive. As much as they hoped, they would not recognize. The exalted Qur'an gives witness to their incapacity: �They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure� [6:91]. In the perfection of His exaltedness, majesty, and holiness, He made them His deputies in laudation of Him, taught them how to praise Him, and gave them permission to do so. Otherwise, who would dream of saying �Praise belongs to God� if He had not said it Himself? Who in the whole world would have the gall to say, �Praise belongs to God�?Her own face has itself as a moon,her own eye has itself as collyrium.*Who knows You? It is You who know You, You. No one knows You-You alone know You.O worthy of Your own laudation, O giver of thanks for Your own bestowal! In my essence I am incapable of Your service, and with my own intellect I am incapable of recognizing Your favor. In my entire self I am incapable of joy in You, and with my own ability I am incapable of what is worthy for You. O Generous! I am seized by the pain whose cure is You. I am a servant of the laudation that is worthy of You. What do I know of You? You know. You are what You said You are-that is You.Know also that praise is two sorts: one at seeing blessings, the other at seeing the Beneficent. That which is at seeing blessings extols Him, puts His blessings to work through obedience, and girds up the loins in thanking Him so as to increase blessings today and convey to paradise tomor- row. Thus the Prophet said, �The first to be called to the Garden will be those who fully praise God in every state.

The All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.He is the All-Merciful inasmuch as He vivifies, the Ever-Merciful inasmuch as He displays. Thevivification is through acts of kindness, the display through lights.He is the All-Merciful who eases the road of wage-earning, the Ever-Merciful who lights up the candle of friendship in the road of the friends. The wage-earner is always toiling in hope of houris and palaces, the friend is inundated by light in the sea of face-to-face vision.The day I reach union with YouI will disdain the state of the paradise-dwellers.He is the All-Merciful who gives the strivers the success of struggle, and the Ever-Merciful who gives the finders the realization of contemplation. The former is the state of the desirer, the latter the state of the desired. The desirer goes forth with the lamp of success and reaches contemplation, the desired goes forth with the candle of realization and reaches face-to-face vision. Contempla- tion is the lifting of the barriers between the servant and the Real, face-to-face vision seeing each other such that the servant does not become absent for a moment: He gazes at love with the eye of response, he gazes at the Present with the eye of presence, he gazes at the Solitary with the eye of solitude. Through distance from himself he becomes near to His nearness, through losing himself he becomes familiar with His apparentness, through absence from himself he becomes present with His generous presence. For He is not far from the strivers, nor lost by the seekers, nor absent from the desirers.Have mercy on the creatures' hearts and come out from the veil so that the seventy-two creeds may end their disputes.

The owner of the Day of Doom.This alludes to the permanence of the kingship of unity and the subsistence of the all-compel- lingness of the divinity. In other words, the day of every king's empire ends and disappears, his kingship finishes, and his state changes. But God's kingship is permanent, today and tomorrow, for it never comes to an end or disappears. In the two worlds nothing and no one is outside of His kingship and ruling power. No one has a kingship like His kingship. Today He is the Lord of the Worlds and tomorrow the Owner of the Day of Doom, and none of the creatures is like this.How wonderful! How can the servant do anything? For in the two worlds, ownership and kingship are God's, without associate, partner, requirement, or need. So where is the servant's choice? He who has no ownership has no ruling power. And thy Lord creates what He wants and chooses. They have no choice [28:68].It has been said that doom here is reckoning and reward. He is saying, �The owner and care- taker of calling the servants to account am I.� Thus no one else will become aware of the servants' defects, lest they be shamed. Even though calling to account is itself to drive home severity, not lifting the veil during the accounting is nothing but generosity. He wants to show generosity after He drives home severity. This is the custom of God: Whenever he strikes a blow of severity, He places on it the balm of generosity.The Pir of the Tariqah said, �Tomorrow at the standing place of calling to account, if I have anything and there is place to speak, I will say, 'Lord God, of the three things that I have, look at one of them: First, a prostration that has never wanted anything but a heart for You; second, an assent such that whatever You said, I said was true; third, a spirit and heart that have never wanted anything but You ever since the wind of generosity rose up.'�I have no wish but serving Your face- I want no breath without You.

Thee alone we worship, and Thee alone we ask for help.This alludes to two of the religion's great pillars, around which revolves the traveling of the re-ligious. The first is to adorn the soul through worship and self-purification. It is to keep oneself adorned with a worship that has no eye-service and an obedience that has no hypocrisy. The other is to purify the soul of associating others with God and of paying attention to power and strength. It is to purify one's own soul, to keep it cleansed of associationism and corruption, and not to depend on one's own power and strength.�Adornment� alludes to everything in the Shariah that ought to be, and �purification� alludes to everything in the Shariah that ought not to be.Look carefully at these two short words: When someone's heart has familiarity and bright- ness, he will understand from them all the laws of the religion. The words of MuṣṬafā will be veri- fied for you: �I was given the all-comprehensive words and my speech was made very concise.�Thee alone we worship. It has been said that this is sheer tawḤīd, and that it is the belief that nothing other than God is worthy of worship. The worshiper knows that lordhood is fitting for God and that He is an object of worship without peer, for He is unique and one.And Thee alone we ask for help. This is an allusion to the recognition of the recognizers. It is recognizing that He is solitary in all acts and that the servant cannot get along by himself without His help. The root of this tawḤīd and the basis of this recognition is that you recognize the Real's being and oneness; then His ability, knowledge, and loving kindness; then His beautiful doing, friendship, and nearness. The first is the foundation of the submission, the second the foundation of faith, the third the foundation of self-purification.The road of the first recognition is to see the governance of the Artisan in loosening and ty- ing the artifacts. The road of the second recognition is to see the wisdom of the Artisan in oneself and to recognize the correspondences. The road of the third recognition is to see the gentleness of the Patron in doing deeds and putting aside sins.

Guide us on the straight path.This is the wellspring of worship and the marrow of obedience. It is the supplication, asking, pleading, and imploring of the faithful. It is seeking straightness and firm fixity in the religion. It means: �Lead us to this path, make us travel upon it, and make us firm in it.�The faithful are saying, �O God, show us Your road, then make us go forth on the road, then take us from traveling to being pulled.� These are the three great roots: first showing, then travel- ing, then being pulled.Showing is what the Exalted Lord says in �He it is who shows you His signs� [40:13]. Travel- ing is what He says in �You shall surely ride stage after stage� [84:19]. Being pulled is what He says in �We brought him near as a confidant� [19:52].MuṣṬafā asked God for showing. He said, �O God, show us things as they are.� About travel- ing he said, �Travel! The solitary will be the preceders.� About being pulled he said, �One attrac- tion of the Real is equivalent to all the deeds of jinn and men.�In this verse, the faithful ask for all three of these from God, for not everyone who sees the road travels the road, and not everyone who travels the road reaches the destination. Many there are who hear but do not see, many there are who see but do not recognize, and many there are who recognize but do not find.Many a prayerful shaykh has fallen from his steed!Many a tavern-goer has saddled up a lion! [DS 110]Concerning His words, �Guide us,� it has been said, �Cut off our secret cores from witnessing the others, display in our hearts the dawning lights, isolate our intentions from the defilement of traces, take us beyond the way stations of seeking and inference to the courtyards of proximity and union, prevent us from taking repose in likenesses and shapes by treating us with the gentleness of finding union, and unveil to us thereby the witnessing of majesty and beauty.�

The path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not of those who incur wrath, nor of the misguided.It has been said that this is the road and traveling of the Companions of the Cave. The faithful want to say, �O Lord, complete for us our road without us, just as You were bountiful toward the Companions of the Cave and placed Your caress upon them. You placed them on the cushion of intimacy and You Yourself undertook to pull them. You said, 'Go into this cave and sleep well, for We have taken your sleep to be as the worship of the world's folk.' O Lord, give us a portion of that blessing and caress! Just as You with Your bounty completed their work without them, so also with Your bounty complete our work without us. For, whatever we do is to our loss, and whatever You do is the foundation of exaltedness in the two worlds.�The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O God, we cannot complete this work without You, nor do we have the gall to complete it away from You. Whenever we fancy we have arrived, we fall back in the bewilderment of our account. O Lord, where will we find again that day when You belonged to us and we were not? Until we reach that day again, we will be in the midst fire and smoke. If we find that day again in the two worlds, we will profit. If we find Your being for ourselves, we will be pleased with our own nonbeing.�It has also been said, �Those whom Thou hast blessed with the submission and the Sunnah.� He tied the submission and the Sunnah together because, as long as the two are not joined, the ser- vant will not have the straightness of the religion. It is mentioned in the traditions that Shāfiʿī said, �I saw the Real in a dream. He said to me, 'Ask a favor of me, O son of Idrīs!' I said, 'Make me die in the submission.' God said, 'Say, �And in the Sunnah.� Ask for both from Me.'�This is because there is no submission without the Sunnah, and whatever is with the Sunnah is the true religion. Hence MuṣṬafā said, �There are no words without deeds, no words and deeds without intention, and no words, deeds, and intention without hitting the mark in the Sunnah.

Alif lām mīm.Addressing one another with individual letters is one of the customs of lovers in their love. These are the lovers' secrets with each other so that no one watching will be aware.Between them lovers have a secret not disclosedby word, nor does creation have a pen to record it.*Of the sort of hidden message that He gavenot one will be given up for a hundred thousand lives.In the scroll of friendship there is the imprint of a script whose interpretation none but the passion- ate read. In the secluded cell of friendship, there is mystery between friends whose murmur none but the recognizers know. In the picture-gallery of friendship there is a color of colorlessness that none but the enraptured have the eyes to see.If you want to see the beauty of the beloved's face,blind the eyes of your head and look with the eye of your intellect! [DS 495]Though Moses heard a thousand words in a thousand languages, this mystery was given over to MuḤammad in the seclusion of Or closer [53:9] on the carpet of expansiveness: �Alif.�I said to her, �Halt [qifī].� She said, �qāf.�Those thousands of words came to Moses, but the veil stayed in place. This mystery came to MuḤammad at the moment of face-to-face vision. Moses heard the words but did not see the Speaker, MuḤammad heard the mystery while gazing on the Keeper of the Mystery. Moses in seeking was delighted with the seeking; MuḤammad in the Presence was delighted with the Friend. Moses had not found the pleasure of contemplation, so he did not know its taste. He had not gone beyond listening and remembering; his repose was in hearing, which is why He spoke so much to him. But MuḤammad had gone beyond the limit of hearing to the center point of togetherness. The jealousy of the Remembered did not leave him in the remembrance and the wave of light lifted him up from love, so remembrance became lost in the Remembered and love in the Light. The spirit was lost in face-to-face vision, and face-to-face vision is far from explication. When a heart finds delight in His grasp and is inundated by face-to-face vision, what will it do with reports? When the spirit rests in the embrace, why should it busy itself with much remembrance?For him who must have face-to-face vision, reports are the bane.

This is the writing in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the godwary.It has been said that This is the writing is an allusion to what God has written against Himself for MuḤammad's community: �Surely My mercy takes precedence over My wrath.� God does that in His words, �Your Lord has written mercy against Himself� [6:54]. It has also been said that it is an allusion to the faith and recognition that God has written upon the hearts of the believers. Thus He says, �He wrote faith in their hearts� [58:22].In this verse, it is as if God is saying, �My servant, I have written the imprint of faith in your heart, I have mixed in the perfume of friendship, I have decorated paradise for you, I have adornedyour heart with the light of recognition, I have lit up the candle of union with Me, I have stamped the seal of love on your heart, and I have written the inscription of passion in your awareness.��He wrote faith in their hearts: I wrote in the Tablet, but I wrote only your description. I wrote in your hearts, but I wrote only My description. I wrote your description in the Tablet, and I showed it to Gabriel. I wrote My description in your heart-how could I have shown it to an enemy? In the Tablet I wrote your loyalty and disloyalty; in your heart I wrote laudation and rec- ognition. What I wrote about you has not changed. How could what I wrote about Myself change? Moses carved out a stone from the mountain, and, when I wrote the Torah therein, the stone turned into emerald. The recognizer's heart was made of harsh stone-when I wrote My name therein, it turned into a notebook of exaltedness.�A guidance for the godwary. In another place, He said, �It is a guidance and a healing for those who have faith� [41:44]. He is saying that this Qur'an is guidance for the godwary, heal- ing for the faithful, the cause of familiarity, assistance for clarity, a key for the ears, a mirror for the eyes, a lamp for hearts, a healing for pain, a light for the eyes of the familiar, springtime for the spirits of the friends, admonition for the fearful, mercy for the faithful.

Those who have faith in the Unseen and perform the prayer and spend of what We have provided them.They love God without having seen Him. They attest to His uniqueness and they believe in His oneness in Essence and attributes. They hold firm to His Messenger without having seen him, they accept his messengerhood, and they walk straight on the road of his Sunnah. After five hundred years of blackness on whiteness, they accept him with spirit and heart. The message he conveyed, the reports he gave of the World of Dominion, the Lote Tree of the Final End, the Gardens of the Refuge, the Throne of the Patron, the outcome of this world-they bear witness to its truth andthey believe in all of it. They are the ones whom MuṣṬafā called his brothers: �Oh, the yearning to encounter my brothers!�And perform the prayer. They do the prayer such that you would say they are gazing on God and whispering secretly with Him, confirming the truth of the Prophet's words, �Worship God as if you see Him, for if you do not see Him, surely He sees you.� He also said, �When the servant stands for the prayer, he is before the eyes of the All-Merciful. When he looks around, God says, 'Child of Adam! At whom are you looking? Are you looking at someone better for you than I? Child of Adam! Look at Me, for I am better for you than the one at whom you are looking.'�Strive at the time you come to the prayer to keep your thoughts in the prayer and to turn your heart away from the bazaar. Have courtesy, turn your heart away from blessings, and know the worth of whispering secretly with the Patron of Blessings. For it is person of low aspiration and meanness who finds secret whispering with the Patron of Blessings and then busies his heart with the blessings.And spend of what We have provided them. He adds to the attributes of the godwary, saying that the caresses He has placed upon them and the blessings He has given them-they undertake to show gratitude for these blessings and, by the command of the Shariah, they caress the poor, give comfort to them, and consider them the Real's deputies in receiving charity.

And those who have faith in what has been sent down to thee and what was sent down before thee and who are certain of the next world.This verse is also the attribute of the godwary and the affirmation of their faith in the Qur'an as well as in all the messages and marks that came down from heaven on the tongue of the prophets. The Lord of the Worlds praises them and approves of them because of that, and He accepts their faith.Every eminence and nobility possessed by past communities He gave to them and added to it, and every burden and hardship they had He lifted away from them. Those had longer days of practice, but this community has more reward for obedience. Those had a moment for repentance, but then the punishment of the Hour, but this community's opportunity for repentance of sins extends to the moment of death, and punishment belongs to the Will.Then too the Lord of the Worlds laid a favor on MuṣṬafā and said, �Thou wast not on the side of the Mount when We called out� [28:46]. O paragon, you were not present on that corner of the Mount when We were speaking of you to Moses and talking about your community.�Moses said, �Lord God, in the Torah I read the mention of a community extremely adorned, refined, and approved. They have beautiful conduct and flourishing secret cores. Who are they?�God said, �That is the community of MuḤammad.�Moses began to yearn for this community and said, �Lord God, is there any way You can show them to me?�He said, �No, for it is not the moment for them to come out. If you want, I will convey their voices to your ears.� Then God Himself let out a call in the world, �O community of MuḤammad!� Everyone who would be his community until the coming of the Hour said, �Here I am, obeying Thee!� Since He called them out, He did not send them back without a gift. He said, �I bestowed upon you before you asked from Me, and I forgave you before you asked Me to forgive you.� It is not surprising that God called out to Moses after he had come into existence and received the eminence of prophethood and messengership and whispered prayer at the edge of the Mount.

Those are upon a guidance from their Lord.Here you have the great triumph and the worthy praise. Here you have good fortune without end and generous bounty without limit. He has opened up the door of perspicacity for them and put into effect the gaze of solicitude inside their hearts. He has lit up the lamp of guidance in their hearts so that what is unseen for others is apparent to them. What for others is a report is for them face-to-face vision. Anas ibn Mālik said that he went before ʿUthmān ʿAffān, having seen in the road a woman and considered her beautiful traits. ʿUthmān said, �One of you who has entered in upon me has the traces of adultery appearing in his eyes.�Anas said, �Is there revelation after God's Messenger?�He said, �No, but there is insight, proof, and truthful perspicacity. The Prophet said, 'Be wary of the perspicacity of the man of faith, for he gazes with the light of God.'�A pir was asked what perspicacity is. He answered, �Spirits that move about in the Dominion gazing on the meanings of the unseen things. Then they speak about the secrets of the Real with the speech of contemplation, not the speech of opinion and reckoning.� In this meaning someone sang,May I be a ransom for the men dwelling in the Unseen, their secret cores roaming in all that is there!In the Unseen their secret cores crave from the Reala locus of witnessing to which the people have no access.They encounter the holy spirit in their secret cores and in meaning they remain dwelling with it.They are men who have proximity and presence in the Unseen, while their souls have been slain by their finding.Sarī SaqaṬī was Junayd's master. One day he said to Junayd, �Speak to the people and give them advice, for it is time for you to speak.�Junayd said, �I did not see myself like that and saw no worthiness in myself. Then one night I saw MuṣṬafā in a dream, and it was the night before Friday. He said to me, 'Speak to the people!' That same night I got up and before morning went to the door of Sarī. I knocked at the door, and Sarī said, 'You will not assent to me before they tell you to do so?'�The next day Junayd sat in the congregational mosque and news spread in the city that he was going to speak.

Surely it is the same for those who disbelieve whether thou warnest them or thou warnest them not; they will not have faith.From the beginning of the surah to this point is an allusion to the Lord's bounty and gentleness with familiars and friends. This verse alludes to His severity and justice toward the strangers and enemies.God has both bounty and justice. If He acts with justice, that is fitting, and if He is bounteous, that is suitable for Him. But not everything that is fitting in justice is suitable for bounty, whereas everything suitable for bounty is fitting for justice. He calls one to bounty, and the decree is His. He drives another to justice, and the will is His. What is good is that bounty rules over justice, and justice is caught in bounty's hand. Justice is silent before bounty, and the ring of union is in bounty's ear. Do you not see that justice travels along with Him, and happy is he whose refuge is bounty? The fruit of bounty is felicity and triumph, and the result of justice is wretchedness and estrangement. Both are deeds already done. �The Pen has dried on what will be until the Day of Resurrection.� It is a beginningless decree and a work discarded and finished. �When someone's lot has set him down, his eagerness will not stir him up.�The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O God, what will come of what You do not want? And when will he come whom you have not called? What does the unplanted get from water? What answer is given to the unworthy? What use to the bitter that sweet water is its neighbor? What gain to the thorn that the rose's fragrance is next to it? The apportioning has gone before, nothing to be added or taken away. What can be done? The Greatest Judge wants it this way. Satan lived in the highest horizon and performed thousands of acts of worship. What profit did it have, for he was not worthy. 'Since approval and wrath are beginningless attributes, there is no profit in shortened sleeves and determined steps.'�One day ʿUmar KhaṬṬāb came across Iblis. He seized him by the collar and said, �I have been seeking you for a long time.

God has sealed their hearts.The seal of estrangement was placed on someone's heart, and he remained in unbelief. The seal of perplexity was placed on another's heart, and he remained in lassitude. That one was a stranger, driven away, the road lost, and this one was helpless, stuck in the road, kept back from the Friend by other than the Friend.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]Not everyone who escapes from unbelief joins with the Real, unless he has escaped from himself. Someone who escapes from unbelief reaches familiarity, but someone who escapes from himself reaches friendship. A thousand way stations stand between familiarity and friendship, and a thou- sand valleys between love and the Friend.In love for You I have never arrived at a way stationin which the mind was not bewildered at the arrival.

Among the people are those who say, �We have faith in God.�This is the story of the hypocrites. The secret of the hypocrites' hypocrisy goes back to the emi- nence of MuṣṬafā in two respects, one in respect of jealousy and the other in respect of mercy.MuṣṬafā was the Real's beloved. His beauty and perfection passed beyond the limits of un- derstanding and imagination, so by virtue of jealousy God kept him behind the curtain of His protection and made the hypocrites' hypocrisy the mask of his beauty. He was veiled from the world's folk so that no one recognized him in reality, and He did not show him to anyone as he was. Thou seest them looking at thee, but they do not see [7:198]. If the hypocrites' hypocrisy had not been the mask of that shining face, all the creatures would have thrown dust on the light of the Unseen. With such a sun, such a light, and such a brilliance, a hypocrisy was needed such as that of ʿAbdallāh Ubayy Salūl and his likes. Otherwise, the radiance of that beauty would have done more to the Adamites than the beauty of Jesus did to his people such that they said, �The Messiah is the son of God� [9:30].This can be said with a simile: The sun's disk, whose rays shine forth from the fourth heaven, has turned its face toward the fifth heaven. God created angels and entrusted that disk to them, and He created deserts full of snow in front of those angels. They lift mountain after mountain of snow from those deserts and dash them against the sun's disk so that its heat will be broken. Oth- erwise, the world would burn because of its shine and heat. In the same way, the hypocrisy of the hypocrites was thrown against the presence of that sun of good fortune. Otherwise, the creatures would all have bound the belt of associationism. But, that paragon of the world was all gentleness and mercy, as he said: �I am a guided mercy.� God says, �We sent thee only as a mercy to the worlds� [21:107].

And when it is said to them, �Have faith as the people have faith,� they say, �Shall we have faith as fools have faith?� Surely it is they who are the fools, but they do not know.O generous Lord, O renowned, wise Enactor! O You who are true in promise, pure in justice, com- plete in bounty, and eternal in love! Whatever You want You show, and as You want, You adorn. Each has a name, and in the heart of each is Your mark. The stamp of worthiness is upon some people, and the brand of unworthiness on others. The worthy are brought by the road of bounty on the steed of approval with the escort of gentleness in the time of generous bestowal at the turn of proximity. The unworthy are driven into the street of justice on the steed of wrath with the escortof abandonment at the turn of deprivation. This deprivation and that proximity did not come from water or dust, for on the day when the two were written out, there was neither water nor dust. There was beginningless bounty and gentleness and everlasting severity and justice. That was the portion of the self-purifiers and this the portion of the hypocrites.The Pir of the Tariqah said, �Alas for the apportioning that has gone before me! Alack for the words spoken by the Self-Seer! What profit if I am happy or distraught? I fear what the Powerful said in the Beginningless.�The hypocrites, who had fallen under the garment of justice, approved of themselves and deemed themselves to have a good name. The purifiers, the truthful, and the Messenger's Com- panions they called �fools.� The Lord of the Worlds in His generosity acted as their deputy in this and answered them: �Those are not the fools, the fools are those who call them fools.� Indeed, when someone does not belong to himself, God belongs to him. When someone tightens his belt in obeying God's commands, God joins with him. �When someone belongs to God, God belongs to him.�The unbelievers said to MuṣṬafā, �You are possessed: O thou unto whom the Remembrance has been sent down, surely thou art possessed [15:6].� God said to MuḤammad, �They call you mad, but you are not mad: Thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, possessed [68:2]. You are My friend, approved of by Me. What harm will come to you if they do not approve of you? What you must have is that I approve of you. The friend must be approved of by a friend, not by the city.�

He who made for you the earth a carpet and the heaven a building, and who sent down from heaven water by which He brought forth fruits for you as provision. So do not set up peers for God knowingly.The wonders of power and the marvels of wisdom in earth and heaven are evidence of a Lord and Creator and witness to His oneness, knowledge, and ability. He placed those seven green domes upon the wind, one on top of one another, without pillar or joint, as a mark of His power. He placed these seven dust-colored hills on top of the water as a clarification of His wisdom. About the one He says, [�We set in heaven constellations] and We adorned them for the gazers� [15:16] and about the other He says, [�And earth,] We laid it out-what excellent spreaders!� [51:48].Look then at this likeness: two doves, one black and one white, which have come forth within the space of the blue dome. On the wings of one is Then We effaced the sign of the night [17:12], and on the wings of the other We made the sign of the day, giving sight [17:12]. The black was born of the white, and the white appeared from the black: He rolls up the night in the day, and He rolls up the day in the night [39:5]. He makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night [22:61]. How pure and faultless is the God who brought forth the brightness of day from the pitch black night and made the darkness of the pitch black night appear from the brightness of day! More wondrous than this is that He placed the brightness of knowing in the center point of the black blood of the heart and the brightness of seeing in the center point of the eye's pupil. Thus will you know that He is the perfectly powerful, the bountiful and bounteous bestower.This bright day is the mark of the compact of good fortune, and this dark night is the likeness of the days of tribulation. He is saying, �O you who have the good fortune of ease in the day's brightness, do not feel secure, for the darkness of tribulation's night is upon its tracks.

If you are in doubt about what We have sent down on Our servant, then bring a surah the like of it.The previous verse was an affirmation of tawḤīd, an argument against the Arab associaters. This verse is an affirmation of prophecy, an argument against the Folk of the Book and the Dhimma. The formula of the Shahadah comprises two sides: the affirmation of tawḤīd and the affirmation of prophecy. As long as the servant does not acknowledge and believe in both and does not act as demanded by both, he has not entered into the circle of the submission.Affirming prophecy is to know that MuṣṬafā is the chosen of the Real and the best of creatures. You accept his prophecy with spirit and heart. You take his words, deeds, customs, and conduct as your leader and guide. You know in reality that his words are the revelation of the Real, his expla- nation the road of the Real, his decree the religion of the Real, and his utterances and conveyance of the message in the state of life and death the argument of the Real. Adam was still inside the curtain of water and clay when the secret of MuḤammad's created disposition had bound its waist before the Exalted Threshold and the gaze of the Real's gentleness had reached his spirit. This is alluded to in his words, �I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay.�Then bring a surah the like of it. This spreads the carpet of the Qur'an's exaltedness from the folds of its holiness. Thus the non-privy will place the hand of rejection on their breasts and He may remove the mask of its beauty for those burnt by passion.Then you will see the unmasked beauty of the Qur'an's face-when it shows its face, speak with the tongue of remembrance. [DS 495]

And give good news to those who have faith.This verse is a caress for the friends, giving them hope for everlasting largesse and bliss, and an en- couragement to the faithful, inciting them to obey and to seek increase of blessings. The previous verse warns the strangers against confusion in the heart and associationism on the tongue, and it threatens with the fire of punishment and the harshness of being cut off from the Real. The person of faith is he who becomes frightened and without ease when he hears the first verse and thinks about the chastisement of hell. He becomes happy when he hears the second verse, he makes his heart fast and his hope strong, and he brings ease into his heart. The Lord of the Worlds praises both the frightened and the one at ease. Concerning the frightened He says, �The faithful are only those whose hearts quake when God is remembered� [8:2]. Concerning the one at ease He says, �Those who have faith and whose hearts are serene in the remembrance of God� [13:28]. The custom of the Generous Lord is that whenever He sends a verse of fear with which He frightens the servants, after it He sends down a verse of hope and mercy to give ease to their hearts so that they will not despair.And give good news to those who have faith. Let there be good news for all those who are today in the playing field of service, for tomorrow they will be in the assembly of repose and ease [56:89]. Not everyone who reaches the paradise of approval will reach the generous gift of repose and ease. The paradise of approval is the furthest limit of the pleasure of the worshipful servants,and repose and ease is the kiblah of the spirits of the lovers. The paradise of approval is the High Chambers and the Abode of Peace. Repose and ease in the Presence of At-ness is the gift for the spirit of the passionate. Everyone who watches over his actions will reach the paradise of ap- proval; everyone who watches over his breaths will reach repose and ease.Who can explain this repose and ease and how can it be given expression!? When something does not come to the tongue, how can it be explained? A wind begins to blow from the World of the Unseen that is called �the wind of bounty.

How do you disbelieve in God, seeing that you were dead, and He brought you to life. Then He shall make you dead, then He shall bring you to life.By way of allusion He is saying, " O you who have lost the end of your own thread! O you who have fallen into the well of your own mortal nature! If you want the road clearer than this, why do you not go forward? If you want the field wider than this, why do you not mount up? If you want the candle brighter than this, why are you falling off the path? O you over whom so many years have passed and you have still not caught a scent! O you who have sat at so many tables and are still hungry! O you who have worn a thousand clothes and are still naked! O Muslim! The playing field is open, where are the mounted riders? The tribunal is open, where are the plaintiffs? The physician is present, where are the ill? The beauty is unveiled, where are the passionate? "You were dead, and He brought you to life. " You were dead, but I brought you to life. Why do you not look? You were ignorant, but I made you knowers. Why do you not perceive? I showed you the road, why do you not go? "It wants a man to catch the scent-otherwise, the world is full of the east wind's fragrance.The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, how can the servant overcome the beginningless decree? When he does not have, what can he do? What is the servant's effort? The work is done by what You want. How can the servant save himself with his own effort? "Then He shall make you dead, then He shall bring you to life. It is said that death is of three sorts: death by the curse, death by regret, and death by generous gift. Death by the curse belongs to the disbelievers, death by regret to the disobedient, and death by generous gift to the godwary.Life also is of three sorts: first the life of fear, then the life of hope, then the life of love. The life of fear appears in kindness, the life of hope appears in service, and the life of love appears in remembrance.

He it is who created for you all that is in the earth, then He went up to heaven and propor- tioned it as seven heavens, and He is knower of everything.In another place He said, �He subjected to you whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, all together, from Him� [45:13]. He is saying, �I created everything in the empire of the earth for you and subjected it to you. My bestowal is not tiny, My generosity toward those who are burnt for Me is not trivial. There will never be any backsliding in My caressing you. Nor is it as if I limited Myself to the empire of the earth, for I also set up the heavens for your gaze, for the pleasure of your eyes, and as a storehouse for your daily provision. My servant! When you step into the street of My covenant, you do not know what good news reaches the heaven-dwellers and the earth-dwellers and how they congratulate each other. I know, for I know everything and reach everyone.� And He is knower of everything.In this verse there is a subtle point. He did not say, �Who created you for all that is in the earth.� He said, �Who created for you all that is in the earth.� In other words, �I created every- thing that is in the empire of the earth and the heavens for your sake, and I created you for My sake.� Do you not see that He said specifically to Moses, �I chose thee for Myself� [20:41], and generally to the creatures, �I created the jinn and mankind only to worship Me� [51:56]? It was MuṣṬafā who understood the worth of this declaration and gave thanks for this one of His blessings. On the night of proximity and generosity when he was taken to the heavens, all of creation and the empires of the two worlds were scatted at the feet of his truthfulness. That paragon did not look at it from the corner of his eye. He said, �I was not created for this.� The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]. Hail to him!Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī, who beautifully traveled in the road of MuṣṬafā's Sunnah and beautifully observed courtesy toward the Presence, said, �I kept on crossing perils until I found the empires.

And when thy Lord said to the angels, �Surely I am setting in the earth a vicegerent,� they said, �What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there, and shed blood, while we glorify Thy praise and call Thee holy?� He said, �Surely I know what you do not know.�There was a world at ease. No heart burned with passion and no breast was deluded by mad fervor. Then the ocean of mercy began to boil. The treasuries of obedient deeds were full, and no dust oflassitude had settled on the foreheads of the obedient in their obedience. The banner of their boast- ful claim, �We glorify Thy praise,� was raised to Capella.All those in the cosmos who had any subtle substance began craving for their own selves. The majestic Throne was looking at its own tremendousness and saying, �Perhaps the script of these words is written for me.� The Footstool was looking at its own amplitude-�Perhaps this sermon is being read in my name.� The eight paradises gazed on their own beauty-�Maybe this rulership will be given to us.� None wanted anything to do with dust. Each fell into delusion, each caught by mad fervor.Suddenly, from the Presence of Exaltation and Majesty, this report was given to the world of the angels: �Surely I am setting in the earth a vicegerent.� It was not that He was consulting with the angels. Rather, He was laying the foundation of Adam's exaltation and tremendousness. He was not asking for help, but spreading the carpet of Adam's dignity. He was saying, �The ruling property of My severity has acted. I have commanded the pen of generosity to write out an inscription from the beginning of the world's ledger to its end. This resolution is written for the inhabitants of both worlds, from the top of the Throne to the bottom of the Carpet: 'The dust-dwelling Adam is granted chieftainship over all the empires. His exalted breast will be bright with the light of recognition. In him the subtleties of My generosity and the artifacts of My bounteousness will become apparent.'�This exalted declaration caused the hearts of the proximate angels to quake with awe. They said, �What is this all about? He has not yet been created.�The exalted Qur'an was beating the drum of his vicegerency at the threshold of his beauty even though he had not yet entered into the bonds of creation.

And when We said to the angels, �Prostrate yourselves before Adam!�Majestic and all-compelling is the God of the world and the world's folk, the Enactor, the renowned knower of the hidden, the eternal in beautiful doing and tremendous in rank, never ignorant of what He knows, never regretful for what He bestows, never at a loss over what He has done. He is a Lord who adorns what He disapproves for some and makes ugly what He approves for others. He created the despairing Iblis from fire, gave him a place in the Lote Tree of the Final End, and sent the proximate angels of the Presence to seek knowledge from him. Despite such distinction and level, He wrote out the inscription of wretchedness for him and bound his waist with the sash of the curse. He pulled Adam up from dark dust, made the Higher Plenum the bearers of his throne, clothed him in the cape of exaltedness, placed the crown of generosity on his head, and said to the proximate angels of the Presence, �Prostrate yourselves before Adam!�It has come in the traditions that Adam was placed on a throne that had seven hundred legs, the distance of one leg to another a seven-hundred year journey. The command came: �O Gabriel, O Michael, you chiefs of the angels! Lift up Adam's throne and carry it around the heavens so that his eminence and rank may be known to those who said, 'What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption therein, and shed blood?'� [2:30].Then they placed that throne before the Majestic Throne. The command came to the angels, �All of you go to Adam's throne and prostrate yourself before Adam.� The angels came and gazed upon Adam, and they all became drunk with his beauty.A face adorned by the God of heavenhas no need for a hairdresser's touch.They saw a beauty without end, the crown of �He created Adam in His form� on his head, the garbof �I have blown into him of My spirit� [15:29] on his body, the embroidery of the solicitude of �He loves them, and they love Him� [5:54] on the sleeve of his sinlessness.Though we're strangers and our hearts are upset, we're serving-boys of that world-adorning face.

Dwell thou and thy spouse in the Garden!It has been said that once Iblis met Adam and said, �Know that you have been given a white face and I a black face. Do not be deluded, for our likeness is that of an almond tree planted by a gar- dener. The tree bears fruit, and the fruit is taken to a grocery shop. Some of it is sold to a customer who is a happy man, and some to a customer who is afflicted. The afflicted man blackens the face of the almonds and scatters them on the casket of his dead one. The happy man mixes them with sugar and distributes them with their white faces in his happiness. O Adam! I am the black al- monds scattered over caskets, and the almonds distributed by happiness are the work of your good fortune. But you should know that the gardener is one, and we have drunk water from the same stream. If someone should fall to the work of roses, he will smell roses, and if someone should fall into the gardener's thorns, his eyes will be struck by them.�I said, �In my passion I will be like Your hair, always before Your face.�I thought wrongly and fell far away-I'll be the slaveboy of Your street's watchman.Dhu'l-Nūn Miṣrī said, �I was in the desert and saw Iblis, who had not lifted his head from prostra- tion in forty days. I said, 'Poor wretch, after disownment and the curse, what is all this worship?' �He said, 'O Dhu'l-Nūn, though I have been dismissed from servanthood, He has not beendismissed from lordhood.'�O lovely one, my times and yours are in turmoil, talk of us has filled my city and yours.Union was apportioned in the beginningless,and now separation has come and the talk is of you and me.Sahl ibn ʿAbdallāh Tustarī said, �One day I came across Iblis. I said, 'I seek refuge in God from you.'�He said, 'O Sahl, if you are seeking refuge in God from me, I am seeking refuge in God from God. O Sahl, if you say that you are seeking help against the hand of Iblis, I say that I am seeking help against the hand of the All-Merciful.

Then Satan made them slip therefrom.Look at this wonder: First He caressed the servant and put all his little jobs in order, then He sent him into tumult and overthrew what He had done for him, and then He rebuked him.The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O God, You show your friends to the enemies and You turn the poor ones over to heartache and grief. You make them ill, and then You take care of them Your- self. You make them helpless, and then You heal them Yourself.�You made Adam out of dust, and then You acted so beautifully toward him. You placed his happiness at the top of the ledger and made him the guest in paradise. You sat him in the garden of approval, You made a compact with him not to eat the wheat, and in Your unseen knowledge You hid the fact that he would in fact eat the wheat. Then You put him in prison, and You made him weep for years. Your all-compellingness does the work of compellers, Your lordhood does the work of lords. All of Your rebukes and war are aimed at Your friends.�The Pir of the Tariqah was asked, �What do you say: Was Adam more complete in this world or in paradise?�He said, �He was more complete in this world, for in paradise he fell into suspicion because of himself, but in this world he fell into suspicion because of passion.�The Pir of the Tariqah said, �Take care not to have the opinion that Adam was taken out of paradise because of his lowliness. It was not that. Rather, it was because of the grandeur of his aspiration. The petitioner of passion came to the door of Adam's breast and said, 'O Adam, the beauty of meaning has been unveiled, but you have stayed in the abode of peace.' Adam saw an infinite beauty, next to which the beauty of the eight paradises was nothing. His great aspiration tightened its belt and said: 'If you ever want to fall in love, you must fall in love with that.'�If there's no escape from feeding passion to the spirit I'll suffer passion's grief for the likes of You.The command came, �Adam, now that you have stepped into the street of passion, leave paradise, for it is the house of ease.

Then Adam received from his Lord some words.Then He spoke with the lid on, not letting out the details, lest the secrets of love fall into the open and so that love's story would stay concealed.I said to her, �Halt [qifī].� She said, �Qāf.�She did not say, �I have halted,� thereby keeping the secret from the watchers. Nor did she say, �I will not halt,� thereby showing consideration for the lover's heart.3Although the tongue of commentary does not speak of it, the folk of allusion say that it is likely that at the moment of farewell lovers say, �'When you depart from me, do not forget my covenant. Even if awareness of me dwindles one day, do not prefer another over me.'4 O Adam! Do not forget Our compact and do not choose anyone over Me.� The tongue of his state replied,�My heart is Your fellow-traveler and companion- how could it attach its love anywhere else?A heart for whom You are both spirit and awareness- how could it forget Your remembrance?�

O children of Israel! Remember My blessings with which I blessed you. And be loyal to My covenant; I will be loyal to your covenant. And of Me have dread.This is an allusion to the Real's gentleness, generosity, and loving kindness toward the servants. He reminds them of His favor toward them: �I am the generous Lord, the thankful, the forgiver of the servants. I have come forth with kindness despite every disloyalty, I invite the servants to praise Me despite all their offenses, and I ask them to be grateful for My blessings.� This is why He says to the children of Israel, �Remember My blessings! O children of Israel, be grateful for My blessings and recognize your duty toward Me so that you will be worthy of increase and have good name and good fortune.�There is a great difference between the children of Israel and this community. To them He said, �Remember My blessings!� To this community He said, �Remember Me!� [2:152]. He gave them blessings and He gave this community companionship. He kept those away from Himself by the witnessing of blessings, and He kept these with Himself by stipulating love. The tongue of this state says,�I traveled to you seeking the highest things, but others traveled seeking a good life.�The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O God, the one who does the work is he who has work with You, the one who has a friend is he whose friend is the likes of You. How could he who has You in the two worlds leave You aside! The wonder is that he who has You weeps more than anyone else. He who has not found weeps at not having found-why then does he who finds also weep?�When the like of You is someone's friend, if he complains, that's disgraceful.And be loyal to My covenant; I will be loyal to your covenant. There are many verses like this in the Qur'an: �Supplicate Me; I will respond to you [40:60]. So remember Me; I will remember you [2:152]. My servant! Open a door so that I may open a door. Open the door of turning back so that I may open the door of good news: They turned back to God, and for them is good news [39:17].

And confuse not truth with falsehood.Be careful not to mix truth and falsehood. Do not put truthfulness together with lying, the ap- proved together with the unapproved. I do not say not to recognize falsehood. You must recognize it so as to avoid it, and you must recognize truth so as go after it. MuṣṬafā said, �O God, show us truth as truth and provide us with choosing it, and show us falsehood as falsehood and provide us with avoiding it.�Concerning the verse, �And confuse not truth with falsehood,� the masters of the realities have said that the meaning is that you should not mix together the share of the soul and the food of the heart, for the two do not get along. The owner of the heart is elated at the rightful due of truth, but the servant of the soul is bound by the share of the soul. How can the two come together? This world is trifling and the next world precious. How can the two get along? Friendship with the Cre- ator is beginningless and endless felicity, but friendship with the created is a ready bane. How can the two come together? God has not given any man two hearts in his breast [33:4]. God-worship and self-worship are opposites. How can the two be brought together in one makeup?Love for both self and the loving Friend won't reach you.Want either this or that-you won't reach both.

And seek help in patience and the prayer, though it indeed is hard, except for the humble.The command came to him, �O Master, tell your community to have patience in their affairs so that they may reach what they desire. 'Patience is the key to relief.'�If someone does not have the patience of the Men, let him not come to the Men's playing field.You have not the legs of men-don't put on men's clothing!You have not the means of no means-don't brag of selflessness! [DS 491]Once that paragon of the world stepped into this playing field, he was not left for one hour without sorrow and grief. If he sat for a while cross-legged, the address came, �Sit like a servant!� If once he put a ring on his finger, the whip of rebuke would come down: �What, did you reckon that We created you aimlessly?� [23:115]. If once he placed his foot on the ground boldly, the command would come, �Walk not in the earth exultantly� [17:37]. When the work reached the limit and he was being tried from every corner, he sighed and said, �No prophet whatsoever has been tormented as I have been tormented.�The address came from the Exalted Presence, �O paragon! When someone's heart and spirit witness Me, will he complain of the burden of trial?� All the venom of grief in the treasuries of the Unseen was poured into one cup and placed in his hand, and then a curtain was lifted from his se- cret core: �O paragon! Drink all this venom while contemplating My beauty! And be patient with thy Lord's decree, for surely thou art in Our eyes [52:48].� The tongue of the state was saying,�Were the Beloved's hand to pour poison for me, poison from His hand would be sweet.*�Though Your hand is fire, it is my bed of roses.All that comes from You is sweet, whether healing or pain.�Though it indeed is hard, except for the humble. Humbleness is a stipulation of the prayer. It is a mark of the servant's need. The humble in the prayer are praised by the Real and chosen among the creatures. Prosperous are the faithful, those who are humble in their prayers [23:1-2]. Humble- ness in the prayer is both outward and inward.

And when We gave Moses the book and the discernment.He gave Moses' folk the discernment outwardly, and He placed the discernment in the inwardness of MuḤammad's folk in addition to their outwardness. The inner discernment is a light in the heart of the friends through which they separate truth from falsehood. It is alluded to in His words, �If you are wary of God, He will appoint for you a criterion� [8:29]. This is why MuṣṬafā said to Wābisa, �Ask for a pronouncement from your heart!� He also said, �Be wary of the perspicacity of the man of faith, for he gazes with the light of God.� When this discernment appears in someone's inwardness, his drinking and aspiration are purified of the dust of others; the walkway of his desire is protected from the debris of customs, the carpet of his days is shaken loose of the opacities of mortal nature, and the eyes of his moment are kept away from the hand of newly arrived things.Then, things that are reports for others are for him face-to-face vision; what had been the knowl- edge of certainty becomes the eye of certainty. No newly arrived thing enters existence in the empire without his heart being aware of it. MuṣṬafā was asked if this has a mark. He said, �When light enters the heart, the breast is expanded.� Its mark is that the breast is opened up to the divine light. When the breast is opened up, the aspiration becomes high, every sorrow is comforted, scatteredness turns into togetherness, the carpet of subsistence is spread, the rug of annihilation is rolled up, the corner of heartaches is closed off, and the door to the garden of union is opened. In joy and coquetry, he says with the tongue of the state,�In the quarter of hope, I have a delightful home,in the story of passion, I have a delightful problem.Why do you ask details about my heart, O spirit of the world?Know, in short, that I have a delighted heart.�

When Moses said to his people, �O my people, you have wronged your souls by taking up the calf, so kill your own souls! That is better for you with your Creator.�Moses said to his people: �Take care not to suppose that your worship of the calf has harmed the majesty of the Self-Sufficient or that it is a defect for His kingship and lordhood. Rather, the harm and bad fortune belong to you. If something bad has happened, it has happened to you by your being held back from a Lord like Him. Otherwise, He has plenty of servants like you.Sahl ʿAbdallāh Tustarī said, �God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, and the exaltedness of the Lord God's speech made that mountain like carnelian. Moses' turned his gaze to himself: 'Who is like me? For the God of the world and the world's folk is talking to me without intermediary, and my standing place has turned into carnelian!'�God did not let that pass. He said, 'O Moses, look once right and left. What do you see?' �Moses looked around and saw a thousand mountains of carnelian like Mount Sinai, on eachmountain a man in the form of Moses, wearing a blanket like him, a hat on his head, a staff in hand, and talking to the Lord of the universe.� The tongue of Moses' state was saying,�I fancied that you were one body with me.How could I know that you're everyone's familiar?�A poor man was seen whispering secretly with God and saying, �O God, approve of me as your lover. If You do not approve of me as a lover, approve of me as Your servant. If You do not ap- prove of my as a servant, approve of me as Your dog.� He was saying, �O Lord, accept me for friendship. If I am not worthy of friendship, accept me for servanthood. If I am not worthy of servanthood, accept me for doghood, so that I may be the dog of Your threshold.�O Friend, if you do not give me the forefront of respect, at least keep me outside the door like the dogs.So kill your own souls! That is better for you with your Creator. By way of inwardness, this is ad- dressed to the chevaliers of the Tariqah: �Cut off the heads of your souls with the sword of struggle so that you may reach Me.

And We shaded you with clouds.This is an allusion to the Lord's gentleness and generosity. His loving kindness toward the ser- vants is such that the Lord of the Worlds says, �O hapless child of Adam! Why do you not love Me? For I am worthy of love. Why do you not trade with Me? For I am munificent and bounteous. Why do you not engage in transactions with Me? For I am a bestower who is ample in bestowal. My mercy is not tight, nor do I hold back blessings from anyone.�Look at what I did with the Children of Israel, how many blessings I poured down upon them, how much I caressed them in that empty desert! After they had turned away and disobeyed My command, I did not let them go to ruin. I commanded the mist to cast a shadow over them, I com- manded the wind to place roasted birds in their hands, I commanded the clouds to rain down manna and honey on them, I commanded the pillar of light to give them brightness on the nights when there was no moon. When a child came into existence from its mother in that empty desert, it came into existence with the set of clothes that it needed. Then, as the child grew up, those clothes never became too old for it, nor did they become dirty. In the state of that person's life, the clothes were his ornament, and in the state of his death, his shroud. What blessing was there that I did not pour down upon them? In what manner did I fail to caress them? Yet they did not know My measure, nor did they show gratitude for the blessings.�O hapless one! No one wants you the way I want you. When you come, no one will buy you the way I buy. When you sell yourself, others will buy only the faultless, but I buy the faulty. Others call out for the loyal, but I call out for the disloyal. If you come in old age, I will adorn the whole empire to honor you, and if you talk to Me in the fullness of youth, I will take you into My shelter tomorrow on the Day of Resurrection.�People disobey for a lifetime, then return in shame- We say to them, �Welcome, be at ease, greetings!�

And When Moses said to his people, �God commands you to sacrifice a cow.�This story of the cow of the Children of Israel in these verses and the mention of its attributes is one of the subtle points of wisdom and exalted pearls of the Qur'an. The Qur'an itself is the all-encom- passing ocean. Many are the kingly pearls and night-brightening gems found in the ocean's depths.You should read everything that the Exalted Lord said about the cow of the Children of Israel as an allusion to your own attributes. Then you will reach the station of worthiness to dive into this ocean and He will give you access to its deposited wonders and unseen pearls.Altogether the attributes that He clarified in these verses are three: first, neither old nor virgin [2:68]; second, golden, bright her color [2:69]; third, not abased to plow the earth [2:71].First, neither old nor virgin. He says it should not be broken down and old, nor newly born and immature. In other words, the feet of these chevaliers will go straight in the circle of the Tariqah when the intoxication and greediness of youth no longer veil them, and when the weakness of old age does not hinder them. Do you not see that revelation reached MuṣṬafā when he was nota newly born youngster, nor had his days reached the worst state of life [16:70]? If there had been a state more complete, revelation would have reached him at its time.Whenever desire for God pairs itself with the intoxication of youth, there is fear of the high- waymen. It is rare that a youngster in his new desire remains secure from the highwaymen. If it does happen in the empire, it seldom does. This is why MuṣṬafā said, �Your Lord marvels at a young man who has no youthful fervor.�The second attribute is golden, bright her color, gladdening the gazers. When the chevaliers step into the field of the Tariqah in the state of the perfection of mortal nature and stand straight in it, the Unity will bring them into the color of love, and the color of love is colorlessness. It will wash them of anything mixed with colors-We shall strip away all the rancor that is in their breasts [7:43].

Then your hearts became hardened after that, so they were like stones or even harder. And there are stones from which rivers come gushing, and among them are those that split and water comes forth from them, and among them are those that fall down in fear of God.In the case of the ignorant, the hardening of the heart is unkindness, lack of mercy, and distance from the path of the Real. In the case of the recognizers, the purifiers, and the limpid, hardening is the strength of the heart, the state of stability, the perfection of knowledge, and the state of limpid- ness. Abū Bakr used to show it from himself. Whenever he saw that someone was weeping and twisting in himself because of listening to the Qur'an, he would say, �I was like that until the hearts became hardened.�This hardening is an allusion to the perfection of the state of the recognizers and the majesty of the level of the sincerely truthful. At the beginning of the work and the outset of desire the beginners shout, wail, cry, and weep, for passion has not yet fully established its rulership. Whenthe work reaches perfection, the limpidness of recognition becomes strong and the ruling power of passion fully establishes its rulership. Then that shouting and wailing are put aside, and joy and revelry arrive. With the tongue of their state they say,�At first when passion for that beauty was newmy neighbors did not sleep at night because of my weeping.Now I weep less because my passion has increased- When fire takes over, there's little smoke.�There are stones from which rivers come gushing, and among them are those that split and water comes forth from them, and among them are those that fall down in fear of God. He made hard stones more excellent than cruel hearts and superior to them. He is saying, �Water comes from stone, and it becomes soft, and in fear of God it falls into the desert. But a cruel heart in the makeup of an estranged man does not moan in fear of God or weep in remorse, nor do mercy and tenderness enter into it.�The stories say that one of God's prophets was passing through a desert and saw a small stone from which was flowing a great deal of water, much greater than the measure of the stone.

Do they not know that God knows what they keep secret and what they announce?This is the speech of the Lord who is worshiped by the tawḤīd-voicers, responds to those who call, knows the state of the servants, is aware of the apparent and hidden, and calls back those who have turned away. One He calls with explicit expressions, presenting Himself as the Nurturer. He says, �Be penitent toward your Lord!� [39:54]. Another He calls with His exalted allusions and turns the face of his heart away from others to Himself. He presents His lordhood and kingship to him and says, �Do they not know that God knows what they keep secret and what they announce?� For the recognizers, this is sufficient allusion. When the Lord of the Worlds says that He knows the secret cores and is aware of the hidden things, they sweep the dust of the others from their secret cores and give scatteredness no way into their hearts. When He says that He knows the apparent, they bring truthfulness to bear in their outward interaction with God's creatures. This is why the folk of allusion have said that He knows what they keep secret is a command to watchfulness between servant and Lord, and what they announce is a command to truthfulness in interactions and settling accounts with the creatures.In one of God's books has come, �If you do not know that I see you, that is a defect in your faith. If you do know that I see you, why do you make Me the lowliest of gazers upon you?�Equivalent to this verse is what the Exalted Lord says: �He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal� [40:19]. There are diverse treacheries in the eyes of the lookers, because the travelers are diverse.The treachery of the eyes of the worshipers is that in the dark night, when it is time for whis- pering to God, they fall asleep and the intimacy of seclusion is lost to them. The prophet David received the revelation, �O David, he who claims to love Me is a liar if night comes, and he goes to sleep on Me. Does not every lover love to be secluded with his beloved?�God praised Abraham for this attribute when He said, �When night darkened over him� [6:76].

And among them are the unlettered.In this verse the attribute of unletteredness is a censure of the estranged and a mark of their short- coming. In the verse where He says, �Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet� [7:157], it is a praise of MuṣṬafā and a mark of his perfection. This alludes to the fact that having the same name does not mean being of the same kind. The congruence of names does not require the congruence of meanings. The position of the Folk of the Sunnah in affirming the attributes of the Real was established according to this rule: the agreement of one name with another does not bring about the agreement of meanings. God has attributes and descriptions fitting for Godhood, and creatures are far from that. Created things have created attributes, and God is pure of that. Do you not see that �exalted� is a name of God, and He called Joseph exalted [12:78]? God's exalted- ness is worthy of Him and the created thing's exaltedness is worthy of it.By the agreement of the Muslims and the attestation of most of the unbelievers, God is existent and the creatures are existent. But, the creatures exist by God's existence-giving, and God exists by His own abidance and His own being and subsistence. The Muslims agree that God is alive, and there are many living things among the created. The created thing is alive through breath and through appropriate and timely nourishment, but God is alive through His life and subsistence and through His firstness and lastness-without when, how many, or how. All the opponents of the Folk of the Sunnah say that God is maker and the created thing maker. But the created thing is maker through artifice, instrument, striving, and measure, and God is maker through power and wisdom-whatever He wants, as He wants, and whenever He wants.There are many similar things in the Qur'an. In short, God knows how He is, and He is just as He said He is, but the servant is incapable of knowing His howness. What God said about Himself should be accepted from the eyeteeth and assented to from the depth of the spirit. When someone fancies that having the same meaning is to be of the same kind, that is to go by the road of the road- less, and it is nothing but rebellion. Hoping to grasp God by imagination and seeking is absurd, and everything gained in this way will be faulty. Safety in the religion lies in accepting the mes- sage, approving of him who conveyed it, bowing the head, and putting aside seeking. Anyone who has this as his belief has gone on the right path, and his outcome will be as the Exalted Lord says:

Those who have faith and do wholesome deeds-those are the companions of the Garden, and they shall be there forever.It has been said that those who have faith is an allusion to the tree of faith and its being planted in the heart of the faithful. Do wholesome deeds is an allusion to the branches of that tree and its nurturing and growing. Those are the companions of the Garden is an allusion to the produce of the tree and the ripening of its fruit. This is the tree about which the Lord of the Worlds speaks and reports in another place: �Its roots fixed, and its branches in heaven. It gives its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord� [14:24-25]. The fruit of this tree is not like the fruit of other trees, which bring forth fruit once year after year. Rather, this tree brings forth new fruit every hour, or rather every moment. Each has another color, another taste, and another fragrance. The sweetness of worshipers is a fruit of this tree, the feast of the desirers' heart is a fruit of this tree, the limpid- ness of the recognizers' present moment is a fruit of this tree. Today in the house of service on the carpet of obedience they have the paradise of recognition, neither turned aside from them nor veiled. Tomorrow in the house of union on the carpet of friendship they will have the paradise of approval, neither cut off nor withheld, and upraised carpets [56:33-34].

Say: �Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel-he it is who sent it down upon thy heart.�Magnanimous and beautiful is the Qur'an that Gabriel brought down from the All-Merciful. It is the repose of the spirit of the friends, the healing of the hearts of the ill, a mercy to the faithful. This is why God says, �he it is who sent it down upon thy heart.� Elsewhere He says, �Brought down by the trustworthy spirit upon thy heart� [26:193-94]. When Gabriel conveyed the pure revelation, sometimes he came in the form of a mortal man, sometimes in the form of an angel. Whenever he brought verses about permitted and forbidden and the explication of the shariahs and rulings, he would be in human form, and there was no talk of the heart. Thus He says, �He it is who sent down upon thee the Book� [3:7]; �Does it not suffice them that We sent down upon thee the Book?� [29:51].Then again, whenever there was talk of love, the attributes of passion, and the intimations of friendship, he would come in the form of an angel, spiritual and subtle, and he would join with MuṣṬafā's heart. He would convey the revelation of the Qur'an secretly to his secret core, and no one else was aware of him. When he returned and left behind the realm of his heart, MuṣṬafā would say, �He broke away from me while I was aware of him.�It is said that when he was inundated by contemplation in this speech, the revelation would first descend to his heart, for He said to him, �who sent it down upon thy heart.� Then it would turn away from his heart to his understanding and his hearing. Then he would descend from the summitof companionship to the lowland of service for the sake of the people's shares. This is the level of the elect. It may also happen that revelation descends on the hearing of certain people first, then on their understanding, then on their hearts, advancing from the lowness of struggle to the highness of contemplation. This is the level of the wayfarers and desirers. How far apart they are!

Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten-We bring better than it or its like.By way of allusion He is saying, �We never make you advance from the locus of servanthood without setting you down in the courtyards of freedom. We never remove from you any of the attributes of mortal nature without making you abide through one of the marks that give witness to the Divinity.�In terms of allusion He is saying, �O paragon of the horizons, O messenger to jinn and men, O quintessence of predetermination, O luminous full moon, O totality of perfection, O kiblah of prosperity, O basis of bounteousness, O displayer of gentleness and majesty, O you whose branch of union is blooming and whose star of exaltedness is always shining, O you whose good fortune has gone beyond the clouds of being and become specific to the marks giving witness to the Lord- hood and the confirmation of the Divinity! Instant by instant the work of your good fortune is advancing. What others have as crowns, you have as sandals.�The sandals that your steed threw from its feetbecame the crown of sultans-and may it ever be so! [DS 838]�O paragon! Even though the stations beyond which We make you advance are the beautiful deeds of all the friends and the limpid, they are your ugly deeds as long as you remain within them. When you pass beyond them, ask forgiveness for them!�MuṣṬafā said that he asked forgiveness for them seventy times a day: �My heart becomes clouded, so I ask forgiveness from God seventy times a day.�Abū Bakr al-ṣiddīq said, �Would that I could witness that for which God's Messenger asked forgiveness!�Concerning His words, �Whatever verse We abrogate,� it has also been said, �That is, the servant is not transferred from a state without being given what is above and beyond it. 'Whenever We abrogate any trace of worship, We replace it with one of the lights of servanthood. When- ever We abrogate one of the lights of servanthood, We put in its place something of the moons of servitude.'�9 So he continues, being transferred from the lower to the higher, until he falls under one of the attractions of the Real. And �One attraction from the Real is equivalent to all the deeds of jinn and men.

No, whosoever submits his face to God, doing the beautiful, shall have his wage with his Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they grieve.The work is the work of the purifiers, the good fortune the good fortune of the truthful, the con- duct the conduct of the pure, and the hard cash the hard cash in their purse. Today they are on the carpet of service with the light of recognition, tomorrow on the carpet of companionship with the joy of union. Surely We purified them with that which is pure [38:46]. He is saying, �We made them pure and brought them forth pure from the crucible of testing so that they would be worthy for the Presence,� for the Pure Presence gives access only to the pure. �Surely God is goodly and accepts only the goodly.� Nothing is of any use with the Pure Presence save pure activity and pure speech. Then you must become so purified of that pure activity that you do not seek it out in this world or the afterworld. Then you may reach God pure. Surely he shall have nearness to Us, and a beautiful return [38:40].The secret of this talk is what was said by Abū Bakr Zaqqāq: �The defect in the purity of every purifier is to see his purity. If God desires to purify his self-purification, He will eliminate the seeing of his self-purification from his purification. Then he will be 'purified' [mukhlaṣ], not 'purifying' [mukhliṣ].� He is saying that your self-purification will be pure when it is pure of your seeing it.Know also that this self-purification is not in your hands, nor in your capacity or possession. Rather, it is a secret of the Lord placed there by the Glorified. No one is aware of it, and no one else has any access to it. The Unity says, �It is one of My secrets that I deposit in the hearts of those whom I love among My servants.� He is saying, �I choose a servant and approve him for My love, then I place my deposit in the core of his heart. Satan has no access to it so as to destroy it, nor does the soul's caprice see it so as to change it, nor does the angel reach it so as to write it down.

Who does greater wrong than he who bars God's places of prostration?In terms of allusion, He is asking, �Who does greater wrong than he who ruins the homeland of worship with appetites? Who does greater wrong than he who ruins the homeland of recognition with attachments? Who does greater wrong than he who ruins the homeland of contemplation by glancing at others?�The homeland of worship is the soul of the renunciants, the homeland of recognition the heart of the recognizers, and the homeland of contemplation the secret core of the friends.When someone keeps his soul away from appetites, the homeland of his worship flourishes and his name is written in the register of the renunciants. Thus Mālik Dīnār lingered in Basra for forty years and never ate or tasted the dates of Basra, dried or fresh, before he died. He was asked about that and he said, �The possessor of appetite is veiled from his Lord.�When someone keeps his heart pure of attachment, the homeland of his recognition flourishes and he belongs to the ranks of the recognizers. Thus one of them said about Ibrāhīm Adham, �I was with Ibrāhīm Adham in a journey, and we were afflicted with hunger. After we settled in a mosque he brought out some sections of the Qur'an he had with him and said, 'Go and pawn these sections and bring us something to eat, for hunger has stricken us.' I went out, and someone cameforward to me in front of a fully laden mule. He was saying, 'The one I am seeking is a light- complexioned man called Ibrāhīm ibn Adham.'��I said, 'What do you desire from him?'�He said, 'I am the slave of his father, and these things belong to him.' So I led him to him. He entered the mosque, put his head and hands on the ground and kissed him. Ibrāhīm said, 'Who are you?' He said, 'I am your father's slave. Your father has died, and I have with me 40,000 dinars, your inheritance from your father. I am your slave. Command me as you wish.'�Ibrāhīm said, 'If you speak the truth, then you are free, for the sake of God. And what you have with you is all a gift to you. Leave us.

They say, �God has taken a son.� Glory be to Him! Rather, to Him belongs what is in the heavens and the earth; all are devoted to Him.He is pure, without fault, incomparable, the one Lord-one in forbearance, one in loyalty, one in love. If the servant does harm, He does not cut off from him, for He is one in forbearance. If the servant inclines toward another, He does not so incline, because He is one in loyalty. If the servantbreaks the covenant, He does not break it, because He is one in love.He is one in Essence, one in attributes, rid of causes, incomparable with obsequiousness, praised by all expressions, fitting for all allusions, the creator of time and the hours, the determiner of instants and moments. His artisanry has no defect, His determining no contrivance, His descrip- tion no likeness. He is a determiner who has always been.Powerful, Knowing, Alive, Desiring, Hearing, Seeing, clothed in majesty,Hallowed beyond having an equal, transcending opinion and talk.*O Essence of perfection lacking nothing!The effusion of generosity comes from Your hand alone.He is a lord without associate or partner, a king without equal or need. His promise is no lie, His name is no metaphor. The door of withholding is shut and the door of His munificence open. He is a forgiver of sins, a caresser of the faulty. He knows without cause, He is able without artifice. He is alone without paucity, spreader of the creed, outside of number, artisan without toil, self- standing until the Endless, hallowed beyond envy. His name is Subtle, Self-Standing, and Self- Sufficient; He begets not, nor was He begotten, and equal to Him is none [112:2-4].So much are You face-to-face in my heart, so much hidden from my eyes,that your describer cannot describe You- in Your attributes You are as You are.A renowned Lord, caring for His servants-ears are open to His name, hearts imprisoned by His message, tawḤīd-voicers fallen into His snare, yearners drunk with the love from His cup. He is the lovingly kind such that no one in the universe is like Him in loving kindness. The disobedient and destitute have hope in Him, and the poor are happy in the subsistence of His majesty.

Those to whom We have given the Book and who recite it with the rightful due of recitation.The rightful due of recitation is that you recite the Qur'an with burning, need, limpidness of heart, and pure belief, with a remembering tongue, a believing heart, and a limpid spirit-the tongue in remembrance, the heart in grief, the spirit with love; the tongue with loyalty, the heart with limpid- ness, the spirit with shame; the tongue in the work, the heart in the mystery, and the spirit in joy.The Pir of the Tariqah said, �In the remembrance the servant reaches a place where the tongue reaches the heart, the heart reaches the spirit, the spirit reaches the secret core, and the secret core reaches the Light. The heart says to the tongue, 'Silence!' The spirit says to the heart, 'Silence!' The secret core says to the spirit, 'Silence!' God says to the traveler, 'My servant, you have been speaking for a while. Now I will speak, you listen.'�

And when his Lord tried Abraham with some words.It has been narrated from al-Ḥasan that he said, �God tried him with the stars, the moon, and the sun, and he spoke beautiful words in that, for he knew that His Lord was constant and never ceas- ing. He tried him with the sacrifice of the son, and he was patient in that and did not fall short.� He is saying that the shining stars and brilliant sun were adorned, and Abraham was tested. �That was so that the one tried would know, not that the one trying him was ignorant.� In other words, this was to show him what comes from him and how he was walking on the road of servanthood.Abraham came out of it extremely virtuous, fortunate, and felicitous. He said, �This is my Lord� [6:76]. It is said that here there is an ellipsis. He means, �They say, 'This is my Lord.' These estranged ones say that this is my God. But it is not, for this is one of the low ones, those taken down. I do not love the low ones and the taken down.�Well done Abraham! He spoke a splendid point. It rose up from the low, but he knew that the Lord is high, beyond His servants. Again, when it went down, he turned away from it and said, �I do not love the low ones, for they are not worthy of Godhood.�Here the lords of realization have voiced another intimation and have seen another subtle point. They say that from the first Abraham's dust was mixed with the water of bosom friendship, his secret core was burned with the fire of passion, his spirit was lit up with the love of eternity, and the ocean of passion was stirring up waves inside him. Then at dawn, at the moment of the morning draft of the passionate, the shouts of joy of the drunkards, and the uproar of those who have lost their hearts, he opened his eyes from the giddiness of the wine of bosom friendship and the drunkenness of passion and said, �This is my Lord.� This is as they say:Your image has so taken my eyesthat wherever I look I fancy it's you.Both drunkenness and passion are paths of trial and the basis of trouble.

�Our Lord, and raise up amidst them a messenger from among them, who will recite Thy signs to them, teach them the Book and the Wisdom, and purify them. Surely Thou art the Exalted, the Wise.�

And who shrinks from the creed of Abraham but one foolish in himself? We chose him in this world, and in the next world he shall be among the wholesome.One of these two verses is in praise of the Beloved [MuḤammad], the other in praise of the Bosom Friend [Abraham]. Although both are caressed and worthy prophets, adorned by the generous be- stowal and the bounteousness of the Lord, there is a difference between the Beloved and the Bosom Friend! The Bosom Friend is the desirer, and the Beloved the desired. The desirer is the wanter,and the desired the wanted. The desirer is the traveler, and the desired is the snatched away. The desirer stands in the station of service in his traveling, and the desired stands on the carpet of companionship in the pulling of the Real. When someone is in his own traveling, his road will not be empty of deception. This is why the Bosom Friend's road, despite the greatness of his state, was not empty of deception. Thus, when the star of deception came into his road, he said, �This is my Lord� [6:76]. In the same way, the Lordhood kept on opening up ambuscades of deception by means of the moon and the sun. Finally protection took the reins of his bosom friendship and pulled him to itself from the world of deception. He said, �Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving� [6:79].MuṣṬafā, however, was in the pull of the Real. The ambuscade of deception was not able to make his road steep. Rather, on that night everything that was not and then came to be sought his help from deception. They had recourse to the lights of his Shariah against deception and backslid- ing. He was confirmed by the Real's pull to such an extent that he did not look at any of that from the corner of his eye. The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17].There is as much difference between the Bosom Friend and the Beloved as there is between the traveler and the snatched away. The Bosom Friend had the attribute of servitors at the threshold of Lordhood, standing on his own feet: �Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving.

When his Lord said to him, �Submit,� he said, �I submit to the Lord of the Worlds.�When the Bosom Friend began to travel, the command came from the Exalted Presence, �O Abra- ham, anyone who wants Me must belong to Me totally. As long as a sliver of mortal desires and soulish resistance remains with you, you will not pass from the suffering of striving to the ease of the pull. 'The ransomed slave stays a slave so long as a dirham is owed.'�If you want Me, you must want what I desire.You must leave aside yourself totally.The Bosom Friend said, �O Lord, Abraham no longer has any self-governance, any free choice. Now I have come on the feet of poverty, in the state of brokenness, to see what You command. I submit. I have overthrown myself and entrusted my work to You. I have come back to You entirely.�The command came, �O Abraham, that is a very great claim. Every claim must have a mean- ing, and everything rightfully due a reality. Now watch out for the testing!�He was tested by other than himself, by part of himself, and by his whole self. The test by oth- ers was that he had plentiful possessions. They say he had 70,000 sheep in seven thousand herds. Each herd had a dog with a gold collar around its neck. He was commanded to detach his heart from all of it and to toss it away in the path of God. The Bosom Friend tossed it all away and left nothing for himself.In the traditions it has come that the angels said, �Lord God, ever since this call was given out in the World of the Dominion, 'And God took Abraham as a bosom friend' [4:125], our spirits have been in a whirlpool and our gall-bladders have been melting because of this special favor. How is the Bosom Friend worthy of this generosity?�The call came, �Gabriel, open up your peacock-feathers and go from the top of the Lote Tree to the summit of that mountain and test the Bosom Friend.� With the divine determination and facilitation Gabriel came down in the form of a child of Adam. He stood beside that mountain and shouted, �O Holy One!� The Bosom Friend fainted from the pleasure of hearing that.

If they have faith in the like of that in which you have faith, they will have found guid- ance; but if they turn away, they will have split from you. God will suffice you against them; He is the hearing, the knowing.�O master of the east and west and messenger to men and jinn! We have placed these tasks in your tracks and commanded the world's folk to follow you. We wrote the Compact of Love for your servitors and brought them under Our gaze. We threw your opponents into the lowland of abase- ment and feebleness. Whoever opposes you is on the side of the enemies, and whoever serves you is on the side of the friends. When someone wants you, We want him and give him access to Us. When someone turns away, We burn him and throw him down. Whoso obeys the Messenger has obeyed God [4:80].�O paragon! Do not let your heart be tight because these estranged people have turned away and spoken ill. We will suffice you against their business and We will remove their torment from you. God will suffice you against them.�

God's color-and who is more beautiful in color than God?�Then We will bring a people who have come out in the color of tawḤīd and who are adorned with the attribute of love and clothed in God's color, which is colorlessness. Whoever is pure of the color of the color-mixers is colored by God's color.�He who has painted a thousand worlds with color-why would He buy my color and yours, O bankrupt man!So, when someone reaches God's color and falls back on Him, He colors him in His own color. In the same way, the elixir makes copper and iron the same color as itself and they become precious. If the estranged fall back on Him, they become His familiars, and if the disobedient fall back, they become obedient.On this topic many stories are told about the shaykhs. One of them is narrated from Ibrāhīm Khawāṣṣ. He said, �Once I went into the desert and saw a Christian, who had his sash around his waist. He asked if he could accompany me, so we walked for seven days. He said, 'O monk of the unswerving folk! Bring forth what you have of expansiveness, for we are hungry.'�I said, 'O God, do not disgrace me before this unbeliever.' Then I saw a tray, upon which were bread, roast meat, dates, and a pitcher of water. We ate and drank, and we walked for seven days. Then I became hasty and I said, 'O monk of the Christians, bring what you have, for my turn is finished.' He leaned on his staff and supplicated, and lo there were two trays with double what there had been on my tray.�I was bewildered and upset, and I refused to eat. He insisted, but I did not respond to him. He said, 'Eat, for I have two pieces of good news to give to you. One is that I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that MuḤammad is God's messenger,' and he took off the sash. 'The other is that I say, �O God, if there is any danger here, then I will begin with this.�' So he began.�We ate and we walked, and then we made the hajj and took up residence in Mecca for a year.Then he died, and was buried in al-BaṬḤāÌ-God have mercy on him.�

Thus We appointed you a midmost community.... Surely God is clement, ever-merciful toward the people.It is the wise Lord, the knowing King, whose power and existence-giving bring forth beings. The newly arrived things exist through His exaltedness and His making them manifest, and the earth and the heavens stand forth through His keeping. He created the newly arrived things and chose from among them the animals. From among the animals He chose the Adamites, from the Adamites He chose the faithful, from the faithful He chose the prophets, and from the prophets He chose MuḤammad. He chose his community above the previous communities. This is why MuṣṬafā said, �I was brought forth from the best generation of the children of Adam, generation after generation, until I came to be in the generation in which I am.� He also said, �Surely God chose my companions above all the world's folk save the prophets and the envoys. He chose four of my companions and made them the best of my companions-and in all of my companions there is good-Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī. He chose my community over the other com- munities, so He sent me forth in the best generation. Then there will be the second and third in succession, then the fourth, one after another.�What is understood from this report is that MuṣṬafā is the best of the Adamites, the chosen from among the world's folk, the leader of the creatures, the adornment of the world, the weighty one of the time, the lamp of the earth, the full moon of heaven, the shelter of the disobedient, the interceder for the sinners, the master of all the messengers and their seal.After MuṣṬafā the best of all creatures is Abū Bakr the sincerely truthful. The Lord of the Worlds placed the cushion of his imamate on the throne of MuṣṬafā's Shariah, turned the lodging place of his servanthood into self-purification and truthfulness, and made trust and certainty the keeper of the rank of his friendship.After him the best of creatures is ʿUmar KhaṬṬāb. The Lord of the Worlds placed the reins of lowering and raising the legal rulings in the hand of his sufficiency and pulled the robe of his rulership over the forehead of the creed. With his harshness and awesomeness the smoke of as- sociationism was subdued by its own misfortune.

We have seen thy face turning about in heaven. Now We shall turn thee toward a kiblah that thou shalt approve.He had let him know that he was in the sight of the Real so that he would model his courtesy on the Real's courtesy. When he put courtesy into practice, he did not ask the Real for what his heart wanted and did no more than gaze upon heaven. Then He gave him better than what He gives to those who ask.When the Lord is generous and the servant exalted, He keeps the servant within the stipula- tions of courtesy, shows him the road of deeds, and gives him success. Then He rewards him for the deeds and praises him for his veneration. He says, �How excellent is the wage of the doers!� [3:136]. �How excellent a servant he was; surely he kept on returning� [38:30].In the same way, He reported to MuṣṬafā, �You are in My vision and My exalted witnessing. Be careful to recognize the respect due to the Presence and to ask in keeping with courtesy.� Hence when his heart was intent on the kiblah, he did not make this manifest, in keeping with courtesy. He kept that wish in his heart and then the Exalted Presence addressed him: �Now We shall turn thee toward a kiblah that thou shalt approve. We have come to know that wish in your heart and We have admired your beautiful courtesy in not asking. We will bestow upon you that of which you approve in the work of the kiblah. O MuḤammad! All the servants in the world are seeking My approval, but I am seeking your approval. All are searching for Me, but I am calling for you.All wish for My caresses, but We are caressing you. Thy Lord shall bestow upon thee so that thou shalt approve [93:5]. Now consider the Kaabah as the kiblah of your soul and Me as the kiblah of your spirit.�When those caresses came forth from the Presence of Unity and those generosities reached him, the tongue of his state said in his yearning,�When your heart reaches out once in love for me,suffering separation from You becomes easy, sweetheart.�Abū Bakr Shiblī said, �The kiblahs are three: the kiblah of the common people, the kiblah of the elect, and the kiblah of the elect of the elect.

Everyone has a direction to which he turns.The creatures have five kiblahs. First is the Throne, second the Footstool, third the Inhabited House, fourth the Holy House [Jerusalem], and fifth the Kaabah. The Throne is the kiblah of the angels who carry it. The Footstool is the kiblah of the cherubim. The Inhabited House is the kiblah of the spirituals. The Holy House is the kiblah of the prophets. The Kaabah is the kiblah of the faithful. The Throne is of light, the Footstool of gold, the Inhabited House of carnelian, the Holy House of marble, and the Kaabah of stone.This is an allusion for the faithful servant: �If you cannot come to the Throne to circumam- bulate, or to the Footstool to visit, or to the Inhabited House to worship, or to the Holy House to serve, then at least you can turn your face five times a day toward this stone, which is the kiblah of the faithful, and receive the reward for all of them.�Everyone has a direction. One of them has said that the allusion here is this: �All people have been distracted from Me by something that has come between Me and them. So, O faithful, belong to Me and be through Me.�In terms of allusion, He is saying, �All the people have turned away from Me. They have become familiar with others without Me. They have made their sweetheart other than Me and ac- cepted the other in friendship.�You who are the chevaliers of the Tariqah and claim friendship with Me, lift up your eyes from anything beneath Me, even if it be the highest paradise. Then you will go straight in follow- ing the Sunnah and conduct of MuṣṬafā and you will perform the rightful due of emulating thatparagon of the world. For, as the greatest of the prophets, his conduct was to turn his eyes away from all beings and not to see any refuge nor to approve of any resting place other than the shelter of Unity.�When a man wears down his spirit in passion's road he'd best incline toward none but the Friend.In passion's road the passionatemust not think of hell or paradise.When someone puts himself right in following MuṣṬafā, the candle of friendship with the Real will be lit in his road and he will never fall away from friendship's avenue.

So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful for Me and not ungrateful toward Me.This is to remember the lovingly kind Friend, the heart's ease and the spirit's food. Remembrance is the polo-ball and familiarity with Him is the bat. Its steed is yearning and its field love. Burning for Him is the rose, and recognizing Him the garden.This remembrance makes the Real apparent. It is joined with the Haqiqah and separate from mortal nature. This remembrance is the watering place for the tree of tawḤīd, the fruit and produce of which is friendship with the Real. This is why the Lord of the Worlds said, �My servant does not cease remembering Me, and I remembering him, until he is passionate for Me and I passionate for him.�This is not the remembrance of the tongue that you know-this is inside the spirit. The time came when Abū Yazīd was remembering little with the tongue. When he was asked about that, he said, �I am in wonder at this remembrance of the tongue, and I am more in wonder at him who is a stranger. What would a stranger be doing in the midst? Remembrance of Him is in the midst of the spirit.�In the story of passion for You, many are the hardships. I'm with You, but many are the stations between us.*I wonder at him who says, �I remember my Lord.� Should I forget, then remember what I forgot?That great man of his time said in a whispered prayer, �O Lord! How can I remember You when You Yourself are remembering and I am crying out from forgetfulness. You are the remembrance and the remembered, You are the help in finding Yourself.�O Lord! When someone reaches You, his sorrows are finished; when someone sees You, his spirit laughs. Who has more joy in the two worlds than he who remembers You? Who is more worthy of happiness in You than the servant?�O poor man, you are remembering yourself. What do you know about remembering Him? Not having traveled, what do you know about the way stations? Not having seen the Friend, how can you be aware of His name and mark?You are your own object of worship-you worship yourself: whatever you do, you do it for yourself.

Say not of those who are slain in the path of God, �They are dead.� No, they are alive, but you are unaware.The life of this world has left them behind, but they have reached endless life.12 What have they lost by being released from this world's abasement? They have reached union with the exaltedness of the Patron.If I die, don't say about me, �He's dead.�Say, �The dead man came to life in the Friend who took him.�Alive is the one who lives through Him, not through the spirit. Whoever comes to life in the Friend lives forever.The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O Lord, if someone is occupied with You, how could his occupa- tion come to an end? When someone lives through You, how could he ever die? If the spirit in the body is deprived of You, it is like an imprisoned corpse. Alive in reality is he who lives with You. God's praise be on those slain concerning whom the King says that they are alive.�No, they are alive, but you are unaware. The cloak of awe is on the shoulders of their exalted- ness, the shadow of the Tremendous Throne is their resting-place of intimacy, and the Presence of the Real's majesty is the place of their spirit's repose, in a seat of truthfulness, at an Omnipotent King [54:55].

And We will indeed try you with something of fear and hunger, and decrease of wealth, souls, and fruits; and give good news to the patient.The custom of the Lord is that whenever He threatens the servant and shows harshness in a verse, then, right after that or before it, He caresses the servant and gives him hope. Thus in this verse He breaks the servant by mentioning those harsh things and varieties of trial. Then He gives good news, He caresses, and He says, �and give good news to the patient.� And, at the beginning of these verses He says, �Surely God is with the patient� [2:153]. Glory be to Him! How gentle and how merciful He is to His servants!And We will indeed try you. He says, �We will test you, sometimes with fear, sometimes with dread, sometimes with poverty, sometimes with hunger, sometimes with outward affliction, sometimes with inward sorrow.� The outward trial and evident affliction are in fact easy work, for sometimes they are there and sometimes not, like the trial of Abraham and the trial of Job. The complete trial is inward sorrow, which does not leave its place for a moment. When someone is closer, more worthy of friendship, and more suitable for union, his sorrow is more. Such was MuṣṬafā's sorrow. He had no capacity for it on the highest horizon, nor did he have any rest fromit on the expanse of the earth. He was like a moth before a lamp: It does not have the capacity to stay with the lamp, nor the remedy of staying away from the lamp. With the tongue of his state he was saying,�In separation I make do because of shame before Your image, in union I burn in fear it will cease.Such is the state of the moth with the candle- in separation it burns and in union it burns.��Yes, everyone who seeks union with Me and wants proximity with Me has no escape from taking on the burden of tribulation and tasting the drink of sorrow.�āsiya, the wife of Pharaoh, sought for the Real's neighborhood and asked for His proximity. She said, �My Lord, build for me a house with Thee in the Garden [66:11]. O Lord, I want a room in Your neighborhood, for it is beautiful to have a room in the street of the Friend.

And your God is one God. There is no god but He, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.This is the description of the one Lord, the one Lord God and King. He is one in magnanimity and governance, one in forbearance and beautiful doing, one in generosity and peerlessness, one in loving kindness and servant-caressing. Every magnificence is the mantle of His majesty, and in that He is one. Every tremendousness and all-compellingness is the shawl of His lordhood, and in that He is one. He is one in Essence, one in attributes, one in deed and mark, one in loyalty and compact, one in gentleness and caressing, one in love and friendship.On the day of apportioning, who was there but He, the One? Before the day of apportioning who was there? That same One. After the day of apportioning, who handed over those portions? That same One. Who shows? That same One. Who adorns? That same One.He is more apparent than everything in the world of apparentness, and in this apparentness He is one. He is more hidden than anything in the world of hiddenness, and in this hiddenness He is one.O You who are more face-to-face than anything in the world! You are more hidden than the world's most hidden thing!O You who are more distant than all that the servants suppose!You are closer to the servants than the spirit's vein.How disloyal the Adamite who does not know the worth of this declaration and the exaltedness of this ascription! God says, �And your God is one God.� The wonder is not that He ascribed the servants to Himself, joined them to Himself, and said, �Surely My servants� [15:42]. The wonder is that He ascribed Himself to the servants and joined His name to their name, saying, �Your God.� This is not because His lordhood must be joined to the servant's servanthood, or that the servants are deserving of that. Rather, in generosity and loving kindness He Himself is unique and one. In magnanimity He is worthy of every generous bestowal and every gift.In the place of our Heart-taker's beauty and loveliness, we are not suited for Him-He is suited for us.And your God is one God. There was no world and no Adam. There were no tracks and no traces, there was no one in the house.

Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, the alternation of the night and the day, the ships that run on the sea with what benefits people, the water that God sends down from heaven giving life to the earth after its death, the scattering of every beast therein, the shifting of the winds, the clouds subjected between heaven and earth-there are signs for a people who have intellect.In this verse the Lord of the Universe shows the generality of people the road to Himself, so that they will gaze upon the wonders of the dominion of heaven and earth and on the artisanries of land and sea and then recognize the Artisan and attest to His oneness.Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, �He made Himself recognized to the common people with His creation, to the elect with His attributes, and to the prophets and the elect of the elect with His Essence.� The gaze of the common people is on the artisanry, the gaze of the elect on the attributes, and the gaze ofthe prophets and the elect of the elect on the Essence. The generality of the faithful look at the artisanry and from the artisanry reach the Artisan. The elect among the faithful know the attributes and from the attributes reach the Object of attribution and from the name the Named. Thus it was said to the Children of Israel, �Sacrifice a cow� [2:67], but they did not recognize it. So the cow was described to them, they recognized it, and they sacrificed it.As for the prophets and the sincerely truthful, they recognize Him through Him, not through other than Him. They look from Him to Him, not from the other to Him. God alludes to this state when He says, �Dost thou not see thy Lord, how He stretched out the shadow?� [25:45]. He did not say, �Look at the shadow so that you may see My artisanry.� He said, �Look at Me so that you may see My artisanry. O paragon of the world! Look not at Gabriel's coming, look at My sending. Look from Me to him, not from him to Me.�Consider for a moment the female companions of Joseph. When the very entity of Joseph was unveiled to them, they were annihilated from themselves and became absent from Joseph's attributes.

Among the people are some who take peers apart from God, loving them as if loving God. And those who have faith are more intense in love for God.If this were the only verse in the whole Qur'an about the faithful and God's friends, their eminence and honor would be complete, for the Lord of the Worlds is saying, �They love Me intensely and more completely than the unbelievers love their objects of worship.� Do you not see that every once in a while the unbelievers set up another idol and take up another object of worship. Like poor people, they are content with something carved of wood. Then, when they can, they take down the wooden one and make another from silver or gold. If their love for their object of wor- ship is real, why do they turn away from it toward another?They say that a man met a woman recognizer, and her beauty exercised its influence over his heart. He said, �'My all is busy with your all.' O woman! I have lost myself in love for you.�She said, �Why don't you look at my sister, who is more beautiful and lovely than I?� He said, �Where is your sister so that I may see her?�She said, �Go, idler! Passion is not your work. If your claim to love me were true, you would not care about anyone else.�And those who have faith are more intense in love for God. The Lord of the Worlds says, �The love of the faithful for Me is not like the unbelievers' love for idols, such that every once in a while they incline toward another. Rather, the faithful never turn away from Me and never incline toward anyone else. For, if they did turn away, they would never find someone like Me, no matter how much they sought.�Poor man, God has many servants like you. If something bad is to occur for you, it will occur.How can you turn away, for you will not find a Lord like Him.Shiblī said, �I learned Sufism from a dog that was sleeping at the door of a house. The owner came out and was driving the dog away, but the dog kept on coming back. I said to myself, 'How base this dog is! He drives him away, and he keeps on coming back.' The Exalted Lord brought that dog to speech and it said, 'O Shaykh! Where should I go? He is my owner.'�I will not leave the Friend at a hundred iniquities and cruelties.Even if He increases them, I will not be troubled, It is I who chose Him over everyone else;if I complain about Him, I will have no excuse.

When those who were followed declare themselves quit of those who followed them.The unbelievers loved idols in keeping with caprice and nature, not reality. Hence, when they see the beginnings of the chastisement at the resurrection, they will know that they have no place on which to stand and will disown the idols. As for the faithful, their friendship is the fruit of the Real's friend- ship-as He says, �He loves them, and they love Him� [5:54]. Therefore the steep roads and trials that come to them do not bring any defect into their love, so they do not turn away from the Real.First they see the agonies of death. Then their pure spirit is snatched away from them. They are kept for many years in the dust. Then they are frightened many times at the resurrection in those diverse stations. They are rebuked while severity of many sorts is shown to them, and then they are kept for a time in hell. Despite these tribulations and trials that come into their road, at each moment they fall more into passion and expend their spirits and hearts even more in friend- ship for the Real. With the tongue of the state they say,�If You're happy with my grief, give me grief upon grief!Away with a passion that decreases with a hundred cruelties!�This is why He says, �Those who have faith are more intense in love for God� [2:165].

Piety is not that you turn your faces to the east and the west. Rather, piety is he who has faith in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets; who gives wealth despite lov- ing it to kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, the son of the road, beggars, and slaves; and who per-forms the prayer and gives the alms tax; those who are loyal to their covenant when they make a covenant; those who are patient in misfortune, hardship, and moments of peril. It is they who have been truthful, and it is they who are the godwary.You have learned what the Shariah stipulates in terms of the outward meaning of this verse. Now listen to the inner meaning in the tongue of allusion and recognize the signs of the Haqiqah, for the Haqiqah is to the Shariah as the spirit is to the body. What is a body without a spirit? Such is the Shariah without the Haqiqah.The Shariah is the house of the servitors. All the people are gathered there. They keep it flourishing with service and worship.The Haqiqah is the house of the sanctuary. The recognizers are gathered there. They keep it flourishing with veneration and contemplation.The distance from service and worship to veneration and contemplation is the same as that from familiarity to love. Familiarity is the attribute of wage-earners, and love is the attribute of recognizers.The wage-earner brings all the varieties of piety mentioned in the verse. Then he says, �Oh, if the wind blows against it, or something of it is taken away, I will lose the wage for that.� The recognizer performs all of it according to its stipulations. Then he says, �Oh, if any of it remains, I will be held back from good fortune.�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]The wage-earner says, �My prayer, my fasting, my alms-giving, my patience in trials, my loyalty to covenants!� The recognizer says in the tongue of abasement,�Who am I to wear the cloak of loyalty to You,to have my eyes carry the burden of Your disloyalty,To have the spirit's scent come from my lips and speak of You,to grow an exalted branch in my heart and suffer Your trial?� [DS 933]The Pir of the Tariqah said, �How should I have known that the share of the wage-earner is ever- lasting paradise, and the hope of the recognizer is one glance? How should I have known that the wage-earner is wishing for houris and palaces, and the recognizer is inundated by light in the sea of face-to-face vision?�When he was dying, Abū ʿAlī Rūdbārī said to his sister, �O FāṬima, look, the doors of heaven have opened, the Gardens have been adorned! The maid-servants have gathered at the battlements and they are saying, 'Enjoy yourself, O Abū ʿAlī! All this was built for you!'�The tongue of Abū ʿAlī's state was answering, �O God, how could I be joyful with paradise and houris? If You give me one breath, from that breath I will build a paradise!�Your rightful due is that I look on no one else with the eye of love until I see You.

O you who have faith! Written for you is retaliation in the case of the slain.He is addressing the body, heart, and spirit and saying, �O totality of the servant! If you want to step into the street of friendship, first detach your heart from life and toss away everything you know about states and deeds, for in the shariah of friendship your life will be taken as retaliation, and everything you know will be the wergild, though more is needed. Such is the shariah of friend- ship. If you are the man for the work, enter! Otherwise, nothing will get done with self-love and defilement.�In the tracks of manliness plane trees live long, in the tracks of defilement jasmine goes fast.Throw away your life, travel the road, live upright, and be a man!Then you will subsist-when you empty your skirt of these ruins.Yes, it's a marvelous work, the work of friendship! It's a wonderful shariah, the shariah of friend- ship! Whenever someone is killed in the world, retaliation or wergild is mandatory against the killer. In the shariah of friendship, both retaliation and wergild are mandatory for the person killed.The Pir of the Tariqah, �How should I have known that there is retaliation for those killed by friendship? But, when I looked, that was Your transaction with the elect. How should I have known that friendship is sheer resurrection and that those killed by friendship should ask for wer- gild? Glory be to God! What work is this, what work!? He burns some people, He kills some people, and no one burned has regrets, no one killed turns away.�How You kill us and how we love You! O marvel! How we love the killer!* May my eyes' light be the dust beneath Your feet!May my heart's rest be Your curly locks!In passion for You, may my justice be Your cruelty!May my life be sacrificed in grief for You!One person is burnt and left unsettled, another slain and perplexed in the field of solitariness. One is hanging on reports, another mixed with face-to-face vision. Who planted these seeds? Who stirred up this tumult? One is in a whirlpool, another wishing for water, but the drowned is not sated, the thirsty has no sleep.

It is written for you, when death is present for one of you and he is leaving behind some good, to make a will for parents and kinsfolk honorably, as something rightfully due from the godwary.The testament of the lords of wealth is one thing, and the testament of the lords of states is some- thing else. The testament of the lords of wealth goes out from the wealth, and the testament of the poor men from the states. At the end of their lives, the rich give out one-third of their wealth,13 and the poor give out limpidness of states and truthfulness of deeds.As much as the disobedient person is afraid for himself because of his bad deeds, the recogniz- er is afraid for himself ten times more because of the truthfulness of his deeds and the limpidness of his states. But there is a difference between the two: The disobedient person is afraid of the out- come and in dread of punishment, and the recognizer is afraid of the Real's majesty and awareness.When the recognizers are afraid, this is called �awe,� and when the disobedient are afraid, it is called �fear.� Fear occurs because of reports, and awe occurs because of face-to-face vision. Awe is a fear that puts no veil before supplication, no blindfold over perspicacity, and no wall before hope. It is a fear that melts and kills. As long as he does not hear the call, �Fear not and grieve not!� [29:33], he will not reach ease. The owner of this fear is shown generosity, but he burns in dread of losing it. His light is increased, and the terror of alteration is thrown into him.Abu Saʿīd Abi'l-Khayr had this state at the time of death. When he put his head on the pil- low of death, they said to him, �O Shaykh, you were the kiblah of those burned, emulated by the yearners, the sun of the world. Now that you have turned your face to the Exalted Presence, give some advice to these burnt ones, say some words that will be their reminder.� The Shaykh said,�My two eyes full of water, my liver full of fire, my hands full of wind, my head full of dust!�Bishr Ḥāfī had the same state at the time of going.

O you who have faith! Written for you is fasting.In the tongue of allusion and the clarification of wisdom, He is saying, �O you who have faith, fasting has been written for you. It has been written because you will be the guests of the Real, and tomorrow in paradise He wants to take hungry guests to a banquet. When the generous take someone to a banquet, they like the guests to be hungry so that the feast will be sweeter in their hearts. The Lord of the Worlds created paradise and everything within it for the faithful. None of it is of any use to Him, nor does He have any need for it.�A pir of the Sufis sent out an invitation, but no one came. The pir lifted up his hands and said, �Lord God, if you send your servants into the fire tomorrow, paradise and perfect bliss will be like my table!�The value of a table is for people to sit there and eat. Indeed, the Lord of the Worlds created all the treasuries of blessing for the faithful and the eaters, but He Himself does not eat. This is whyHe says, �Fasting belongs to Me, and with it I recompense.� One of them said, �In other words, 'Self-sufficiency belongs to Me. I do not eat or drink. I reward those who fast without reckoning, for they sought conformity with Me by not eating. They sought friendship with Me, for the first station in friendship is conformity.'�Know then that when you gain conformity with the angels by saying �Amen� at the end of the Surah of Praise, your past and future sins are forgiven-as has come in the report. Hence by means of your conformity with God in not eating-even though your not eating is by self-exertion and temporary, and God's not eating is a beginningless attribute-you should know what eminence and nobility accrue to your heart and religion!It has been said that by saying �Fasting is Mine,� He ascribed fasting to Himself so that the hands of the plaintiffs would fall short of that. Tomorrow at the resurrection, when those plaintiffs gather around you and take away your acts of worship by calling you to account for your acts of wrongdoing, the Lord of the Worlds will keep your fasting in the treasury of His bounty and say to the plaintiffs, �This belongs to Me-you have no hand in this.

The month of Ramadan is that wherein the Qur'an was sent down as guidance.In other words, the month of Ramadan has come to you. He is saying, �Now the month of Rama- dan has turned to the friends. It is a month that both washes and burns. It washes the hearts of the sinners with the water of repentance and burns the bodies of the servants with the fire of hunger.�The word Ramaẓān is derived either from ramẓāÌ or ramaẓī. If it is from ramẓāÌ, it means hot stone, which burns whatever is placed upon it. If it is from ramaẓī, it means rain, which washes whatever it meets. MuṣṬafā was asked, �What is Ramadan?� He replied, �In it God burns the sins of the faithful and forgives them for them.�Anas Mālik said that he heard God's Messenger say, �Ramadan has come. In it the gates of the Garden are opened, the gates of the Fire are shut, and the satans are fettered. If someone reaches Ramadan and is not forgiven, then when?�He also said, �Were God to give the heavens and earth permission to speak, they would give those who fast during Ramadan the good news of the Garden.�Poor man, you do not know the worth of this blessing. You are caressed everywhere in the world, and eminence has been put down next to you, but you are unaware. The submission, which is higher and better than all the creeds, is your religion. The Qur'an, which is more exalted than all the books, is your book. MuṣṬafā, who is the master of Adam's children, the eyes and lamp of the em- pire, the leader of the world's folk at the resurrection, is your messenger. The Kaabah, which is the most eminent of spots, is your kiblah. The month of Ramadan, which is more excellent and eminent than all other months, is your month and the season of your practice. It is a month in which all acts of disobedience are forgiven, the satans subjugated, paradise embellished and its doors open, and the doors of hell shut. In it the bazaar of the workers of corruption is broken, the deeds of the obedient are joined with self-purification, and past sins and recorded defilements are burned.The Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī said, �Had God wanted to chastise MuḤammad's com- munity, He would not have given them the month of Ramadan, nor the surah, 'Say: He is God, One' [112].

And when My servants ask thee about Me, surely I am near. I respond to the supplication of the supplicator when he supplicates Me. So let them respond to Me and have faith in Me. Perhaps they will be led aright.He is saying, �When My servants ask you about Me, those are the servants who hang on to the ring of veneration for Me. They have fled to My street, put aside everything less than Me, undertaken to serve Me, believed in Me, and cut themselves off from secondary causes. They have wrapped the turban of trial around their heads and bought Our love with spirit and heart. They came intoexistence with passion, and they are leaving with passion.�With passion my steed set out from nonexistence, my night always bright with union's wine.Of that wine not forbidden by my religionmy lips will not stay dry till I'm back in nonexistence.�When servants like this and friends like this ask you about Me and seek My mark from you, know that I am near to them. Uncalled and unsought, I am near. Unhoped for and unperceived, I am near. With My firstness, with My attributes, I am self-standing and near. Not by the worthiness of the servant-I am near by My own description.�This is the same that He said to His speaking companion Moses, on that pitch black night on the edge of the Mount when he was called from the right bank of the watercourse [28:30]. Mo- ses was called from the right bank of the blessed watercourse: �O great Moses!,� for after Adam, no one heard the speech of the Real with the ears of his head except Moses. He was called, �O Moses!� Moses became unsettled, he could not bear it, and his patience fled. How can patience overcome love? Love will always snatch away the hand of patience. In his burning, distraction, and inability to bear, he said to the caller, �You have made me hear You. Where should I seek You?� The call came, �O Moses, seek as you like, for I am with you. I am nearer to you than the spirit is to your body, your life-vein is to you, your speaking is to your mouth. The speech is My speech, the light is My light, and I am the Lord of the Worlds.

They ask thee about the new moons.The waxing and waning of the moon and its increase and decrease are allusions to the contraction and expansion of the recognizers and the awe and intimacy of the lovers. The contraction and expansion of the elect are like the fear and hope of the common people. Contraction and expan- sion are higher than fear and hope, and so also awe and intimacy are higher than contraction and expansion. Fear and hope belong to the common people, contraction and expansion to the elect, and awe and intimacy to the elect of the elect.First is the station of the wrongdoers, next the station of the moderate, and third the station of the preceders.14 The furthest limit of all is the intimacy of the lovers. In the state of intimacy, a man reaches a point where, if he enters fire, he is unaware of it and its heat leaves no trace in the repose of his intimacy. Thus Abū Ḥafṣ Ḥaddād was a blacksmith. He had lit up an exceedingly hot fire and placed iron within it, as is the custom of blacksmiths. Someone was passing by and reciting a verse of the Qur'an. The shaykh became happy at that verse and the state of intimacy overcame him. He put his hand into the furnace and pulled out the hot iron. He held it until his apprentice looked at him and said, �O Shaykh! How is that you are holding the hot iron in your hand?!� The shaykh put it aside, and then he left his profession. He said, �I have left this profes- sion many times and then come back to it. This time, the profession left me.�

And fight in the path of God those who fight against you, but do not transgress. God loves not the transgressors.In the language of the recognizers and the path of the chevaliers, this killing and fighting is another way station of the travelers and another state of the lovers. However, as long as you have not been killed by the sword of struggle in the path of the Shariah and you have not been burned by the fire of love, you will not be allowed to enter by this gate.Take care not to believe that fire is simply the lamp that you know and nothing more; or that killing is simply the state that you know. Those killed by the Real are one thing, those killed by the throat something else. Being burned by the fire of punishment is one thing, being burned by the fire of love something else.Thus that great pir said, �How should I have known that this is the smoke of the burning brand's fire? I fancied that wherever there is fire there is a lamp. How should I have known that in friendship the sin belongs to the killed and the judge gives refuge to the adversary!? How should I have known that the bewilderment of union with You is the path, and he who is drowned in You seeks You all the more?�One day Shiblī went into the desert. He saw forty men, distracted, impassioned, and overcome by this talk. Each of them had gone into the desert, a brick under his head, his life having reached the gullet. The tenderness of affinity appeared in Shiblī's breast and he said, �O God, what do You want from them? You have placed the burden of pain on their hearts, You have struck fire in their haystacks. Will You now kill them all with the sword of jealousy?�His secret core was addressed with the words, �I will kill them. Once I kill them, I will pay them the wergild.�Shiblī said, �What is the wergild?�The address came, �When someone is killed by the sword of My majesty, his wergild is the vision of My beauty.�I will fight against Your passion's armyand be killed-someone killed has value. The wergild of the one killed by hand is dinars,the wergild of the one killed by passion is seeing.

Expend in the path of God.... And do what is beautiful. Surely God loves the beautiful-doers.The rich remove money from their wallets, the poor remove the rich from their hearts, and the tawḤīd-voicers remove all creatures from their secret cores-to this He alludes with His words, �Say 'God,' then leave them� [6:91]. The rich let wealth go from their wallets for the sake of the reward of that world, the poor let the rich go from their hearts for the sake of the Lord's religion, and the recognizers let the creatures go for the sake of seeing the Glorified. The rich spend their possessions in alms tax and charity in order to escape from hell, the worshipers spend their souls in the duties of worship to reach paradise, and the recognizers spend their spirits and hearts in the realities of witnessing to reach union with the Real.And do what is beautiful. Surely God loves 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.� Doing the beautiful is that you worship God in wakefulness and awareness as if you are gazing upon Him, and you serve Him as if you are seeing Him.This hadith alludes to the heart's encounter with the Real, the secret core's convergence with the Unseen, and the spirit's contemplation of the Patron. It is an incitement to self-purification in deeds, curtailment of wishes, and loyalty to what was accepted on the First Day.What was accepted on the First Day? Hearing Am I not your Lord and saying Yes indeed [7:172]. What is loyalty to what was accepted? Serving the Protector. How does one curtail wishes? In �As if you see Him.� Where is self-purification in deeds? In �He sees you.�When an eye has seen Him, how can it busy itself with glancing at others? When a spirit has found companionship with Him, how will it make do with water and dust? The word �Return!� [89:28] is addressed to the pure spirit. How will it make its home in the frame of water and dust? When someone has become accustomed to that Presence, how long will he put up with the abase- ment of the veil? How will the ruler of his own city spend his life in exile?The attribute of the spirit is subsistence. Water and dust undergo annihilation. He who lives in the Real is not like him who lives in this world. The realizer is aware of the secret of the Real: the Real is seeable. �As if you see Him� in the report bears witness to this.

And complete the hajj and the umrah for God.It is narrated from Wahab ibn Munabbih that God sent a revelation to Adam: �O Adam, I am the Lord of the world and the world's folk, the creator of all, the king doing what I desire. I am the Lord of Bakka, and those who dwell there are My neighbors. Those who visit are My delegates, My guests, and under My protection. I will populate this spot with the folk of heaven and earth. They will come in droves from every direction and every region, their hair disheveled and their faces covered with dust from the suffering of the road, saying 'God is greater' and reciting 'Here I am,' their faces turned toward the blessed desert, the earth colored with the blood of sacrifice.�O Adam! When someone visits this house and is self-purifying in that, he is My guest and one of Mine, one of those near to Me. It is worthy of My majesty to honor him and to bring him to forgiveness through the gift of mercy and bestowal. O Adam! Among your children is a prophet by the name of Abraham, My bosom friend, chosen by Me. With his hand I will establish it, and I will command him to build it. I will make its eminence appear, bring to light its watering place, mark its sanctuary, and teach him how to worship Me there. After him I will have the world's folk keep it inhabited and place respect and reverence for it in their hearts. Then will come the turn of MuḤammad the Arab, the Seal of the Prophets, the lamp of heaven and earth. I will make it his birth place and origin, the place where revelation falls upon him, and the domicile of his honor. I will put its watering place, deputyship, and rulership in his hand. Then I will put love for it in the hearts of the faithful from the corners of the earth. They will come, bareheaded and barefoot, their goods and means put aside, their lives placed in their hands, their hair disheveled, their faces covered with dust. They will all go and circumambulate that house, asking Me for forgiveness. O Adam! If someone asks you what I will do with them, say that I am with them in knowledge, I am found by their souls and present in their hearts, and I am the cure of their pain.

Among them is he who says, �Our Lord, give us in this world something beautiful, and in the next world something beautiful.�It is said that the beautiful thing of this world wanted by the faithful is knowledge and worship, and the beautiful thing of that world is paradise and vision. That of this world is witnessing the mysteries, and that of that world is seeing with the eyes. This world's is the success of service, and that world's the realization of union. This world's is self-purification through obedience, and that world's deliverance from burning and separation. This world's is the Sunnah and the com- munity, and that world's the encounter and vision. This world's is the firm fixity of faith, and that world's the repose and ease [56:89]. This world's is the sweetness of obedience, and that world's the pleasure of contemplation. For this world's, there must be deeds with obedience, and for that world's there must be pain with recognition. It is a long road from deeds to pain, and he who does not have this eyesight has an excuse. What is obtained from these deeds is houris and palaces, but the possessor of this pain is drowned in light in the ocean of face-to-face vision.O You the guide on whose road is pain!You are solitary and Your familiar solitary!Among them is he who says, �Our Lord��. There is a subtle point in this verse. When someone wants this world, inevitably he will be held back from the reward of the afterworld, for God says, �He has no share in the next world� [2:102]. MuṣṬafā said, �When someone loves this world of his, that will harm his next world; and when someone loves his next world, that will harm this world of his. So prefer that which subsists to that which undergoes annihilation!� When someone wantsboth this world and the afterworld, the Exalted Lord does not hold them back from him. He gives him what he wants. The report has come, �God is ashamed when a servant lifts up his hands to Him and He disappoints him.� It is also narrated, �God is ashamed when a person with gray hair who observes propriety and clings to the Sunnah asks Him for something and He does not give it.� There remains another group, who recognize the reality of approval and have surrendered to God's decree and approved of His determination. They do not turn away from lauding Him in order to ask from Him. They do not seek access to this world nor do they ask for the afterworld. Concerning them the Lord of the Worlds says, �When remembering Me busies someone from ask-ing from Me, I bestow upon him the most excellent of what I bestow on the askers.�

And remember God in certain numbered days, but if someone hastens on after two days, no sin shall be upon him.There are three sorts of remembrance: The remembrance of habit, the remembrance of calculation, and the remembrance of companionship. The remembrance of habit has no worth, for it is the se- cret core's heedlessness. The remembrance of calculation has no adornment, for its goal is seeking the wage. The remembrance of companionship is a deposit, for the tongue of him who remembers is a loan in the midst.The remembrance of the fearful is from dread of being cut off, the remembrance of the hopeful is from wishing to find what they seek, and the remembrance of the lovers is from the tenderness of burning. The fearful heard the call of the threat with the ear of fear and clung to supplication. The hopeful heard the call of the promise with the ear of hope and clung to laudation. The lovers heard the call beforehand with the ear of love and did not mix with pretexts. The remembrance of the Beginningless reached the recognizers and they fled from effort to their lot.And remember God in certain numbered days, but if someone hastens on after two days.... This is the attribute of the end of the ritual and the final acts of the hajj. Now let us offer com- prehensive words comprising all the waymarks and rituals along with allusions and subtle points. Know that there are two sanctuaries: the outward sanctuary and the inward sanctuary. The outward sanctuary surrounds the Kaabah, and the inward sanctuary surrounds the heart of the faith- ful. In the midst of the outward sanctuary is the Kaabah, the kiblah of the faithful, and in the midst of the inner sanctuary is a Kaabah that is the target of the All-Merciful's gaze. The former is the goal of the pilgrims, and the latter the locus of lights, so he is upon a light from his Lord [39:22].The former is free from the hands of evil-doers and unbelievers, and the latter is free from seeing and thinking about others.If some article is found in the outward sanctuary, it is left there so that its owner may appear and find it. If some article is found in the inward sanctuary, there is no way to go after it, for it is nothing but God's secret.

The people were one community. Then God sent the prophets as bringers of good news and warning.In terms of allusion and according to the tasting of the chevaliers of the Tariqah, this verse has another intimation and another meaning. The king of the universe, the keeper of the world, the knower of the hidden, is saying that when He first created creatures, He created them in the curtain- ing wrap of createdness. When He made them with such a makeup at the beginning, the darknesses of the attributes of createdness surrounded this created nature. They were all one group in the curtain of obscurity. All were gathered in the darkness of absence, all remained in the captivity of their own makeup. It was just like that chevalier said:�The creatures are at ease in the ruins of their own makeup- wink just once to throw the creatures into turmoil!� [DS 696]Then a courier came from the infinite world to their tininess. MuṣṬafā gave this report about that courier: �God created the creatures in darkness. Then He cast upon them something of His light. Whomsoever the light struck was guided, and whomsoever it missed went astray.�When this messenger turned its face from that infinity to their tininess, they all became aware, captive to desire, subjugated by will, wounded by wisdom, their ears fixed on their own fortune and lot: �What is coming to us? What will be decreed for us?�Then the hand of predetermination divided them into two groups: the lucky and the unlucky. He said about the lucky, �These belong to the Garden, and I do not care.� He said about the unlucky, �These belong to the Fire, and I do not care.� In other words, �I have no fear of being blamed. I will do whatever occurs to Me and have no regrets. Some are the folk of felicity without any conformity with Me, and some are the folk of wretchedness without any opposition to Me. 'These belong to the Garden, and I do not care' about their disloyalty, and 'These belong to the Fire, and I do not care' about their loyalty. I receive no profit from loyalty, nor do I lose anything from disloyalty. When someone gains faith, he is the one who profits; I stay exactly as I was, with- out equal or need.

Or do you reckon that you will enter the Garden?This is as they say:You can't speak the words of the good so easily- it is not so easy, easy, to speak their words.�When someone is too timid to engage with fearful things, he will not reach his hopes.� Are you not aware that joining is found in breaking off, life in death, and desires in not reaching your desires? The moth reaches union with the candle when it burns, and the candle finds life when it loses its head.Religion's pain is indeed marvelous, for when you suffer it,you will be like a candle-better once your head's cut off. [DS 485]The high Firdaws is a sweet garden and meadow, but the road there is difficult, a rosebed full of thorns. MuṣṬafā said, �The Garden is surrounded by disliked things,� lest the nobodies and the unqualified claim familiarity. Are they equal, those who know and those who know not? [39:9].A simile for this rule is the ocean: It was made the resting place for precious pearls and night- brightening gems, and then sharks and huge fish were made the veil of those pearls and gems. Two men set out, pulled into the field of seeking by love for gems. They go to the ocean's shore and see its difficulties, and dread appears in them because of the danger of those sharks. Of the two men who see the terrors and difficult states, one is afraid and he steps back from seeking and declares himself quit of his own words. He had a wish, but his attribute of manliness was not complete. He fancied that this work could be finished merely by wishing and that he could reach the treasure without suffering. The exalted Shariah gives the answer: �The religion is not reached with wishfulness and self-adornment.�With Me you must have a hidden mystery, with Me you must always have need.In truth, black crow, you're a fine bird!You want to mate with a white falcon.The other man is the possessor of desire. Passion for the beauty of that night-brightening pearl cleanses his intellect of the ocean's terrors, so he does not give those meanings access to himself. Hour by hour and moment by moment that beauty discloses itself to him, so he becomes more en- tranced and more passionate. He goes head first into the ocean. If felicity assists him and success- giving becomes his friend, that night-brightening pearl will fall into the grasp of his seeking. If the opposite happens, the sharks will take his life as booty and his name will be written in the register of �I don't care.� The tongue of his state will say,�Each month two thousand of the passionate like me are killed, and not one lets out a sigh.�

They ask thee what they should expend. Say: �Whatever good you expend should be for parents and kinsmen, orphans, the indigent, and the son of the road.� And whatever good you do, God knows it.Throwing away money in the path of the Shariah is beautiful, but it is not like throwing away the spirit in the field of the Haqiqah and becoming separate from all others at the moment of contem- plation.Keeping to the stipulation of loyalty is beautiful, but not as much as becoming separate from self and stepping onto the carpet of limpidness.Someone asks, �What should we do with our property? How should we spend it?� The Shariah answers, �From 200 dirhams, 5 dirhams; from 20 dinars, one-half dinar.�Someone else asks and the Haqiqah answers, �You will not be with Him along with body and spirit.�Yes, the story of the wage-earners is one thing, the story of the recognizers something else. The wage-earner's recognition reaches recognizing the spirit, but the recognizer's recognition reaches throwing away the spirit.Wealth, gold, things-gamble them away for nothing. When the work reaches your spirit, gamble it away!Those fortunate Companions did not ask how to spend because they had not found their way to poverty, but in hopes that this caress would reach them from the Exalted Presence: �And whatever good you do, God knows it. Whatever you have given and will give, I who am the Lord know it and am aware of it.�This is just like Moses, when he was called during that pitch black night in the desert of the Mount: �O Moses!� In the pleasure of this address Moses was burned by the call. In his burning and yearning he said, �Who is speaking to me?� Moses knew, but he was drowned in the ocean of yearning for the vision of the Real. He was seeking someone to take his hand: �I have burned in this one call. Perhaps He will call out again, and maybe I will light up.�The command came, �O Moses! Do you not know who is calling you?�He said, �I know, but I am waiting for the caller to say, 'Surely I am God, Lord of the worlds' [28:30].�Here I am, My servant, and you're in My embrace, and whatever you have said I know.Ask of Me without shame or dread, and fear not, for surely I am God.Here there are two verses. The verse at the beginning of the section alludes to the worshipers' spending their wealth in order to reach recognition. The verse at the end of the section alludes to the recognizers' spending their own lives for the sake of struggle in order to reach the Recognized. It is His words,

Surely those who have faith, those who emigrate, and those who struggle in God's path- it is they who hope for God's mercy, and God is the Forgiving, the Ever-Merciful.After faith, He spoke of emigration. Emigration is of two sorts: one outward, the other inward.Outward emigration has two sides: One side is to emigrate from one's home, homeland, and means and to go forth seeking knowledge. The other side is what comes to be known by seeking. Any traveling that is outside of these two has no weight or worth. The Prophet alluded to this with his words, �People are knowers or learners; the rest of the people are rabble.�You should not say that the seeker of knowledge and the seeker of the Known have one level. The seeker of knowledge is himself traveling, and the seeker of the Known is being pulled by the Real. He who is himself traveling dwells in suffering, distress, and hunger, like Moses in the jour- ney in which he was seeking knowledge: �Bring us our food. We have certainly met with weari-ness on this journey of ours� [18:62]. Another time, when he set off seeking the Known, he was confirmed to such a degree by the Real's protection and pulling that he stayed thirty days waiting for the Real's speech, and he was not aware of being tired or hungry.The master Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said, �The caressing of the seekers of knowledge reaches a place such that tomorrow, when they rise up from the dust, they will be mounted on the feathers of an- gels, according to the Prophets words, 'Surely the angels will put down their wings for the seeker of knowledge, approving what he is doing.'� Then Abū ʿAlī said, �Since the seekers of knowledge will be mounted on the feathers of angels, how can anyone imagine what the seekers of the Known will be mounted on?�Did we but know that the visit is true,we would make our face an earth so that You might approve.*Beautiful idols walk on forbidden ground.I will make my eyes the ground-come stroll on my eyes!This then was the explanation of outward emigration. Inward emigration is that one goes from the soul to the heart, from the heart to the secret core, from the secret core to the spirit, and from the spirit to the Real.

They ask thee about wine and gambling.... And they ask thee what they should expend.God has servants on the earth who drink the wine of recognition and are drunk from the cup of love. There is no more than a whiff of this wine's reality in this world, and nothing but a show of that drunkenness, for this world is a prison, and what can a prison put up with? Today there is no more than that. Nonetheless, wait until tomorrow, the assembly of repose and ease [56:89], the arena of union with the Beloved, when the servants will be gazing on the Real.Hope for union with you has added to my life.What can union itself be, when hope does that!?A man in turmoil entered the shop of a wine merchant with one dirham. He said, �Give me wine for this dirham.�The merchant replied, �There's no wine left.�The man said, �I'm already in turmoil. I can't tolerate wine's reality. Show me a drop so I may smell it-you'll see how drunk I become and what turmoil I'll stir up.�Glory be to God! What is this lightning that has shone from the Beginningless! It has burnt up the two worlds and nothing remains.To someone He gave the wine of bewilderment from the cup of awe, and he became drunk with bewilderment. He said,�I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand,O guide of those bewildered in Thee!�*The work is difficult-how can I make it easy?The pain has no cure-how can I find a remedy?I've become secure from the headache of empty words- what can I do with the stories of the drunkards?To someone else He gave the wine of recognition from the storeroom of hope. At the top of the street of yearning he kept on saying in hope of union,�One day luck will enter the door of my house, one day the sun of elation will rise over me.One day You will glance in my direction,one day this grief of mine will come to an end!�To someone else He gave the wine of union from the cup of love. He showed him the way to the carpet of bold expansiveness and gave him a spot on the leaning place of intimacy.

Your women are your tillage, so come to your tillage as you like.The servant has a soul and a heart. The soul is from the low world, and its root is water and dust. The heart is from the high world, that is, the lordly subtlety, and its foundation is pure light. The soul's station is absence, and the heart's station is witnessing. MuṣṬafā alluded to this with his words, �There is no heart that is not between two fingers of God.�God gave the soul, which stays absent, the same living quarters as its similars, and He made this a favor. He said, �Your women are your tillage, so come to your tillage as you like.� In another place He said, �Marry the women who seem goodly to you� [4:3]. In another place He said, �That you may rest in them, and He placed between you love and mercy� [30:21].Finding one's own shares and inclining toward similars in this manner is the portion of the soul, which remains in the lowland of jealousy. As for the heart, it has the station of contemplation, so it is forbidden to incline toward any others or to come down to any creature. Until it cuts itself off from creation and makes its own secret core pure of other than the Real, it will not come under these words: �He loves those who make themselves pure� [2:222]. The Lord of the Worlds loves those who are pure in this manner. He calls them men when He says, �In it are men who love to make themselves pure, and God loves those who make themselves pure� [9:108].Know also that in this house of the decree, vile things are of two sorts. One is vileness of entity, which can never become pure by washing. If you put a corpse into the ocean a thousand times, it will never become pure, for the impurity belongs to its own entity.The other is vileness of attribute. At root something is pure, but an impurity has reached it. If you wash it, it becomes pure. This impurity, however, is of two sorts. One is flimsy, so it becomes pure with a single water. The other is heavy, so it must be washed with water and dust to become pure.

For those who forswear their women, a wait of four months. But if they revert, God is forgiving, ever-merciful.In terms of allusion, these verses contain an eloquent admonition and complete advice concern- ing the observation of the rightful dues of the Real: God gives so much weight and gravity to the rightful due of the people that He sends a decisive command concerning it and instills dread into those who put it aside. Hence it is even more appropriate to preserve the rightful due of God and to dread putting it aside.In one of the reports it is mentioned that tomorrow at the resurrection a youth will be brought who had neglected the rightful dues of God. In the attribute of awe and exaltedness the Exalted Lord will address him: �Had you no shame? Had you no fear of My anger and harshness such that you neglected My rightful due and you paid it no reverence and respect? Take him to hell, for he is worthy of fire, and fire is worthy of him.�Ibn ʿAbbās narrated that the Prophet said, �God says, 'I will not look after the rightful due of My servant until the servant looks after My rightful due.'�In the scriptures has come, �I honor those who honor Me and I scorn those who scorn My command.�Look at the vengeance He takes from the servant because of His rightful due, even though His rightful due is built on leniency, and He passes over most of it. As for the rightful dues of created things, in these no leniency is shown, so God's vengeance in them is more. So much is this so that it is said that if someone has the reward of seventy prophets but has one plaintiff whom he has cheated of half a penny, he will not enter paradise until that plaintiff is satisfied with him. So, the rightful dues of the creatures must be preserved, and one must strive mightily to observe them, especially the rightful dues of women and spouses, on whose behalf the Lord of the Worlds acts as deputy in this verse, requesting their husbands to take care of them.MuṣṬafā said, �The best of you is the best of you to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wife.

Divorce is twice, then retention with honor or setting free with beautiful doing.This is a recommendation to spread out the divorce so that they will not hurry to complete sepa-ration.19 Spreading out the divorce is recommended because the reality of separation is reprehen- sible. Although divorce is permitted in the Shariah, God hates it, for it is the cause of separating and of cutting the ties of familiarity and union. God's Messenger said, �The most hateful of per- mitted things to me is divorce.� The exalted Qur'an praises people who do not cut bonds and do not seek for separation. It says, �Those who join what God has commanded to be joined and fear their Lord� [13:21].In the Highest Dominion, He created angels who are half snow and half fire. Through His own power He brought these two opposites together and kept them that way. Their glorification is this: �Glory be to Him who makes fire familiar with snow! O Lord, make the hearts of your faithful servants familiar with each other!�A pir of the Sufis said, �I was walking in the desert. I saw a person I did not recognize, water standing before him, and plants growing from the water. I asked him who he was and he said that he was Abū Murra [the Father of Bitterness].20 I asked him what the water was. He said, 'It is my tears, and these green things and plants are growing up from my tears.' I asked him why he was weeping. He said, 'I weep in the days of separation for the days of union. In the days of separation the murmur of union is the ease of the hearts of the deprived. Leave me to weep for myself, for there is no one in the world more miserable than I.'�I said, �My heart wants to be Your comrade,so I will be worthy of thanks and applause.� By God, I did not think, O Spirit of the world,that all my hopes would come to this.Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī had a wife whom he divorced. Her dower was 40,000 dirhams, so he sent it to her so that her heart would be happy. She put that wealth in front her and began to weep: �'Paltry goods from a departed lover!' What use to me are the goods of the world when my companion is not at my side and my friend is tired of me!�When a viper strikes someone's liverthey give him the antidote, not candy.

Mothers shall suckle their children two whole years-for those who desire to complete the suckling.Great is that Lord who is unique in loving kindness and without peer in caressing servants. He be- stows in testing, He is loyal to assurances. If we call Him, He hears, and if we do not, He knows. He is generous, loving, love-showing, and love-increasing; gentle, defect-hiding, excuse-hearing, a good God. His bounty is beyond all bounty, His generosity beyond all generosity, His mercy greater than all mercies, His love not like other loves.The example given of utmost mercy is the mercy of mothers, but God's mercy toward His servants is more than that, and His love is not like their love. Do you not see that He commands mothers to give milk to their children for two complete years, He urges them to nurture them, and He counsels them to take care of them? He does not confine Himself to the love of mothers and leave it at that. This is so that you will know that God is more lovingly kind to the servant than a mother is to her child.Once MuṣṬafā was passing by when a woman with a child in her arms was baking bread. They had told her that God's Messenger would be passing. She came forward and said, �O Messenger of God! We have heard you say that the God of the world's inhabitants is more lovingly kind to His servants than a mother to her child.�The Messenger said, �Yes, that is so.�That woman became happy and said, �O Messenger of God! A mother would never toss her child into this oven.�MuṣṬafā wept. Then he said, �God chastises in the Fire only those who refuse to say, 'There is no god but God.'�Kaʿb ʿUjra said that one day God's Messenger said to his companions, �What do you say about a man slain in God's path?�They said, �God and His Messenger know best.�He said, �He is in the Garden.� Then he said, �What do you say about a man concerning whom two just men have said that they knew nothing of him but good?�They said, �God and His Messenger know best.�He said, �He is in the Garden.� Then he said, �What do you say about a dead man concerning whom two just witnesses say that they never saw any good from him?�The Companions said, �He is in the Fire.

And that you pardon is nearer to godwariness. And forget not bounty among yourselves. Surely God sees what you do.Godwariness lies in pardon, and paradise lies in godwariness, just as He says: �The next world with thy Lord belongs to the godwary� [43:35]. The folk of realization have said that godwariness has a beginning and an end. The beginning is what He says: �And that you pardon is nearer to godwari- ness,� and the end is what He says: �And forget not bounty among yourselves.� Its beginning is that you recognize what is rightfully due to you from your brother, but then you pardon it and let it go. This is the way station of submission and the conduct of the worshipers. Its end is that you recognize what is rightfully due to him from you and you prefer him over yourself. As much as you see disloyalty and offense from him, you offer him your apology. This is the station of tawḤīd and the description of the state of the sincerely truthful. In its meaning they have sung,�When we are ill, we come to you and tend to you. When you sin, we come to you and apologize.�To this the Prophet alluded when he said, �Shall I point you to the best character trait of the folk of this world and the next? You join with him who cuts you off, pardon him who does you wrong, and bestow on him who deprives you.�

Guard over the prayers, and the middle prayer, and stand before God devoutly.In the tongue of allusion to guard over the prayer is that, when the servant comes into the presence of the prayer, he comes with awe, and when he leaves, he leaves with reverence. As long as he is in the prayer, he is described by courtesy. He keeps his body in the outward service, his heart in the realities of union, and his secret core along with his spirit in the ease of whispered prayer. �The praying person is whispering with his Lord.�Abū Bakr Shiblī said, �If I were given the choice to enter the prayer or to go into paradise, I would not chose that high paradise over the prayer. Even if paradise is joy and blessings, the prayer is secret whispering with the Patron of Blessings. That is the place of pleasure for water and clay, and this is the place of gazing for spirit and heart. That is roasted fowl in the garden of approval, and this is repose and ease [56:89] in the garden of the Beloved.�For the sake of gazing stroll once into the Beloved's garden, see the Beloved scattering spirit beneath your feet.MuṣṬafā gave no station the mark he gave to the prayer when he said, �'The delight of my eyes was placed in the prayer.' Amongst the caresses and beauties, the brightness of my eyes lies in being occupied with Him and whispering secretly with Him.�Here is my heart-look into it and see: is there any goal other than You?There was a man called Abū ʿAlī Siyāh, who was unique in his era. Whenever anyone went to see him, he would say, �I'm a carefree man. I have no occupation. The brightness of my eyes lies in seeing a man of His road or talking about Him with someone.�Every night I talk to my heart about You.I seek Your scent from the dawn breeze.The knower of the Tariqah, ʿAbdallāh Anṣārī, said, �O God, O lovingly kind, O helper! Exalted is he who has one breath with You! May I have a breath in which no one mixes, a breath that after- wards has no veil. For me that one breath is enough in the two worlds.

Who is it that will lend to God a beautiful loan, and He will multiply it for him many times? And God contracts and expands, and to Him you shall be returned.In this verse the generous Lord, He of tremendous and celebrated name, the lovingly kind, the caressing, the holder-majestic is His unity and holy His sanctum-caresses His servants, both the rich and the poor.He caresses the rich by asking loans from them, for loans are asked of friends.YaḤyā Muʿādh said, �I wonder at anyone who still has wealth, when the Lord of the Throne wants to borrow it.�A sound hadith says, �God descends and says, 'Who will supplicate Me that I may respond to him?' Then He spreads His two hands and says, 'Who will lend to one who is neither lacking nor wrongdoing?'�What do you know of the generosity and largesse found in this asking for a loan? This is a largesse that you might say is a painting on the spirit. From it the tree of joy is in fruit and in it the eyes of revelry are awake. He is saying, �Who is it that will give a loan to Him who is neither awrongdoer that he might take it away, nor a poor man not able to pay it back?� Anyone who rec- ognizes the worth of this declaration will put forth the bounteous wealth of spirit and heart and say,�I will exert my heart and spirit with none but You. My heart is Your property-I will not intervene!If with an allusion You ask for my spirit,I will send it at once without hesitation.�One day ʿAlī Murtaẓā went home, and Ḥasan and Ḥusayn were weeping before FāṬima Zahrā. ʿAlī said, �O FāṬima, what happened to the brightness of my eyes, the fruit of my heart, and the joy of my spirit that they are weeping?�FāṬima said, �O ʿAlī, it seems that they are hungry, for a day has passed and they have eaten nothing.�She had placed a pot on the fire, so ʿAlī said, �What do you have in the pot?�She said, �There is nothing in the pot except plain water. I put it on the fire to keep the children happy, for they think I am cooking something.

Their prophet said to them, �The sign of his kingship is that there will come to you the ark within which is tranquility from your Lord.�Whenever someone finds a drink from the cup of recognition on the carpet of the religion's good fortune, the cupbearer of that drink is the sultan of tranquility. The exalted lodging place of the sultan of tranquility is the capital city of the heart: He it is who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful [48:4]. The subtle reality of the heart is the dwelling place of the attribute of eternity: �Surely the hearts are between two fingers of the All-Merciful.�What a great difference there is between two groups of people! The tranquility of one group was in the ark, and the ark was under the determination of the Children of Israel, sometimes here and sometimes there, sometimes like this and sometimes like that. The tranquility of the other group is in their hearts, in the grasp of the Real's attributes. The Adamite has no hand in it, the angel no access to it. He comes between a man and his heart [8:24].Shiblī said, �The curtains were taken down and the veils lifted in the realities of the secret core, and many unseen things were unveiled to my secret core. I saw hell like a roaring dragon and rapacious lion. It was playing with the people and pulling them to itself with its tail. It saw me and displayed its mightiness. It wanted its share from me. I gave it all of my outward organs and parts and had no fear of their burning. I had no concern for outward burning because of my inner burning.�The Pir of the Tariqah said, �All fires burn the body, but the fire of friendship burns the spirit.No one can be patient in face of that spirit-burning fire.�If He burns you, say �Burn!�, if He caresses, say �Caress!�It's best for the passionate man to be put between water and fire.Shiblī said, �When I gave my makeup and form to the fire, the turn of the heart arrived. The fire wanted my heart. I said, 'I will toss it away without fear.' A voice came to my secret core, 'OShiblī, leave the heart alone, for the heart is not yours, nor is it under your determination.

God, there is no god but He, the Living, the Self-Standing. Slumber takes Him not, nor sleep. To Him belong whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who will in- tercede with Him save by His leave? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they encompass nothing of His knowledge save as He wills. His Footstool embraces the heavens and the earth, and He is the High, the Tremendous.God is He who has divinity and lordhood, God is He who has unity and self-sufficiency. His fix- ity is unitary, His being self-sufficient, His subsistence beginningless, and His brilliance eternal.God is the name of a lord whose essence is everlasting and whose attributes are eternal. His subsistence is beginningless and His splendor endless. His beauty is self-standing and His majesty constant. He is magnanimous and renowned, great in measure and deed, great in name and word, beyond intelligence and before when, and greater than any measure.O majestic God who is the Enactor and the good sweetheart, the creator of the world and the guardian of the creatures, keeper of enemies and companion of friends, the hard cash of hopes and enough for assurances, the receiver of every plaintiff and the forgiver of every offense, the kiblah of the desirer and the remembrance of the recognizer's heart!In remembrance of You I pass my days without You, in my eyes a picture of Your form.God is the remembrance of the hearts of the friends, God is the witness of the heart of the recogniz- ers, God is the joy of the secret core of the distracted, God is the healing of the hearts of the ill, God is the lamp of the breast of the tawḤīd-voicers, God is the light of the heart of the familiars and the balm of the pain of the burnt.Passion for You in my heart is like the light of certainty, Your name upon my eyes like the seal on a ring.In my nature and aspiration until the day of resurrectionlove for You will be like the spirit and loyalty to You like religion.The Pir of the Tariqah Junayd said, " If someone says God with his tongue when other than God is in his heart, God will be his adversary in the two abodes.

God is the friend of those who have faith.Their friend [walī], their patron [mawlā], their ruler [wālī], and their caretaker [mutawallī]-all are alike in meaning. He is saying, " God is the lord of the faithful, their caretaker and helper, their guide and open-hearted friend. "In a report it has come that God's Messenger said, " If someone were to destroy the eminent, great Kaabah, take apart its stones, and set it on fire, his disobedience would not be as much as if he were to denigrate one of God's friends. "A nomad was present. He said, " O Messenger of God! Who are these friends of God? "He replied, " All of the faithful are God's beloved friends. Have you not recited the verse, 'God is the friend of those who have faith?' "The equal of this verse is where He says, " That is because God is the patron of those who havefaith, and the unbelievers have no patron " [47:11]. He is the friend and caretaker of the faithful, not only in this world, but also in the next, as He says: " We are your friends in this world's life and in the next world " [41:31].In the story of Joseph, He quotes his words, " Thou art my friend in this world and the next " [12:101]. There is a great difference between these two verses-We are your friends and Thou art my friend-though anyone who does not have the eyes to see is excused. We are your friends comes from togetherness itself, but Thou art my friend alludes to dispersion. This is not because the friend is superior to the prophet, for the end of the friend's work is but the beginning of the prophet's work. However, the weak are shown greater benevolence, and the incapable are given more caresses, for they are not so bold as to claim familiarity. They see themselves as tainted, so they do not have the tongue to speak. Whoever is more helpless is closer to the Friend. Whoever is more broken is more worthy of love: " I am with those whose hearts are broken for Me. "It has been reported that on the Day of Resurrection, one of the broken and burnt will be taken to the Presence.

When Abraham said to his Lord, �Show me how Thou givest life to the dead.� He said, �Dost thou not have faith?� He said, �Yes indeed, but that my heart may be serene.�... And know that God is exalted, wise.In the language of unveiling and in keeping with the tasting of the lords of the realities, this verse has another intimation and explanation. They say that Abraham was yearning for the Real's speech and burning for His address. His burning had reached the limit, the army of his patience had been put to flight, and the fire of his love was shooting up flames. He said, �O Lord, show me how you bring the dead to life.�He said, �O Abraham, dost thou not have faith? Do you not have faith that I bring the dead to life?�He said, �I do, but my heart has been thrown into turmoil by the wish to hear Your speech and by burning passion for Your address. I want You to talk.�Dost thou not have faith? �The goal was exactly that You would talk and ease would enter my heart.�My ease is Your messageand my feet are in Your snare.The story is told that a man had fallen for a young woman and wanted to speak with her, but she would not talk and was unwilling to do so. The afflicted man became helplessly captivated by her, hoping to speak with her. He knew that she had a liking for jewels. He went and gave everything he had for one precious gem. He went and placed a stone in front of her in order to break the gem. The object of his passion did not have the capacity to put up with breaking. She said, �Poor man, what are you doing?�He said, �I am doing it so that you will say, 'What are you doing?'�No rest or ease remains in my heart-call me names if you have no message.It has been said that with these words Abraham was asking for the life of the heart and the serenity of the secret core. He knew that as long as a heart is not alive, serenity will not come down into it, and as long as serenity has not come down into it, he would not have reached the final goal of the recognizers.

O You who have faith, do not void your charity by counting it a favor and causing dis- comfort.Ibn ʿAbbās said, �Do not void your charity by counting it a favor toward God.� God is saying, �O you have faith, who have placed your hands in the chains of Our servanthood and have clung to the rope of Our protection! The path of servanthood is not that of gazing on yourself and counting your obedience a favor to Us, for everything you do comes from Our success-giving and Our desire. When your heart was opened up, We opened it. When you found success, We gave it. When you gave comfort to the poor, We willed that. We made all of that happen, so all should be counted as Our favor. All acting is Ours, and all attending to things is Ours.�BarrāÌ ibn ʿāzib said, �On the Day of the Moat I saw God's Messenger when he was saying these words of Ibn RawāḤa:�O God, if not for You, we would not have been guided,we would not have given charity, we would not have prayed.So send down tranquility upon us,and firm up our feet for the encounter.�He is saying, �O God, were it not for Your solicitude, how could we have found the way to the street of tawḤīd? Were it not for Your success-giving, how could we have had the ability to do good works?� When a poor wretch counts obeying God a favor to Him, this is because he has lost the path of servanthood. He gives weight to his own obedience and sees it as large, so he does not turn the eyes of his heart and head away from it. In the path of chivalry, seeing one's own obedi-ence is idol-worship, and looking back at it is duality itself.If you are martyred a hundred times a day in God's pathyou'll still be an idol-worshiper if you see yourself in the midst. [DS 708]It has also been said that do not void your charity by counting it a favor and causing discomfort means to void your charity by laying favors on those who ask. He is saying, �Do not ruin your charity by counting it a favor to the poor.

Satan promises you poverty and commands you to indecency, and God promises you forgiveness from Him, and bounty.Satan promises you poverty because of his poverty, and God promises you forgiveness because of His generosity.Satan himself is poor toward the Real, so he promises poverty, for that is what he has and that is what his hands reach. His harvest was burned, so he wants the harvest of others to burn as well. The Lord of the Worlds, who is forgiving and servant-caressing, promises forgiveness and gener- osity. Yes, everyone does what is worthy of him, and the pot pours what it has inside. Each acts according to his own manner [17:84]. The Lord's invitation is what He says: �He invites you so that He may forgive you some of your sins� [14:10]. Satan's call is what He says: �He invites his party only so that they may be among the companions of the Blaze� [35:6]. Satan invites to avarice and eagerness for this world, and that in reality is poverty. God invites to contentment and seeking the afterworld, and that is nothing but wealth.The respect due to wealth in the religion is greater, for in this world, the person is content and has no need for the creatures, whispering secretly with the Real in his heart. In the next world he will dwell in the scented garden of bounty and generosity and the ocean of face-to-face vision, drowned in the Greatest Light.Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, �Wealth is three things: wealth of property, wealth of disposi- tion, and wealth of heart.�Wealth of property is three things: The lawful is a tribulation, the unlawful a curse, and the excessive punishment.�Wealth of disposition is three things: contentment, satisfaction, and chivalry.�Wealth of heart is three things: an aspiration greater than this world, an object of desire better than the next world, and a yearning for the vision of the Patron.�

He gives wisdom to whomsoever He wills.It has been said that wisdom has a reality and a fruit. The reality of wisdom is recognizing an affairas suited for the affair, putting a thing in its own place, recognizing everyone in his own frame- work, seeing the end of every statement at its beginning, and recognizing the inwardness of any statement from its outwardness. The fruit of wisdom is balancing interaction with people between tenderness and cajolery, balancing interaction with oneself between fear and hope, and balancing interaction with the Real between awe and intimacy.Wisdom is a light. When its ray shines upon you, it adorns the tongue with right remem- brance, the heart with right thought, and the bodily members with right activity. Then when you speak, you speak with wisdom, snatching away hearts and making spirits your prey. When you reflect, you reflect with wisdom, flying like a falcon, roaming in the highest Dominion, and making a nest only in the Presence of At-ness.May I be a ransom for the men dwelling in the Unseen, their secret cores roaming in all that is there!*Give the strong wings of wisdom to the peacock of the Throne and here in this place of the snare you'll see its nest in joy.If you stroll toward the Holy Presence with exaltedness,you'll see steeds coming forth from the city of the Lord. [DS 706]Yes indeed. And when someone like this acts, he acts with wisdom-coming together with the palisades of the Beloved's approval, sacrificing his desire to God's desire, seeing his intimacy in remembering Him, keeping his gaze in accordance with His gaze, resting in his remembrance no matter what arrives; sometimes burned by passion for Him in the playing field of majesty in the station of need, sometimes at ease with His gentleness in the garden of union on the throne of joy.At times those black locks raise the swords of severity,at times those sweet lips light the candles of gentleness. O You whose perfection has paid purses to the losers at dice!O You whose beauty has sewn the wallets of the destitute!

[It is] for the poor, who are constrained in the path of God and are not able to travel in the earth. The ignorant man counts them as rich because of their self-restraint. Thou shalt rec- ognize them by their mark-they do not ask of the people imploringly. And whatever good you expend, surely God knows it.This is a description of the state of the poor among the Companions and a clarification of their conduct. Until the day of resurrection, this is the balm of the hearts of the burnt and broken.Their first attribute is that they are constrained in the path of God, that is, they have halted at God's decree. They have constrained their souls to obey Him, their hearts to recognize Him, their spirits to love Him, and their secret cores to see Him.23 They have settled down in God's decree and approved of it, they have welcomed His command, they have kept their souls in obedience, they have occupied their hearts with recognition, their spirits have come to be at ease in love, and their secret cores have remained in anticipation of vision, for the Exalted Lord says about them, " They are unable to travel in the earth. " They are so busy with the Real that they attend neither to the creatures nor to themselves. They take no steps in seeking daily provision, nor do they put their hearts into acquisition and trade. This is exactly what He says: " whom neither trade nor buying diverts from the remembrance of God " [24:37]. They are chevaliers whose watchword is God's remembrance and whose blanket is God's love. They have repose and settledness at the threshold of serving Him and their aspiration is free of others. They are the beauty of paradise and the adorn- ment of the abode of settledness [40:39]-a few of the Emigrants and a few of the Helpers.The ignorant man counts them as rich because of their self-restraint. You would say that they are without need and you would number them as wealthy, for, despite the defectiveness of their state and the constraint of poverty, they never ask, whether from creatures or from the Real. Notasking from creatures is precisely trust, and trust is the level of their abode. Not asking from the Real is the reality of approval, and the field of approval is their way station.

Those who expend their wealth night and day, secretly and openly, shall have their wage with their Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they grieve.As long as they have any wealth, they do not slacken from expending it for an hour, night and day. When the wealth is exhausted, they do not slacken from witnessing Him for a moment, night and day.24 This is as they say:Wealth, gold, things-gamble them away for nothing. When the work reaches your spirit, gamble it away!Spending wealth in the road of the religion according to the Shariah is the work of the faithful, and throwing away the spirit in the contemplation of the majesty and beauty of the Patron in respect of the Haqiqah is the work of the chevaliers. This is the effort of servanthood by the servants. What then is worthy of God and the divine generosity toward the servants?!

Those who have faith and do wholesome deeds, who perform the prayer and give the alms tax, shall have their wage with their Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they grieve.In other words, �Enough for those who come to be Ours will be what they find with Us, for Weleave not to waste the wage of those who do beautiful deeds [18:30].��When someone has recourse to the gate of Our generosity, We give him shelter in the shade of Our blessings. When the dust of Our path falls on someone, the darkness of separation from Us will not fall upon him. When someone takes one step toward Us, he will find a gift with Us.� In other words, �When someone joins with Us, he will escape from the night attack of severance.� Or: �When someone binds his heart to Our generosity, he will pack his bags from the room of sor- rows.� Or: �When someone sees Us, his spirit will laugh. He who reaches himself will reach Us. Nothing can be said about what he who reaches himself will see and hear.�The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O God, all Your caresses are for our sake, for in each breath ap- pears so much burning with the light of Your solicitude. Who has a patron like You? Where is a friend like You? With the attributes that You have, nothing else is fitting. All this is the mark, and the celebration is tomorrow. This indeed is the message, and the robe of honor is in place.�The robe of honor is what He said: �shall have their wage with their Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they grieve.� Wait until tomorrow, when He gives out the generous wage and tremendous caress that He has with Himself, the boundless blessings and everlasting triumph, in the assembly of repose and ease [56:89] and the appointed time of union with the Beloved.When will my luck smile at me from Your playing field?When will separation from You strike its tent from my spirit's desert?What wonderful work is the work of the poor! Gabriel, with six hundred peacock wings, could nottake one step beyond the Lote Tree along with that paragon of the world.

To God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Whether you show what is in your souls or you hide it, God will bring you to account for it.To God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth as ownership, origina- tion, creation, and devising. He gave them existence from nonexistence, so He owns them with the ownership of exaltedness and powerfulness, not the ownership of gaining and earning. He does in them whatsoever He wills [3:40] and He decrees whatsoever He desires [5:1].He is saying that everything in the heavens and the earths is owned by God, an ownership of existence-giving and exaltedness, not an ownership of earning and inheritance. It is the owner- ship of the Adamites that is gained by the ruling property of commerce and gift, or acquisition and inheritance. Hence the ruling property that establishes ownership makes the rightful due of what is owned necessary for them. As for God's ownership, it comes by way of bringing nonbeing into being, by creation after nonbeing, and by making new from the outset. Thus His ownership is not like anyone else's ownership, nor does anyone have any ruling property over Him in that. What He does with what He Himself created He does by reason of His own lordhood. From Him it is justice, not injustice. Injustice is when someone does something that is not his to do. But it is God's to do whatever He does because He is creator, enactor, and king. Majestic is His ruling power, tremendous His rank, exalted His magnificence, realized His word, and high His reality beyond the perception of intellects!To God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. He did not say this so that you would attach your heart to it and occupy yourself with it, but so that you would attach your heart to its creator and see its artisan. This is the same as He said: �Do not prostrate yourselves to the sun and the moon, but prostrate yourselves to God, who created them� [41:37]. When He created heaven and earth, He created them as the gazing place of the common people, so that they would look at the artisanry and from it reach the Artisan.

The Messenger has faith in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the faithful. Each one has faith in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers: �We make no distinc- tion among any of His messengers.� They say, �We hear and we obey! Thy forgiveness, our Lord! And to Thee is the homecoming.� God takes no soul to task beyond its capacity. It shall have what it has earned, and against it shall be what it has acquired. �Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget or make mistakes. Our Lord, put not upon us a burden such as that Thou hast put on those before us. Our Lord, and do not burden us with what we do not have the strength to bear. And pardon us, and forgive us, and have mercy upon us. Thou art our Patron, so help us against the people of the unbelievers.�This is a declaration of the greatness and eminence of the Messenger at the moment of contemplation. He said, �The Messenger has faith.� He did not say, �Thou hast faith.� This is how masters and kings are addressed in the manner of declaring their greatness. It is exactly like what He said about Himself at the beginning of the Surah of Opening: �Praise belongs to God.� He did not say, �Praise belongs to Me.� This was to declare His own greatness and to make manifest His exaltedness and majesty.The Messenger has faith. Now that He has mentioned faith, the Uprising, the Garden, the Fire, the prayer, the alms tax, retaliation, fasting, hajj, struggle, marriage, divorce, menstruation, the waiting period, expenditure, foster relationship, forswearal, divorce initiated by the wife, in- heritance, charity, vows, buying, selling, usury, debts, and ransom; and He has mentioned the stories of the prophets and the signs of His power, God completes the surah by mentioning that His prophet and the faithful assent to the truthfulness of all of it. Hence He says, The Messenger has faith in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the faithful. This is praise and laudation of the Prophet, who explained these rulings and delivered the message, and of the faithful, for we have recognized, accepted, and held firm to all the rulings, boundaries, stories of the prophets, and marks of God's power and tremendousness that were mentioned.

The Messenger has faith in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the faithful. Each one has faith in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers: �We make no distinc- tion among any of His messengers.� They say, �We hear and we obey! Thy forgiveness, our Lord! And to Thee is the homecoming.� God takes no soul to task beyond its capacity. It shall have what it has earned, and against it shall be what it has acquired. �Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget or make mistakes. Our Lord, put not upon us a burden such as that Thou hast put on those before us. Our Lord, and do not burden us with what we do not have the strength to bear. And pardon us, and forgive us, and have mercy upon us. Thou art our Patron, so help us against the people of the unbelievers.�This is a declaration of the greatness and eminence of the Messenger at the moment of contemplation. He said, �The Messenger has faith.� He did not say, �Thou hast faith.� This is how masters and kings are addressed in the manner of declaring their greatness. It is exactly like what He said about Himself at the beginning of the Surah of Opening: �Praise belongs to God.� He did not say, �Praise belongs to Me.� This was to declare His own greatness and to make manifest His exaltedness and majesty.The Messenger has faith. Now that He has mentioned faith, the Uprising, the Garden, the Fire, the prayer, the alms tax, retaliation, fasting, hajj, struggle, marriage, divorce, menstruation, the waiting period, expenditure, foster relationship, forswearal, divorce initiated by the wife, in- heritance, charity, vows, buying, selling, usury, debts, and ransom; and He has mentioned the stories of the prophets and the signs of His power, God completes the surah by mentioning that His prophet and the faithful assent to the truthfulness of all of it. Hence He says, The Messenger has faith in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the faithful. This is praise and laudation of the Prophet, who explained these rulings and delivered the message, and of the faithful, for we have recognized, accepted, and held firm to all the rulings, boundaries, stories of the prophets, and marks of God's power and tremendousness that were mentioned.

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

He it is who has sent down upon thee the Book, wherein are firm verses, which are the mother of the Book, and others ambiguous.He is neither a name nor an attribute. Rather, it is an allusion to being. It means that our Lord is, He is fitting to be, and He has been-beyond location and transcendent in attributes. ShurayḤ ʿābid said, �I saw a dervish in the mosque of the Sanctuary calling upon God by saying, 'O He who is He! O He other than whom there is no he! Forgive me.' A voice came from the Unseen: 'O dervish, you received so much reward for saying that the first time that the angels will be writ- ing it out until the resurrection.'�Huwa is two letters, h and w. The place of articulation of h is the last part of the throat, and the place of articulation of the w is the first part of the throat. This alludes to the fact that the letters begin from Him at first and return to Him at last. From Him they begin and to Him they return. It has also been said it alludes to the created things and engendered beings: all things come in the beginning from His power and return in the end by His decree.A dervish in the state of rapture was asked, �What is your name?� He answered, �He.� They said, �Where have you come from?� He said, �He.� They said, �What do you want?� He said, �He.� They said, �Perhaps you mean 'God'.� When the dervish heard the name God, he gave his spirit to the name and left this world.The painters depict Your name in a hundred meanings; remembering You and Your name they give up their spirits.They scatter their lives for the scent of union with Youwith nothing in hand of Your description but incapacity.Wherein are firm verses, which are the mother of the Book, and others ambiguous. These are the two great divisions of the Qur'an, one apparent and clear, the other abstruse and difficult. The ap- parent belongs to the majesty of the Shariah, and the difficult belongs to the beauty of the Haqiqah. The apparent is so the common people may reach joy and blessings by perceiving it and putting it into practice.

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

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

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

Shall I tell you of something better than that? For those who are godwary there shall be with their Lord gardens beneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever, and spouses made pure, and approval from God.After talking about the enemies, describing their life, and explaining their furthest goal, God in this verse comes back to the story of the friends. Tomorrow, the final outcome of those whose watch- word today is godwariness will be paradise and approval. He says, �For those who are godwary there shall be with their Lord gardens.�Just as godwariness has levels, so also paradise has degrees. The first degree is the Garden of the Shelter, and the first level of godwariness is to avoid the forbidden and the soul's caprice. The Splendorous Qur'an ties the two together in its words, �As for him who fears the standing place be- fore his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter� [79:40-41]. The highest degree is the Garden of Eden, and better than the Garden of Eden is the Greatest Approval. So, the furthest goal of the paradise-dwellers is the Greatest Approval, just as the Lord of the Worlds says: �And goodly dwellings in the gardens of Eden; and approval from God isgreatest� [9:72]The Greatest Approval belongs to those who reach the utmost godwariness. The utmost god- wariness is that someone takes whatever has the scar of new arrival and the mark of creation as his own enemy, as Abraham said: �Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds� [26:77]. You must turn away from all things and, with detached heart, busy yourself with the suf- fering of passion for the Haqiqah. You must know for certain that the intrusion of others finds no room in passion's suffering. You must cut off your heart and spirit from everything.The heart is Your garden-take it all, for this heart has room either for my intrusion or Your image.In gratitude I will also send my spirit to You-a whiff of union with You does what a hundred spirits cannot.Tomorrow, all will be taken to the furthest limit of their goals and aspirations. Here someone hopes for the Garden of the Refuge and is told, �Flee from the unlawful and be just, and that will not be held back from you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Worship God, and associate nothing with Him, and act beautifully toward parents, and toward kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, and the neighbor who is of kin, and the neighbor who is a stranger, and the companion at your side, and the son of the road, and what your right hands own.This verse begins by mentioning tawḤīd, which is the root of the sciences, the secret of the recogni- tions, the basis of the religion, the foundation of being a Muslim, and the partition between enemy and friend. Any act of obedience without tawḤīd has no value or weight, and its outcome will be nothing but darkness and captivity. Any act of disobedience along with tawḤīd will yield nothing other than familiarity and brightness.TawḤīd is that you say that God is one and that you be one for Him. Saying one is the submit- ter's tawḤīd, and being one is the basis of the recognizer's tawḤīd. The submitter's tawḤīd drives away the devil, washes away sin, and opens up the heart. The recognizer's tawḤīd cuts away at- tachments, washes away the creatures, and brings forth the realities.The submitter's tawḤīd takes advice, opens the door, and gives fruit. The recognizer's tawḤīdeffaces the customs of human nature and burns away the veil of mortal nature so that the breezeof familiarity may blow, the beginningless reminder may arrive, and the friend may gaze upon the Friend.The submitter's tawḤīd is that you bear witness to God's one Essence, pure attributes, and beginningless names and marks. He is the God other than whom there is no god, the Creator of heaven and earth other than whom there is no enactor. No one has loyalty like Him in the whole cosmos. He is a Lord who is above all in measure, beyond all in Essence and attributes. From the Beginningless to the Endless He is the greatest Lord. When intellect holds that something is impossible, God has perfect power over it. His power makes no use of contrivance, and His self- standing has no change of state. In the kingdom He is safe from disappearance, and in Essence and attributes He is transcendent.You will never see any created thing without marks of deficiency and fault, but the Eternal Enactor is pure of deficiency, incomparable with fault, free of blights.

O you who have faith! Do not approach the prayer when you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying, or defiled-except for travelers on the road-until you have made the full ablution.... Surely God is pardoning, forgiving.Intoxication is drunkenness. Drunkenness is disparate, and the drunkards diverse. One is drunk with the wine of the grape, another with the wine of heedlessness, another with love for this world, another with the frivolity of the soul and self-love. This last is the most difficult, for self-love is the basis of idol-worship, the seed of estrangement, the curtain of ill fortune, and the root of every darkness.If you are martyred a hundred times a day in the path of Godyou will still be an idol-worshiper if you see yourself in the midst.When will you be the man to want the heart without caprice?When you will have the pain to see the body with contempt? [DS 708]When someone is drunk with wine and is fearful and shaking in dread of punishment, the end of his work will be burning in the fire of punishment-if He does not forgive him. But He may indeed forgive him, for He says, �Surely God forgives the sins altogether� [39:53].When someone is drunk with the soul's arrogance and with pride and self-worship, his work is in peril. His basis is loss, his deeds damage him, and he dwells in the peril of being led on and deceived and the danger of everlasting separation.Or defiled-except for travelers on the road-until you have made the full ablution. If the religion were based on reasoning, then the greater ablution would be incumbent after urination, and the minor ablution after ejaculation. Urine is impure and semen is pure. With impure urine, the lesser purity is mandatory, but with pure semen the greater purity. This is so that you will know that the religion is founded on the transmitted, not on the rationally derived; on the Book, not onreasoning; on making oneself a servant, not on self-exertion.The origin of the major ablution is from the era of Adam. When Adam came from paradise to this world, he fell into companionship with Eve. Gabriel came and said, �O Adam, make a full ablution, for God commands you to do so.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Forbidden to you are carrion and blood, the flesh of swine, that which has been offered up to other than God, the strangled, the beaten down, the fallen, the gored, what has been eaten by predators-except what you slaughter-what is sacrificed on stone alters, and that which you al- lot by divining arrows-that is ungodliness. Today those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear Me. Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you, and I have approved for you the submission as a religion.Although carrion is vile and forbidden, a measure of it is still allowed at the time of constraint. Among the sorts of carrion is the flesh of a brother Muslim that is eaten by backbiting. In this there is never a concession in any state, whether by constraint or free choice. Hence this carrion is worse than that carrion, and its prohibition is greater. God says, �Do not backbite one another. Would one of you love to eat the dead flesh of his brother? You would abhor it� [49:12].It has been said that an animal whose flesh is eaten has two states: One is that, when it is killed by the stipulation of the Shariah, it is pure. Taking it is allowed and eating it is permitted. When it dies by itself, it is defiled, and eating it is forbidden.By way of allusion He is saying that when this Adamic soul is killed by the sword of struggle in the path of discipline according to the Shariah-that is, when it has been subjugated by the religion and come to be commanded by the Shariah, made a servant and abased by the burden of obedience-the soul with this description is pure. Nearness to it is allowed, being its companion is lawful, seeing it is the heart's repose, and companionship with it is the spirit's happiness. But whenever a soul dies in the darkness of its own heedlessness such that it no longer perceives the work of the religion and exerts no effort in the limits set down by the Shariah, this soul is like the carrion whose body is defiled and nearness to which is forbidden.The strangled, the beaten down, the fallen to death, the gored.

O you who have faith, when you stand for the prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to your elbows.... If you find no water, have recourse to goodly dust.Outward purity has three sections: First is purity after impurity. Second is purity after excretion and sexual activity. Third is purity from the sheddings of the body, such as nails, hair, dirt, and so on. Each of these three sections has an explanation and an explication, and these will be spoken of elsewhere, God willing.Inward purity has three duties: First, purity of the limbs from disobedience, such as back-biting, lying, eating the forbidden, betrayal, and looking at women illicitly. When this purity is gained, the servant is adorned with obedience and reverence. This is the degree of the faith of the pious. Its mark is that the remembrance of the Real is always on their tongue, the fruit of the prom- ise in their heart, the freshness of His favors in their spirit. They are always visiting the sick, going to cemeteries, hurrying to supplicate for good people, and reaching for paradise.The second duty is purity of the heart from unapproved character traits, such as self-admira- tion, envy, pride, hypocrisy, avarice, animosity, and frivolity. Self-admiration ruins the mirror of friendship, envy reduces the worth of people, pride darkens the mirror of the heart, hypocrisy dries up the wellspring of obedience, avarice puts aside respect for people, animosity blocks up the water of familiarity, and frivolity takes away the tent-pole of companionship. When the servant has be- come pure of these defilements, he is numbered among the godwary. His mark is that he flees from concessions, he does not cling to ambiguity, he is always fearful, trembling, and fleeing from hell; he is content with a morsel and a tattered cloak, he has put aside the world and the world's folk, and he has melted himself in the crucible of sorrow. Faith is his basis, godwariness his traveling sup- plies, the grave his way station, and the afterworld his goal. With all this, he constantly weeps with the tongue of pleading and says, �O God, everyone is upon something, but I don't know what I'm upon. I fear only the moment when who I am appears. O God, I am always talking and speaking.

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

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

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

O you who have faith, if any of you turn back on your religion, God will bring a people whom He loves, and who love Him.This verse contains an allusion for the knowers and good news for the faithful. The allusion is that God is the guardian and defender of the creed of submission, the unswerving religion, the Muhammadan Shariah, and that it will always remain. What will this religion lose if some people turn away? If some people turn back, the Lord of Mightiness will bring others who embrace this religion with spirit and heart and nurture it joyfully. With them God will preserve the signposts of His commands and the foundations of His prohibitions. With their places He will decorate the carpet of the Shariah. Upon them He has inscribed the letters of love, for He says, �whom He loves, and who love Him.� Upon the page of their hearts He has written with the divine script: He wrote faith in their hearts [58:22]. He has illuminated their inmost eye with the lamp of recognition: So he is upon a light from his Lord [39:22]. The Divinity is their nurturer, the lap of prophethood their cradle, beginninglessness and endlessless their warders, the playing field of gentleness the lodge of their gaze, and the carpet of awe the resting place of their aspiration. This is just what God says in another place: �So if they disbelieve, we have already entrusted it to a people who do not disbe- lieve� [6:89]. The Prophet said, �A group among my people will never cease supporting the Real. None who oppose them will harm them, and then God's command will come.�The good news is that whoever does not turn back is counted among the friends, the folk of love and faith. Those who do not fall into the abyss of turning back have the good news that the name of love will fall upon them.God says, �If any of you turn back on your religion, God will bring a people whom He loves, and who love Him.� First He affirms His love, then the servants' love. Thus you know that so long as God does not love the servant, the servant will not love.WāsiṬī said, �Gehenna was nullified when He mentioned His love for them with His words,'Whom He loves, and who love Him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 elseor 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?

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 burningbrand 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.

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 seethat 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 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, �Perhapsthou 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 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.

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 originatedthe 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 originatedthe 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 originatedthe 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 originatedthe 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 originatedthe 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.

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 ofvariegation 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.�

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.�

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 downalludes 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.

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 YouThe 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.

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.�

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].

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 fingerand 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.

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 theShariah 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.

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]

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 disloyaltoward 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.