Kashf Al-Asrar Tafsir (Maybudi) — An-Nisa 4:1 – At-Tawbah 9:128

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. Then, if you want to work your spindle in the glow of the Tahirids' torch, your hand will not obey, for your brother had a degree such that whenever he reached for food that was in any way suspicious, his hand would not obey him.” “When the servant desires to be negligent of Me, I come between him and his negligence of Me.” This is found in the report in which MuṣṬafā said, narrating from his Lord, “When I know that what dominates over My servant's heart is being occupied with Me, I put my servant's ap- petite into supplicating Me and conversing with Me. When My servant is like that, My servant has passion for Me, and I have passion for him. When My servant is like that and he desires to be negligent of Me, I come between him and his negligence of Me. Those are my friends in truth. Those are the champions. They are the ones for whose sake I remove from the earth those whom they desire to be punished.” He is saying: “When My servant wants only Me, knows only Me, and belongs only to Me, I also turn the face of My heart toward him. For him I shut the door of all desires, all appetites, and all wants and I remove all others from his heart. I give passion for speaking to Me and listening to Me dominance over his spirit and heart and I give him ease on the carpet of passion. I hold the sword of beginningless jealousy over his head so that, should he want to look at another, or crave for another, or do business with another, I do not allow it.” I will make night into day and day into night in your work. I will ruin your business with the world's creatures. “Yes, when I want him, I know how he must be plundered. Today I will entrust him to the police- man of godwariness so that I may keep him under the protection of My Shariah, and it will give his movements and stillnesses the condition of courtesy. Tomorrow I will settle him down in the seat of truthfulness [54:55] in the Presence of At-ness.” Have you not heard that tomorrow at the resurrection it will be said to godwariness, “Come, for today is the day of your bazaar! If anyone has a portion of you, settle him down in a domicile in the measure of his portion. Settle down those familiar with you in the Presence of At-ness, for in the beginningless We decreed, Surely the godwary will be in the midst of gardens and a river, in a seat of truthfulness, at an Omnipotent King [54:54-55].” Who created you from one soul, created from it its mate. The Lord who created everything that He created as a pair made a spouse appear for everyone. He joined each with a likeness and at- tached each to a similar, for unity and solitariness are an attribute specific to Him. It is His rightful due and worthy of Him. In has been narrated in one of the books, “I have given the things mates so that My unity will be inferred.” And scattered forth from the two many men and women. He showed the perfect power and majesty of His lordhood to the creatures: “From the offspring of one upright individual I brought forth many thousands of creatures with diverse natures and colors, with different forms and con- ducts. Each has another color, another nature, another character, another state, another aspiration. You will never see two people alike in nature and visage, or in form and manner. So glory be to Him whose predetermined things have no end and whose objects of knowledge have no limit!” Then, at the end of the verse, He says, “Surely God is watcher over you.” The watcher is He who gives ear to hearts without investigating, who is aware of deeds without asking, and who in striving has no need to rest. This is an admonishment of the servant and eloquent advice for the traveler. It means, “Since you know that I give ear to hearts and keep My eyes on deeds and words, put watchfulness to work and carry out My rightful due.” Watchfulness is that the servant constantly looks at the Real with the heart and keeps the gaze of the Real before his eyes. Since he knows that He is not heedless of him, He is always on guard. Hence MuṣṬafā said, “When you do not like people seeing something from you, do not do it while you are alone.” In this meaning they have sung, When you are alone with yourself one day, do not say, “I'm alone.” Say, “Over me is a Watcher. ” * I'm not heedless of your state for one moment, O friend. I have possessors of awareness where you are. Ibn ʿUmar passed by a slave-boy, a shepherd who had sheep in a pasture. He said, “Boy, sell me one of these sheep.” The boy said, “These are not mine.” Ibn ʿUmar said, “If they ask, say it was eaten by a wolf.” The boy said, “So where is God?” Ibn ʿUmar was happy with his words and bought the slave-boy and all the sheep. He freed the slave and gave him the sheep. For a long time Ibn ʿUmar would say, “That slave said, 'So where is God?'”

Surely those who eat the property of orphans wrongly will be eating only fire in their bellies and will roast in a blaze. The majestic compeller, the great Lord, the renowned keeper of servants, the clement, the gener- ous, the loyal, the tremendous, the lord of everyone, the carrier of everything, who takes the hand of the weak and joins with them in love, in this verse caresses the weak and shows love to the orphans. As for those wrongdoers who skewer the livers of orphans and drink the blood of the indigent, He threatens them and warns them of a fearful punishment. He acts as the deputy of the helpless and disputes with the wrongdoers for their sake. For He is the companion of the weak, the helper of the despairing, the responder to the call of the distressed, and the listener to the voice of the grieved. He loves the servant who, when battered, incapable, and destitute, lets out a cold sigh, sheds warm tears, and lifts two empty hands toward Him, asking again to be excused. It has come in the traditions that a man was saying, “O Lord, O Lord! You have written, You have measured out, and You have decreed!” O God, all that was, is, and shall be is what You want, what You bring about, and what You write for the creatures. O God, none of this is outside Your predestination, nor does it happen without Your decree. A call came in his secret core, “That is tawḤīd. Where is servanthood?” What you have said is nothing but tawḤīd and is fit for My Godhood. What then is the mark of your servanthood? The man said, “O Lord, O Lord! Surely I have disobeyed, I have sinned, and I ask.” O God, what comes from me is fitting for me. O God, I have broken the covenant, I have no loyalty, I am disloyal and everything worse. What can I do about this story-I'm all artifice and color. I'm altogether too lame to walk on the straight road. Greed has made me all grasping claws, I'm all war with the Apportioner's apportioning. Surely those who eat the property of orphans wrongly. It is harsh to eat the wealth of orphans and foolishly crave their possessions. They say that once the marvel of the empire, the pure Jesus, was passing by a graveyard. He said, “Lord God, bring one of these servants of Yours to life!” At once a section of dust caved in, and a tall man came out and stood. Jesus was frightened by him and said, “Young man, who are you?” He said, “I am the son of Taghlab.” He said, “When did you die?” He said, “2,700 years ago.” He said, “Tell me how you have found death.” He said, “From the moment I went into the dust until now, the bitterness of death has been with me.” He said, “What has God done with you?” He said, “O spirit of God! After 2,700 years I am still being called to account for half a piece of silver that I owed to an orphan. Calling to account for that has still not come to an end.” He said this and fell back into the dust.

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

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

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

O you who have faith, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, neither debar them from marriage that you may go off with part of what you have given them, unless they commit a flagrant indecency. Consort with them honorably. For, if you are averse to them, it may be that you are averse to something within which God has placed much good. This is a call, an admonishment, an allusion, a bearing witness, and a ruling. O is the call, you is the admonishment, who is the allusion, have faith is the bearing witness. It is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will is the ruling. The explanation of the ruling is that women are considered weak, and they are imprisoned beneath your severity. Beware of tormenting them, and do not rule over them by way of scheming and deceit. Do not be severe, and do not ask of them what the Shariah does not approve. On the contrary, live with them honorably. Consort with them honorably, that is, with the teachings of the religion and by modeling one's courtesy on the character traits of the submitted.3 Show them the road of the religion and religios- ity and teach them the courteous acts of being a Muslim and the Shariah. And protect them from the Fire, as He says in another place: “Shield yourselves and your families from a fire” [66:6]. Preserve the courteous acts of companionship when consorting with them and tolerate suffering from them, but do not place on them the burden of your service, making them suffer for you. Although outwardly and specifically He is talking about women, by way of allusion He is talking generally about all Muslims. He is saying, “Watch out so that you never see yourself as having a mandatory rightful due from, or an excellence over, any other Muslim. Do not ask those above you to serve you, and do not push yourself on those beneath you. Do not use force against the folk of weakness, but rather strive to show consideration and give comfort to them and seek proximity to them.” Revelation came to David: “O David, if you see someone broken in My road, or someone whose heart has been lost in My work, take care to serve him. With a bit of bread, or a drink of water, seek proximity to him and sit next to the sun of his heart's light. O David, the heart of that pain-stricken poor man is the rising place of My light's sun. The sun of My majesty's light is al- ways shining in the chamber of his heart.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O miserable man! If you cannot seek proximity to Him, at least seek proximity to the hearts of His friends, for He gazes down on their hearts. Whomsoever He sees in their hearts, He takes as His friend.” Do you not see how MuṣṬafā used to sit with the weak among the Emigrants, considering him- self one of them? He used to say, “Praise belongs to God who placed in my community those with whom He commanded me to make myself patient.” That is in the hadith of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudarī, who said, “I was with a group among whom were the weak among the Emigrants, and some were curtaining the nakedness of others. A reciter was reciting the Qur'an for us and we were listening to his recitation. The Prophet came and stood over us, and when the reciter saw him, he became silent. He greeted us and said, 'What are you doing?' “We said, 'O Messenger of God, a reciter was reciting for us and we were listening to his recitation.' “God's Messenger said, 'Praise belongs to God who placed in my community those with whom He commanded me to make myself patient.' Then he sat in our midst so as to be level with us. Then he indicated with his hand that we should form a circle, and their faces were illumined, but God's Messenger did not recognize any of them, for they were the weak among the Emigrants. Then he said, 'To the destitute among the Emigrants give the good news of complete light on the Day of Resurrection. You will enter the Garden a half-day before the rich among the faithful, a half-day whose measure is five hundred years.'” If you are averse to them, it may be that you are averse to something within which God has placed much good. Whatever is harder for your soul today will be sweeter for your heart tomor- row. Whatever has the form of suffering today in the house of the decree will be the basis of the treasure tomorrow in the house of union. Today, unreached desires and missed pleasures are mounted on the soul, but what desires and pleasures are contained in this work tomorrow! And if today in this domicile you have a state of loss, what fine capital and fervor you'll see tomorrow! [DS 706]

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

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

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

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

Do not wish for that whereby God has preferred some of you over others. Men shall have a portion of what they have earned, and women shall have a portion of what they have earned. But ask God of His bounty. Abū Bakr Kattānī said, “When someone has the opinion that he will arrive without expending ef- fort, he is a wisher, and when someone has the opinion that he will arrive by expending effort, he is a drudge.” Whoever fancies that he will reach the goal without toiling is a wisher, and “The incapable are those who follow their own caprice and wish for God.” Whoever fancies that he will reach the Sought by toil and by seeking the Sought is a drudge. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “He is not found by seeking, but the seeker finds. Until he finds Him, he will not seek. Whatever can be found by seeking is of little worth. The servant finds the Real before the seeking, but for him seeking is the earliest step. The recognizer finds seeking from finding, not finding from seeking. In the same way, the obedient person finds obedience from self-purification, not self-purification from obedience; he finds the cause from the meaning, not the meaning from the cause. O God, since finding You is before the seeking and the seeker, I am seeking because unsettledness has overpowered me. The seeker is seeking and the Sought is obtained before the seeking. This is a most marvelous business! What is even more marvelous is that finding has become hard cash when seeking has not yet arisen. The Real is seen but the curtain of exaltedness is in place.” You are a sea of loveliness, a wave of beauty, the law of generous acts, the essence of life. The lovers seeking You are full of longing like Alexander seeking the water of life. It has also been said that the meaning of the verse is this: “You wish for the station of the masters without traveling in their path, clinging to their conduct, and practicing their practices.”4 You want the state of the great ones, but you have not gone on the great ones' road. You search for the Kaabah of union with eyes that have not undertaken struggle. You see the great good fortune of the friends, but you have not seen their tribulation. “Your trouble is wishing that you could be like those who have taken trouble.” You fancy that the pen of the covenant was written easily for the passionate, that it wrote the inscription of friendship on their hearts gratis. But they have been wounded in spirit and heart at every moment, and they have tasted a draft laced with poison. How many nights for the sake of seeing You have I been slapped in the head by the dogs of Your street! But not just anyone is suited for His wounds, and not just anyone is worthy of suffering His pain. May God's mercy be upon those chevaliers who have made their spirits the target of His trial's arrow and recognized their hearts as the litter for His pain's burden! Then, in that trial and sorrow, they hum this tune: If my spirit is worthy of suffering your pain, this share of passion's good fortune is enough for me. Yes, everyone's wound is in the measure of his faith, and everyone's burden is in the measure of his strength. Whenever someone's strength is greater, his burden is heavier. This is the secret of the verse in which He says,

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

Worship God, and associate nothing with Him, and act beautifully toward parents, and toward kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, and the neighbor who is of kin, and the neighbor who is a stranger, and the companion at your side, and the son of the road, and what your right hands own. This verse begins by mentioning tawḤīd, which is the root of the sciences, the secret of the recogni- tions, the basis of the religion, the foundation of being a Muslim, and the partition between enemy and friend. Any act of obedience without tawḤīd has no value or weight, and its outcome will be nothing but darkness and captivity. Any act of disobedience along with tawḤīd will yield nothing other than familiarity and brightness. TawḤīd is that you say that God is one and that you be one for Him. Saying one is the submit- ter's tawḤīd, and being one is the basis of the recognizer's tawḤīd. The submitter's tawḤīd drives away the devil, washes away sin, and opens up the heart. The recognizer's tawḤīd cuts away at- tachments, washes away the creatures, and brings forth the realities. The submitter's tawḤīd takes advice, opens the door, and gives fruit. The recognizer's tawḤīd effaces the customs of human nature and burns away the veil of mortal nature so that the breeze of familiarity may blow, the beginningless reminder may arrive, and the friend may gaze upon the Friend. The submitter's tawḤīd is that you bear witness to God's one Essence, pure attributes, and beginningless names and marks. He is the God other than whom there is no god, the Creator of heaven and earth other than whom there is no enactor. No one has loyalty like Him in the whole cosmos. He is a Lord who is above all in measure, beyond all in Essence and attributes. From the Beginningless to the Endless He is the greatest Lord. When intellect holds that something is impossible, God has perfect power over it. His power makes no use of contrivance, and His self- standing has no change of state. In the kingdom He is safe from disappearance, and in Essence and attributes He is transcendent. You will never see any created thing without marks of deficiency and fault, but the Eternal Enactor is pure of deficiency, incomparable with fault, free of blights. He does not eat or sleep, nor is He the locus for newly arrived things or changing states. He is not new in attribute, nor does He accept alteration. He stands before “when,” acts before activity, creates before creation, and is powerful before the artisanries. In His Essence, attributes, and perfection He has always been just as He is now. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “The tawḤīd of the Muslims amounts to three words: affirmation of attributes without excess, negation of similarity without declaring ineffectuality, and going for- ward according to the outwardness without mixing.” The reality of affirmation is that you acknowledge and surrender to whatever God said in explanation and whatever MuṣṬafā said plainly about Him. You stand firm in the outwardness, you offer no likenesses for it, you do not turn it away from its formulation, and you do not wander around it with imagination, for God comes into knowledge but not imagination. You avoid reflec- tive thinking about how it can be so and you do not seek any self-exertion or interpretation. You do not turn away from saying it or listening to it. You know that in reality whatever creatures know about God's attributes is only the name. To perceive it is to accept it. The stipulation is surrender, and the commentary is to remember. Know God's Essence in God's measure, not as rationally understood by creatures. Know His attributes as is worthy of Him, not as reflected upon by creatures. Know His ability in His measure, not with the artifice of creatures. He is a Being that is one, outside of imaginations and apart from qualification. Whatever He wants, He does, not because of need, for He needs nothing. Rather, He puts things straight by want, pure knowledge, precedent wisdom, and penetrating power. His speech is true, His promise correct, and His Messenger trustworthy. His speech exists in the earth in reality, always joined with Him. His argument stands through it, His decree is irrevocable, His commands and prohibitions firm. Surely His are the creation and the command. Blessed is God, the Lord of the Worlds [7:54]. This is tawḤīd as transmitted and recognition as reported. Through this tawḤīd people reach paradise, escape from hell, and stay free from the Real's anger. The opposite of this tawḤīd is the great associationism. Whoever is held back from this transmitted tawḤīd remains in the great as- sociationism, far from God's forgiveness. The other tawḤīd is the tawḤīd of the recognizers and the adornment of the sincerely truthful. Speaking of this tawḤīd is not the work of water and clay, nor is it the place of tongue and heart. What will the tawḤīd-voicer say here with the tongue? His state is itself tongue. How can he ex- press this tawḤīd? Putting it into expression is calumny itself. This tawḤīd is not from creation, for it is a mark from the Real. It is the resurrection of the heart and the plundering of the spirit. No one has voiced the unity of the One, for everyone who voices it denies it. The tawḤīd of those who talk of its description is a loan voided by the One. His tawḤīd is His voicing unity- its describer's description deviates. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, the recognizer knows You through Your light and cannot express the radiance of finding. The tawḤīd-voicer recognizes You through the light of proximity and burns in the fire of love without turning away from joy. O Lord, in his finding he seeks to find You because he is drowned in bewilderment. He does not know seeking from finding.” The poor wretch who recognizes Him through the artisanry! The poor man who seeks Him through the evidence! From the artisanry you must seek whatever finds room, and from the evi- dence you must ask for what is fitting. How can the reality of tawḤīd cling to the tongue of reports? This is not the tawḤīd reached by inference and striving, nor that proven by evidence and artisanry, nor that realized by any means whatsoever. It is found in the midst of heedlessness, it comes without asking, and it busies the servant with itself. Lit up by the contemplation of the Near and the observation of togetherness, the servant reaps the benefit of beginningless love and loses the two worlds. If seeing You brings loss to the spirit, then I'll buy the spirit's loss with the spirit. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, the mark of this work has taken the world away from me and concealed me even from the mark. Seeing You has left me without spirit. Love for You took away benefit, and I lost the two worlds. “O God, do You know what has made me happy? I did not fall to You by myself. You wanted-it was not I who wanted. I saw the Friend at my pillow when I woke up from sleep.” Her love came to me before I knew love- it came across a carefree heart and took possession. Moses had gone in search of fire when he found I chose thee for Myself [20:41]. He was unaware when the sun of good fortune rose over him. MuḤammad was asleep when the good news came: “Come and see Me, for I am buying you. How long will you sit without Me?” Moses was not wanting conversation, nor was MuḤammad wanting vision. Finding comes in heedlessness. Do not fancy anything but this. O God, the splendor of Your exaltedness left no room for allusions, the majesty of Your unity took away the road of ascription-I lost all that I had in hand, and all my fancies turned to nothing. O God, Yours kept on increasing and mine decreasing until at last there remained only what there was at first. Tribulation lies only in the makeup of my water and clay. What was before clay and heart? That is what I will be. With the first tawḤīd the servant escapes from hell and reaches paradise. With the second tawḤīd he escapes from self and reaches the Friend. And associate nothing with Him. In the tongue of the Shariah associationism is that you believe in another object of worship and not attest to God's unity. In the tongue of the Tariqah associationism is that you see among the engendered beings an existent thing other than God and you remain with the secondary causes. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “Not seeing the secondary cause is ignorance, but remaining with the secondary cause is associationism.” Then, in the course of the verse, He mentioned the neighbors and commanded taking what is rightfully due to them into consideration. He said, “and the neighbor who is of kin, and the neighbor who is a stranger, and the companion at your side.” The neighbors are many, and what is rightfully due to them is in the measure of their proximity. There is the neighbor of the house, the neighbor of the soul, the neighbor of the heart, and the neighbor of the spirit. The neighbor of the house is the Adamite; the neighbor of the soul is the angel; the neighbor of the heart is the tranquil- ity of recognition; and the neighbor of the spirit is the Real-majestic is His majesty! He called the neighbor of the house “the neighbor who is of kin. ” About the neighbor of the soul He said, “Surely there are over you guardians” [82:10]. Concerning the neighbor of the heart He said, “He it is who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful” [48:4]. About the neigh- bor of the spirit He said, “He is with you wherever you are” [57:4]. The rightful due of the neighbors of the house is that you never leave aside taking them into consideration. By caring for them you should always keep them thankful to you and at ease with you. The rightful due of the neighbors of the soul is that you keep them happy with your obedience and do not make them suffer by disobedient acts. Then, when they turn away from you, they will turn away satisfied and grateful. The rightful due of the neighbor of the heart is that you keep your own recognition pure of the stains of innovation and the defilement of bewilderment and you adorn it with the garment of the Sunnah and the ornament of wisdom. The rightful due of the neighbor of the spirit is that you rectify your character traits, you ob- serve courtesy to all sides, you fill your mind with reverence, you step beyond the two worlds, you escape from yourself, and you become one for the Real. It has been reported that God said, “O MuḤammad! Belong to Me as you always were, and I will belong to you as I have always been.” If you are with yourself, how can you sit with Me? How far it is from you to Me! You will not reach Me until you become one: either you'll find room in passion's road, or I.

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

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. I asked him why he was weeping and he said, 'I fear that my community will bring forth associationism. Not that they will wor- ship idols, or worship the sun and moon, but that they will worship with eye-service, thus making people God's partner in their deeds.'” Also, God says, “Of the associates, I am the least in need of associationism. If someone does a deed in which he associates another with Me, I am quit of it, and it belongs to the one who is as- sociated.” He is saying: “Whenever someone does a deed and takes someone as My partner in that deed, I have less need than all the partners, so I will give the deed to the partner.” The commander of the Faithful ʿAlī saw a man with his head turned down, meaning “I am pious.” He said, “O chevalier! Bring this crick in your neck into your heart, for God looks at the heart.” He also said, “On the Day of Resurrection, it will be said to hypocritical Qur'an-reciters, 'Are you not the ones to whom the goods of the world were sold more cheaply? Are you not the ones at the doors of whose houses people stood? Are you not the ones whom they greeted first? This belongs to the recompense of your deeds that We have conveyed to you. Today nothing rightfully due remains for you.'” This is why some of the great ones of the religion did not accept the benevolence of friends during distress and poverty. Thus several days passed during which Sufyān Thawrī had no food in his house. On the last day a man brought him two money-bags and said, “You know that my father was your friend and was scrupulous in livelihood. This is the inheritance that he left, and I know that it is lawful and has no place for suspicion. Why do you not accept this and make me happy?” Sufyān said, “May God reward you for your beautiful aspiration, but I will not accept it, for my friendship with your father was for the sake of God. I do not consider it permissible to receive compensation for it.” This indeed is the degree of the scrupulous and the path of the pious. Higher than this is the degree of the recognizers. In their case the smaller associationism is that, after self-purification in obedience and truthfulness in deeds, if their eyes fall on their pure deeds, or if seeking a reward for them occurs to their minds, or if they see their own salvation in those deeds, they count this as associationism in the road of the religion and they repent of it.

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

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

Surely 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. Keep whatever you hear in your heart, and do not repeat what should not be said. The Lord of the Worlds created the Adamite's ears open, without bonds. Whether he wants it or not, his ears hear and his heart knows. Hence he will not be called to ac- count for hearing or knowing in the heart, for the servant has no choice in that. As for eyes and tongue, He created both with bonds. The Adamite is able not to look at what should not be looked at and not to say what should not be said. He can bring into place the condition of holding what is seen and said in trust, thereby taking care of God's trust in these two. This is why MuṣṬafā said, “Sitting together is a trust.” Moreover, at the end of the era of the submission, the first thing that will be decreased from the unswerving religion and turn its face back to the veil of unneediness will be trust. God's Mes- senger said, “The first thing you will lose of your religion is trust, and the last thing you will lose is the ritual prayer.” The explanation I just gave was in terms of the outward Shariah. In terms of allusion and ac- cording to the tasting of the chevaliers of the Tariqah, the trusts are first submission, placed in the servant's breast; second faith, placed in the servant's mindful heart; third recognition, put in the servant's heart; and fourth love, concealed in the secret core. Each of these trusts has room for betrayal. Disquieting thoughts find room in the breast from the direction of the devil. Uncertainty finds room in the mindful heart from the direction of the soul. Swerving finds room in the heart from the direction of caprice. Angels go into the secret core, and seeing angels when making the secret core ready is a betrayal of the trust of love. This is why Junayd, when asked about making the secret core ready, said, “It is a secret between God and the servant, not known by the angel that he should write it down, nor by Satan that he should corrupt it, nor by caprice that it should make it deviate.” Keep the hand of the devil away from the breast by remembering the Real, for He says, “[Sure- ly the godwary,] when a visitation from Satan touches them, remember, and then see clearly” [7:201]. Keep the hand of the soul away from the mindful heart with the weapon of struggle, for He says, “Those who struggle in Us, We will guide them on Our paths” [29:69]. Keep the hand of caprice away from the heart by surrender, for He says, “We have faith in it; all is from our Lord” [3:7]. Keep the angel away from the secret core by jealousy, for jealousy is the precondition of friendship, just as love is the pillar of friendship. Sometimes loving kindness lifts the curtain so that the traveler comes to happiness and rest, and sometimes jealousy lets down the curtain so that the traveler comes to pleading. Sometimes love opens the door so as to caress the traveler with face-to-face vision, sometimes jealousy closes the door so the servant weeps in hope of face-to- face vision. When someone must have face-to-face vision, reports are absurd for him. When a heart is secluded with vision, how can it look at reports?

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

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

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. ” The Companions of MuṣṬafā were so displeased with themselves in the limpidness of their religion that it is narrated from Muʿādh that he used go to the doors of houses and say, “Come, let us have faith for an hour.” The Pir of the Tariqah said something appropriate for this place: “O Lord, I have a heart full of pain and a spirit full of suffering. Exalted of the two worlds! What can this poor wretch do? O Lord, I am not helpless because of You, but helpless in You. Whenever I am absent, You say, 'Where are you?' When I come to the Threshold, You do not open the door! “O Lord, since despair in the submission's outwardness is deprivation, and in the Haqiqah itself hope is no doubt a deficiency, between this and that what is my remedy? Since in the Shariah patience is a mark of being pleased, but in the Haqiqah impatience is the very command, between this and that what proof can I offer You? “O Lord, everyone has fire in the heart, and this poor wretch in the spirit, for everyone has rhyme and reason, but my poor self has nothing at all.” As for the principles of the courteous acts of companionship in interacting with people, these are that you never hold back good advice and tenderness from any Muslim, you consider yourself less than everyone else, you place everyone's rightful due before yourself, and you are fair to ev- eryone with respect to yourself by way of largesse, giving comfort, and having beauty of character. You avoid opposing and confronting the brothers and lying to them. You do not make requests from them by explicit command or explicit prohibition, you do not speak harsh words to them, and you do not reply to them unpleasantly. Yūsuf Ḥusayn Rāzī said, “I asked Dhu'l-Nūn Miṣrī with whom I should be a companion. He said, 'He who does not own, does not censure any of your states, and does not change when you change, even if the change be great, for surely the more needy you are, the more severe will be your changing.” Dhu'l-Nūn said, “Be a companion of someone who has no property,” that is, who does not consider what he has as his own and belonging to himself, for whenever there is antagonism, it occurs because “you and I” are in the midst. When you and I disappear from the midst, no antago- nism remains. He said, “He does not censure any of your states.” He knows that you are not without sins such that defects would have no access to you. It is absurd in friendship to censure the state of your friend. Friendship is there when no censure is in the midst. It is recounted that a man had a wife and was far gone on her. One of the woman's eyes was white, but the man was unaware of that defect because of the excess of love. When the love decreased, he said to the woman, “When did this whiteness appear?” She said, “When love for me diminished in your heart.” He said, “Who does not change when you change, even if it is a great change.” For the more you are changing, the more you need a friend. And it may be that the meaning of these words is that you should be a companion of the Real, not the creatures who change when you change. The one who does not change when the creatures change is the Real. Hence this is to show the road of cutting off from the creatures and joining with the Real.

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 you become eager for this world.” This sort of emigrant is always in suffering and hardship, caught in the hands of thieves and on the verge of destruction. Hoping to gain something that is allowed, he leaves aside something obligatory. Then he burns, and he loses the basis for both. God says, “You desire the chance goods of this life, and God desires the afterworld” [8:67]. The second sort are the renunciants. Their emigration is for the sake of the afterworld and their traveling goes by way of meanings. They pass over the way stations of obedient acts and tra- verse the stages of worship on the feet of aspiration. Sometimes they make the hajj, go off to battle, struggle, make pilgrimages, perform the prayers, remember God's name, and meditate on God's blessings. Concerning them God's Messenger said, “Travel! The solitary will be the preceders.” They said, “O Messenger of God! Who are the solitary?” He said, “The engrossed-those who are engrossed by the remembrance of God. Remem- brance has lifted away their loads, and they come forth unburdened on the Day of Resurrection.” The Exalted Lord says about them, “Whosoever desires the afterworld and strives after it with proper striving while having faith-those, their striving shall be thanked” [17:19]. The third sort are the recognizers, whose emigration is for the sake of the Patron. They emi- grate within their own makeup. They emigrate inside the curtains of the soul until they reach the heart, they emigrate inside the curtains of the heart until they reach the spirit, and they emigrate inside the curtains of the spirit until they reach union with the Beloved. I said, “Where should I seek You, O heart-stealing moon?” He said, “My resting place is the spirit of the friends.” A man came before Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī and said, “Why do you not emigrate and travel to benefit the people?” He said, “My Friend has settled down and I am busy with Him.” The man said, “When water stays in one place for a long time, it becomes stagnant.” Abū Yazīd said, “You should be the ocean, and then you will never become stagnant.” Then he recited the verses, “I see the hajjis urging on their steeds, but here I am, urging on the steed of yearning. Their goal in pilgrimage is the Kaabah- my kiblah is Your face, my pilgrimage to You.”

When you have completed the prayer, remember God, standing and sitting and on your sides. Know that the prayer is secret whispering between God and the servant. In this secret whisper- ing, there is both need and joy. Today there is need, tomorrow joy; today suffering, tomorrow the treasure; today a heavy burden, tomorrow repose and ease [56:89]; today toil and work, tomorrow pleasure and the bazaar; today bowing and prostrating, tomorrow finding and witnessing. Part of the eminence of the prayer is that the Exalted Lord has mentioned it 102 times in the Qur'an and given it thirteen names: prayer, devotion, Qur'an, glorification, book, remembrance, bowing, prostration, praise, asking forgiveness, declaring greatness, beautiful deeds, and subsistent things. MuṣṬafā said, “The prayer is the miʿrāj of the person of faith.” He said, “The prayer is God's banquet in the earth.” The ulama of the past have said, “The prayer is the throne of the desirers, the pleasure of the recognizers, the means of approach of the sinners, and the scented garden of the renunciants.” They have also said, “The person performing the prayer has received seven generous bestow- als: guidance, sufficiency, expiation, mercy, proximity, degree, and forgiveness.” The first step in associationism is not to say the prayers, for the Exalted Lord will say, “'What brought you into Saqar?' They will say, 'We were not of those who said the prayers'” [74:42-43]. And He placed the name faith in the prayer, where He says, “But God would never leave your faith,” that is, your prayer, “to waste” [2:143]. He promises daily provision with prayer, where He says, “And command thy folk to the prayer, and be thou patient therein. We ask thee for no provi- sion. We shall provide for thee” [20:132]. The number of obligatory prayers came as five in conformity with the roots of the Shari'ite rules. Concerning the roots of the Shari'ite rules MuṣṬafā said, “The submission is built on five.” The roots of the obligatory prayers are five prayers in one day and night. In other words, when the servant performs these five prayers with their stipulations and at their times, the Exalted Lord will give him the reward of all the roots of the Shari'ite rules. The guises of the prayer are four: standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting. The wisdom in this is that the existent things in their entirety have four shapes. Some are straight in the guise of standers, namely the trees. Some have the guise of bowers with their heads turned down, namely the beasts. Some have the guise of prostrators with their faces placed on the earth, namely the crawling things. Some sit on the earth like sitters, namely grass and plants. It is as if the Exalted Lord said, “O servant with faith! In serving Us, bring forth these four guises-standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting-so that you may find the reward of all the creatures' glorifications.” Then He commanded some of these prayers to be two cycles, like the morning prayer, and some three cycles, like the evening prayer, and some four, like the noon, afternoon, and night prayers. This is because the servant is two sorts, spirit and body. Of the two-part prayer, one is the spirit's gratitude, the other the body's gratitude. Also, inside the Adamite are three exalted pearls: heart, intellect, and faith. The three-part prayer is gratitude for these three robes of honor. Again, the Adamite is com- pounded of the four natures;9 the four-part prayer is gratitude for these four natures. In terms of allusion He is saying: “My servant, show gratitude for body and spirit with the two- part prayer; show gratitude for faith, heart, and intellect with the three-part prayer; and show gratitude for the four elements with the four-part prayer, in the measure of capacity and possibility.” Then it will become apparent that the servant is more obedient than all, his work is more eminent, and his degree with the Real more elevated. It has also been said that the prayer is a necklace made of pearls of many colors. Each color is the gift of someone exalted and the state of a messenger: Purity is the act of Job: Stamp thy foot: here is a cool washing place and drink [38:42]. Saying “God is greater” is the word of remem- brance of Abraham: And We ransomed him with a tremendous sacrifice [37:107]. Standing is the service of Zachariah: While he was standing, praying in the sanctuary [3:39]. Bowing is the act of David: He sank down, bowing, and was penitent [38:24]. Prostration is the state of Ishmael: He threw him down on his forehead [37:103]. Bearing witness is the act of Jonah: When he ran away to the laden ship [37:140]. Glorification is the act of the angels: Glorifying the praise of their Lord [39:75]. When the faithful servant performs two cycles of prayer with humility and reverence, the Exalted Lord gives him the honor of these messengers and conveys him to their degrees. Listen to something even more subtle: When you consider it, every act of worship done by the servants and every remembrance by the angels are all brought together in two cycles of the prayer: the struggle, the hajj, the alms tax, and the fasting. As for struggle: When warriors go to battle against the unbelievers, first they line up in rows, they prepare for the battle, and they set out to fight. A brave man puts on armor, goes to the front of the rows, calls the enemy to the field, and engages in combat with him. That heroic man is in front, and the others stand behind, shout- ing encouragement and saying “God is greater!” and entering into battle. In the prayer all these meanings are found: The man of faith first makes the full ablution, which is the chain mail that he puts on. When he makes the ablution, that is his armor that he puts on. Then he stands in the row of the worshipers and the reverent, and like a warrior the imam goes out in front. He battles against Satan and his own soul in the prayer niche, which is the field of battle against Satan. The others gaze upon him, their hearts attached to his victory. This struggle is more magnificent and greater than that struggle, which is why MuṣṬafā said, “We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle.” In the prayer there is also the meaning of the alms tax. The alms tax is the purity of posses- sions, and the prayer is the purity of the body: “Take charity from their wealth, thereby to make them pure and to purify them” [9:103]. “Surely beautiful deeds take away ugly deeds” [11:114]. The latter is the purity of the spirit, and the former is the purity of the body. The latter is more complete and more eminent than the former. In this meaning it has been narrated that God's Mes- senger saw a man saying, “O God, forgive me! But I do not see You forgiving me.” The Prophet said, “How ugly is your opinion of your Lord!” He said, “O Messenger of God! I sinned when I was ignorant, and I sinned after submitting. ” He said, “As for what happened in the time of ignorance, that was effaced by your submission. And as for what was during the submission, that is effaced by the five prayers, for God sent down the verse, 'And perform the prayer at the two ends of the day and in the near part of the night' [11:114].” In the prayer is also the meaning of the hajj, for the hajj is consecration and deconsecration, and the prayer is also consecrating and then bringing the consecration to an end. In the prayer the meaning of the hajj is more complete, more eminent, and more inclusive. And God knows better.

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 a beautiful-doer and follows the creed of Abraham, an unswerving man? And God took Abraham as a bosom friend. In this verse the Lord of the Worlds, the God of the world's folk, the Enactor who knows the hid- den, praises the self-purifiers and shows that He is pleased with self-purification in deeds. The first person to dress the Kaabah of deeds in the cloak of self-purification was MuṣṬafā, who said, “Deeds are only through intentions.” Self-purification in deeds does the work of color in jewels. Just as a jewel without the cape of color is a worthless stone, so also deeds without self-purification is to knock oneself out without hitting the mark. Maʿrūf Karkhī used to beat himself with a whip and say, “O soul! Purify thyself and be de- livered!” It has been said that knowledge is the seed, deeds are planting, and self-purification is the water. The work is done by self-purification, salvation lies in self-purification, and endless felicity lies in self-purification, but self-purification itself is exalted and does not come down just any- where, nor does it show its face to just anyone. The Exalted Lord said, “It is one of My secrets that I deposit in the hearts of those whom I love among My servants.” There was a worshiper among the Children of Israel. He was told that in such-and-such a place there is a tree that people worship. For the sake of God and the zeal of the religion he became angry, left his place with a mattock over his shoulder, and went to dig up the tree by its roots. Iblis went into the road with the attributes of an old man. He asked him where he was going and he replied, “To that place to dig up the tree.” Iblis said, “Go, busy yourself with your worship, for this will not done by your hand.” Iblis struggled with him and fell, and the worshiper sat on his chest. Iblis said, “Let go of me and I will speak some beautiful words to you.” He let go of him, and Iblis said, “O worshiper, God has prophets. If this tree needs to be dug up, He will command a prophet to dig it up. He has not com- manded you to do so.” The worshiper said, “No, because the tree must be dug up, and I will not turn back from this work until I finish that.” Again they struggled together, and the worshiper was better, so Iblis fell down. Iblis said, “O chevalier, you are a poor man, and the people have to provide you with food. What would it matter if you stop this work, for it is not up to you and you have not been commanded to do it, and every day I will place two dinars under your pillow. That would be good for both you and the worshipers, for you can spend it on them.” At these words of his the worshiper paused. He said to himself, “Spending one dinar as alms and putting the other to use is better than pulling up this tree, for I have not been commanded to do so. I am no prophet that it should be mandatory for me.” Hence with these words he went back. The next morning he saw two dinars under his pillow, and the same on the second day. But on the third day he saw nothing. He became angry, picked up his mattock, and went to dig up the tree. Iblis came into his road and said, “O man, give up this work, for it will never be done at your hand.” They struggled together, the worshiper fell, and he was helpless at the hands of Iblis. Iblis aimed to kill him. The worshiper, “Let me go and I will go back. But first tell me why at first I came out better, and now you have come out better.” Iblis replied, “Because at first you rose up for the sake of God and were angry because of God's religion, so the Exalted Lord subjected me to you. When someone does something for God with self-purification, my hand will not reach him. This time you became angry for the sake of your own wanting and for the sake of this world. You became the follower of your caprice. Hence you could not defeat me and were subjugated by me.” When MuṣṬafā was asked what self-purification is, he said, “It is that you say, 'My Lord is God,' then you go straight as you have been commanded.” Who is more beautiful in religion than he who submits his face to God while he is a beautiful- doer? WāsiṬī said, “The meaning of while he is a beautiful-doer is that he is doing the beautiful by submitting his face to God. ” He is saying, “The pure road and beautiful religion belongs to him who turns his face toward the Real. He knows and recognizes as good this turning of the face to the Real and being a self-purifier, for not everyone reaches the threshold of the Sultan. It is he who recognizes the courtesy of the Presence.” Then He says, “and follows the creed of Abraham, an unswerving man.” This alludes to the state of Abraham, who turned his face to the Real and observed the courtesy of the Presence, not leaving any portion for himself. He tossed it all away-his soul, his wealth, and his child. He tossed away his own soul for the sake of the Real's approval, he tossed away his child for the sake of following His command, and he tossed away his wealth because of tenderness toward the people. Hence the Exalted Lord praised him and called him His bosom friend: “And God took Abraham as a bosom friend.” It has been narrated that God revealed to him, “You are My bosom friend and I am your bosom friend, so be careful that I not become aware in your secret core that you have become attached to other than Me, lest you cut off your bosom friendship from Me.” It has also been said that when the Exalted Lord wrote down bosom friendship for him, He gave out this call in the world: “And God took Abraham as a bosom friend.” The angels raised their voices and said, “O Lord, what did Abraham do that you have given him this honor and singled him out from all the world's folk?” The command came, “O Gabriel, open up your peacock-feathers and go from the top of the Lote Tree to the summit of that mountain, and convey My name to his hearing.” He stood behind the mountain. The Bosom Friend had three hundred herds of sheep, and each herd had a dog with a gold collar around its neck. Gabriel shouted out, “O Holy One!” The Bosom Friend fainted from the pleasure of hearing that. When he came to, he said, “O speaker! Say that once more, and this herd of sheep with its dog and gold collar belongs to you. ” Gabriel once more raised up his voice, “O Holy One!” The Bosom Friend was rolling in the dust like a half-slaughtered chicken. He was saying, “Say it again, and another herd belongs to you!” You spoke of Him to me, O Saʿd, and you increased my madness, so increase that speaking, O Saʿd! He kept on asking him like this until he gave away the three hundred herds. Once he had given all, the knots became tighter, passion and destitution joined together. The Bosom Friend said, “O servant of God! Recite the name of the Friend one more time, and my spirit is yours!” Wealth, gold, things-gamble them away for nothing. When the work reaches your spirit, gamble it away! Gabriel became happy. He spread his peacock feathers and said, “If there is any shortcoming, it is in our eyes. You have passion to perfection. He was right to take you as a bosom friend.”

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 faith by realizing! You have accepted the Shariah, now accept the Haqiqah. What is the Shariah? What the Haqiqah? The Shariah is a lamp, the Haqiqah a burn. The Shariah is a bond, the Haqiqah advice. The Shariah is need, the Haqiqah joy. The Shariah is the outer pillars, the Haqiqah the inner pillars. The Shariah is not having evil, the Haqiqah is not hav- ing self. The Shariah is service based on conditions, the Haqiqah exile based on witnessing. The Shariah is by intermediaries, the Haqiqah by unveiling. The folk of the Shariah keep obedience and leave aside disobedience, the folk of the Haqiqah flee from themselves and take joy in oneness. The folk of the Shariah hope for everlastingness and subsistent bliss, the folk of the Haqiqah boldy busy themselves with the Cupbearer. The Haqiqah begins when He appears. The longing that overcomes you makes the wide world too narrow for you and makes the inside of your shirt a prison. It strikes fire in your spirit and throws thirst into your heart. You see the burning, but not the Burner. You see the tumult, but not Him who stirs it up. There is no one to assist you, no one with whom to speak, no sympathizer with whom you can sit for a while. Isolated from friends in every land- the greater the sought, the fewer the helpers. In the end, the chevalier lets out a sigh in his longing and bewilderment: “O God, my tree has been burnt by thirst. How long will it take before You look after it? O Generous One! I am weeping over You! It is not beneath You to answer. Pour water once on my field! “O God, if I am not worthy for what I desire, how can I love with a heart plucked of its feath- ers? If the hand of my need will not reach the branch of hope, how can I get on my feet? If You do not give me access to Yourself, how can I flee to You? O Generous One, give me access, so that I may weep at Your threshold and rejoice in hope mixed with fear. Receive me, O Gentle One, so that I may turn myself over to You. Gaze at me once so that I may throw the two worlds into the ocean.” The Majestic Lord caresses the traveler with the attribute of generosity: “Fear not! Not every bite is poisoned. When a mother bites her child, she does so because of love.”

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

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

O people, the Messenger has come to you with the truth from your Lord, so have faith; that is better for you. But if you disbelieve, to God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. The allusion of the verse is that the threshold of Lordhood and the majesty of Unity has no need for the obedience of the obedient. He is pure of the worship of the creatures in heaven and earth. If all that is creation-the spheres and heavens, the existing things and the things coming to nothing- ness-went back to the concealment of nonexistence, that would not harm His purity and lordhood. There is no need for them to be joined with Him. The beauty of His Unity is His eternity, and the majesty of His eternity is His solitariness. There is a sound hadith from Abū Dharr Ghifārī, from God's Messenger, from God, that He said, “O My servants, I have forbidden Myself to do wrong, and all of it is forbidden to you. So My servants, do not wrong each other! Surely you are the ones who err by night and day, and I am the one who forgives sins and does not care. So ask forgiveness of Me, and I will forgive you. “O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of you had the heart of the most godwary man among you, that would add nothing to My kingdom. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of you had the heart of the most depraved man among you, that would diminish nothing from My kingdom. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of you were to ask from Me and I were to give every man among them what he asked for, that would diminish nothing from Me, except as the ocean is diminished when a needle is dipped into it once.” But if you disbelieve, to God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. He is saying, “If all creatures were to put aside the activity of servants and loosen the belt of obedience, they would not be able to go outside of servanthood, nor could they lift away from themselves the bonds of slavehood in respect of creation. Thus the exalted Qur'an gives this report: “None is there in the heavens and the earth that comes not to the All-Merciful as a servant” [19:93]. But there is a dif- ference between a servant upon whom the name of servanthood has fallen in respect of creation and a servant upon whom it has fallen in respect of caressing and gentleness. Who took His servant by night [17:1]. The servants of the All-Merciful [25:63]. Give good news to My servants [39:17]. Surely My servants, thou hast no ruling power over them [15:42]: These are the ones accepted by the Presence, and those are the ones driven away by severance. Not everyone who is a servant is caressed by gentleness or in the bond of love. Do you know who the true servant is? The one adorned with beneficence and generous giving, who has a cup full of the wine of love in the pres- ence of union and the session of intimacy. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, my beauty lies in servanthood. Otherwise, what is my tongue that it should remember You? My good fortune is that I am remembered by You. Other- wise, what value does my remembrance have for me?”

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, O child! Do not let this fancy garment get dirty!” The child goes outside and busies himself playing with the other children and dirties the clothes. He comes back home with dirty clothes, so he hides in a corner, helpless and bewildered. He keeps on saying, “Mother, I'm sleepy.” The mother knows that the child is afraid of her rebuke. “Dearest,” she says, “come. I only sent you outside after I had soap and water in hand, for I knew what you would do.” The Adamite's state is like this. When that center point of good fortune and chosen one of the empire was sent out from the concealment of nonexistence to the confines of existence, the pure spirits and holy ones began to shout, and they aimed arrows of denial at the world that God was setting forth: “Wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there? [2:30]. You are creating a group who will blacken the garment of Today I have perfected your religion for you [5:3] with the smoke of disobedience and the dust of associationism. They will tear the veil of honor from the beautiful face of faith!” He addressed them with the words, “Yes, I know what has been prepared in this oyster shell of mysteries. We honored the children of Adam [17:70]. The bounties of exaltation have made them exalted. I sent them out to the world of defilement wearing the garment of protection and the shawl of the Trust only after I had in hand the water of forgiveness and the soap of mercy.”

Forbidden to you are carrion and blood, the flesh of swine, that which has been offered up to other than God, the strangled, the beaten down, the fallen, the gored, what has been eaten by predators-except what you slaughter-what is sacrificed on stone alters, and that which you al- lot by divining arrows-that is ungodliness. Today those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear Me. Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you, and I have approved for you the submission as a religion. Although carrion is vile and forbidden, a measure of it is still allowed at the time of constraint. Among the sorts of carrion is the flesh of a brother Muslim that is eaten by backbiting. In this there is never a concession in any state, whether by constraint or free choice. Hence this carrion is worse than that carrion, and its prohibition is greater. God says, “Do not backbite one another. Would one of you love to eat the dead flesh of his brother? You would abhor it” [49:12]. It has been said that an animal whose flesh is eaten has two states: One is that, when it is killed by the stipulation of the Shariah, it is pure. Taking it is allowed and eating it is permitted. When it dies by itself, it is defiled, and eating it is forbidden. By way of allusion He is saying that when this Adamic soul is killed by the sword of struggle in the path of discipline according to the Shariah-that is, when it has been subjugated by the religion and come to be commanded by the Shariah, made a servant and abased by the burden of obedience-the soul with this description is pure. Nearness to it is allowed, being its companion is lawful, seeing it is the heart's repose, and companionship with it is the spirit's happiness. But whenever a soul dies in the darkness of its own heedlessness such that it no longer perceives the work of the religion and exerts no effort in the limits set down by the Shariah, this soul is like the carrion whose body is defiled and nearness to which is forbidden. The strangled, the beaten down, the fallen to death, the gored. Beneath each of these words is an allusion in keeping with the tasting of the chevaliers of the Tariqah and according to the creed of the wayfarers of the Haqiqah's road. The strangled is an allusion to someone who places himself in the bonds of wishes, puts the chains of avarice on his own hands and feet, and throws the rope of wanting around his neck until he is killed by avarice and appetite. It is forbidden for the wayfarers and desirers to walk on the path of someone like this or to follow someone like this. The beaten down is an allusion to someone who stays a prisoner of caprice and a captive of Satan, beaten down by the fanciful notions of his soul and the disquieting thoughts from Satan, so that his heart dies in that beating and imprisonment. He becomes the carrion of the Tariqah, and companionship with him is forbidden. The fallen to death is an allusion to someone who has fallen into the valley of dispersion and been destroyed, losing the road of the Haqiqah. The gored is an allusion to someone who quarrels with his likes and similars for the sake of this world of carrion and is gored such that his adversary wins; he becomes carrion under the blows of a carrion-eater. What has been eaten by predators is that toward which the seekers of this world turn their heads; it is carrion and its seeker is like a dog. Only dogs eat carrion. It is nothing but rotting carrion which dogs try to drag away. Then He says, “except what you slaughter.” In the outward Shariah, He is saying that whenever a Shari'ite slaughtering takes place in the forbidden things that He mentioned such that it is allowed by the Shariah, then it is allowed and eating it is permitted. So also in the road of the Tariqah, whatever may be the traveling supplies of the road of the next world and the goods of this world necessary for life, taking them and having them is permissible in the religion and seeking them is allowed. The supplies for the religion's road pertain to the road of the religion. God says, “And take along supplies, but the best of supplies is godwariness” [2:197]. What is sacrificed on stone alters. Everything that is done for the caprice of wanting and not in conformity with the Shariah is sacrificed on stone alters. Making the caprice of your soul your ob- ject of worship and going forth according to what it desires is not the work of the religious, nor is it the state of the faithful. God says, “Hast thou seen him who has taken his caprice as his god?” [25:43]. And that which you allot by divining arrows-that is ungodliness. Every transaction and companionship that does not go forth with the permission of the Shariah and in conformity with the religion, the goal being to obtain this world and what is desired by the soul, is nothing but gam- bling. Its form is deception and deceit, its result ungodliness and corruption, and its final outcome punishment and chastisement. Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you. Jaʿfar ibn MuḤammad said that “today” is an allusion to the day when MuṣṬafā was sent to creation and the crown of messengerhood was placed on the head of his prophecy. The carpet of his Shariah was pulled around the world and the rug of mercy was spread out. The smoke of associationism was wrapped up in its own misfortune and the traces and remnants of unbelief were effaced and dissolved. From the four corners of world the sound of the drum of Muhammad the Arab's good fortune rose up: “The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished away” [17:81]. God bless the son of āmina, who brought him forth open-handed and generous. Say to those who hope for Ahmad's intercession, “Bless him and wish him great peace.” * O you whose visage is everyone's gazing place before you all have fallen in the road. O Venus of the months and moon of all, your beauty has taken away everyone's luster and rank! The night of mortal nature still did not exist when the sun of his prophethood was set firmly in place in the heaven of its loftiness, for “I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay.” “O great one! Show your beauty, so all of existence may become a sun. O master! Open the oyster shell of mercy, so these destitute ones may fill their pockets with pearls. “Why don't you take that face to the idol-worshipers- why not display it and take the unbelief from their hearts? “O master, We will mention your innate beauty only within By thy life! [15:72]. We will make the kiblah of the first and the last only the circle of your servants. O master, if We open up the desire of the sun you have in your heart, no crucifix will remain in Byzantium, no unbelief or sash in the world.” Have mercy on the creatures' hearts and come out from the veil so that the seventy-two creeds may end their disputes. And I have completed My blessings upon you. This is addressed to MuṣṬafā's Companions. He is saying, “I have completed My blessings upon you in that I have singled you out among My servants to contemplate him. I have made you an argument for all the nations that will come until the Day of Resurrection.” It has also been said that Today I have perfected for you your religion alludes to the first day of the beginningless covenant. He is saying, “In the Beginningless, I completed this religion for you and took care of your work, marking you with My brand. This is nothing new that I have done, for I have long taken care of it. But I have completed it and made manifest to you what I already knew, showing what I have done. And I have completed My blessings upon you. The completion of the work is that tomorrow in the Palisades of Holiness I will bestow upon you My approval. And I have approved for you the submission as your religion. I will make you worthy of union with My Presence, I will approve of you for My neighborhood, and I will also increase My caresses. I will say, 'My servant. I have approved of you as a neighbor. Do you approve of Me as a neighbor?'” It has been said that the perfection of the religion is the realization of recognition in the guid- ance at the beginning of the state, and the completion of blessings is the obtainment of forgiveness at the end of the work. He is laying a favor on the faithful: “At first I give recognition and at last I forgive.” This is addressed to the congregation of the faithful. And there is no doubt about the forgiveness of the community of the faithful. If there is doubt, it is about instances and individu- als-whether or not they remained with faith. But the generality of the faithful are forgiven. It has been said that this is the submission that is approved by God. And I have approved for you the submission as your religion is an allusion to it. It is like a house that is reached by four gates, behind which are four bridges, and behind the bridges are degrees and levels. As long as people do not pass through the gates and over the bridges, they will not reach the degrees and levels. The first gate of the traveler is performing the obligations, the second is avoiding forbidden things, the third is having confidence in God's assurance, and the fourth is having patience in trials and sufferings. When you have passed through these gates, the bridges appear. The first bridge is approval: approving of God's decree, placing it on one's neck, and leaving aside the road of protest. The second bridge is trust in God: relying on God, taking Him as one's support and refuge, and recog- nizing Him as one's trustee. The third bridge is gratitude: recognizing God's blessings on oneself and putting these blessings to work in obedience to Him. The fourth bridge is self-purification in deeds, in the Shahadah, in service, and in recognition: the Shahadah in submission, service in faith, and recognition in the Haqiqah. Once you have passed over the bridges, then there are degrees and levels-as is worthy for everyone and as God wants. This is why the Lord of the Words says, “They have degrees with their Lord, and forgiveness, and a generous provision” [8:4].

O you who have faith, when you stand for the prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to your elbows.... If you find no water, have recourse to goodly dust. Outward purity has three sections: First is purity after impurity. Second is purity after excretion and sexual activity. Third is purity from the sheddings of the body, such as nails, hair, dirt, and so on. Each of these three sections has an explanation and an explication, and these will be spoken of elsewhere, God willing. Inward purity has three duties: First, purity of the limbs from disobedience, such as back- biting, lying, eating the forbidden, betrayal, and looking at women illicitly. When this purity is gained, the servant is adorned with obedience and reverence. This is the degree of the faith of the pious. Its mark is that the remembrance of the Real is always on their tongue, the fruit of the prom- ise in their heart, the freshness of His favors in their spirit. They are always visiting the sick, going to cemeteries, hurrying to supplicate for good people, and reaching for paradise. The second duty is purity of the heart from unapproved character traits, such as self-admira- tion, envy, pride, hypocrisy, avarice, animosity, and frivolity. Self-admiration ruins the mirror of friendship, envy reduces the worth of people, pride darkens the mirror of the heart, hypocrisy dries up the wellspring of obedience, avarice puts aside respect for people, animosity blocks up the water of familiarity, and frivolity takes away the tent-pole of companionship. When the servant has be- come pure of these defilements, he is numbered among the godwary. His mark is that he flees from concessions, he does not cling to ambiguity, he is always fearful, trembling, and fleeing from hell; he is content with a morsel and a tattered cloak, he has put aside the world and the world's folk, and he has melted himself in the crucible of sorrow. Faith is his basis, godwariness his traveling sup- plies, the grave his way station, and the afterworld his goal. With all this, he constantly weeps with the tongue of pleading and says, “O God, everyone is upon something, but I don't know what I'm upon. I fear only the moment when who I am appears. O God, I am always talking and speaking. So long as You do not show Yourself I will be searching and seeking. Because of unsettledness I run in the field of incapacity. I'm in the midst of the work, but I smell no scent. O God, my mount has stood back, my feet are worn down, my fellow-travelers have gone, and nothing has increased except bewilderment.” I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand, O guide of those bewildered in Thee! The third duty is purity of the secret core from everything except the Real. God says, “Say 'God,' then leave them” [6:91]. This purity is their adornment today, for tomorrow the cup of pure wine [76:21] will be in their hand. Today the light of hope shines in their hearts, but tomorrow the light of face-to-face vision will shine in their spirits. Today in their yearning the liver's water flows from their eyes, but tomorrow contemplation's water will flow in the stream of gentle favor. Today the dawn of happiness has come up from the rising place of freedom, but tomorrow the sun of so- licitude will advance in the heaven of face-to-face seeing. The mark of this purity is that one washes away love for this world, effaces the tracks of hu- man nature, and burns the veils of dispersion, so the heart is joyful in the garden of intimacy, and the spirit is occupied with the Real in the seclusion of face-to-face vision. How well was it said by that chevalier! “At last will be a day then this drum will give forth a sound, and that Generous One will whisper in secret to the lover's spirit. What a wonderful work, what a marvelous bazaar! Here we have intimate togetherness without being the same in kind. Since there is no one of the same kind, what is this intimacy? Since there is no one like Him, what is this love? Since you have not seen Him, what is this incapacity? Since the wine is still in the grape, what is this existence? Since waiting is all tribulation, what is this happiness in the heart? Since the eye of the secret core is veiled from Him, what is this ecstasy like fire? Since this path is all trial, what is this enjoyment in the midst of trial?” Though Your ache has put me in the fire, how I will ache if Your ache ever leaves me! Wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows. Just as the command of the Shariah makes it mandatory for outward purity to wash the face, so also the allusion of the Haqiqah makes it manda- tory for inward purity to preserve one's honor and not to disgrace oneself by seeking the trifling things of this world. Just as the former purity makes it mandatory to wash the hands, so also the latter purity makes it mandatory to wash one's hands of the creatures and entrust one's work to the Real. Just as it is mandatory to wipe the head, so also it is mandatory to turn the head away from serving created things and to avoid humbling oneself before just any piece of straw or a nobody. And just as it is mandatory to wash the feet, so also it is mandatory to step into good works and walk forth in obedience to God. It has been said that these four bodily parts were specified for purity because man finds his eminence and superiority over other animals through these parts. First is the form of the face, for the other animals do not have this attribute. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, “And He formed you, so He made your forms beautiful” [40:64]. Second is the two hands with which the Adamite eats, for all other animals eat with their mouths. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, “And We honored the children Adam” [17:70], that is, with the two worthy hands that hold for eating and so forth. Third is the head, within which is the brain, for within the brain is intellect. In intellect is the eminence of knowing, which the others do not have. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, “signs for those who possess the kernels” [3:190]. Fourth is the two legs which He pulled into an upright, beautiful stature for walking, whereas others do not have legs with this attribute. God says, “We created man in the most beauti- ful stature” [95:4]. Having completed these blessings on the children of Adam, He asked them to show gratitude for these bodily parts by keeping them pure. It has also been said that purity is the cause of ease and comfort after sorrow and tribulation, as has come in the story of Mary at the time of the birth of Jesus. When that spring appeared, she made herself pure and was released from the sorrow of childbirth and the alienation of exile. It is also the cause of repelling Satanic disquiet, as MuṣṬafā said: “When one of you is angry, let him make an ablution.” It is the cause of the removal of trial and tribulation, as has come in the story of Job the prophet in His words, “Stamp thy foot; here is a cool washing place and drink” [38:42]. It has also been said that the secret of the purity of these four members, even if they are not defiled, is in two respects. First, tomorrow at the resurrection MuṣṬafā will discern his community and intercede for their sake. Their mark will be that they have faces bright and shining because of washing; and so also their hands, feet, and head will be white, bright, and fresh because of purity's water. Concerning the Prophet said, “Surely my community will be mustered on the Day of Resur- rection white-faced and white-footed from the traces of the ablution.” The second respect is that when a slave is sold, the custom is that he is taken to a slave-trader, and his hands, feet, face, and head are shown to the customer. Even if it is a slave-girl, the Shariah instructs that they should look at the face, see her hair, and look at her hands and feet. Tomorrow, MuṣṬafā will be the slave- trader of the resurrection and the Real will be the customer. Hence the servant was commanded to do a good job of washing these bodily parts today. As much as he can, he should not take away the water from them and he should try to renew the purity. Then, tomorrow, the light of his bodily parts will increase, and when he is shown in the house of the slave-trader at the resurrection, his hands, feet, face, and head will be bright and pleasing. If you find no water, have recourse to goodly dust. God connected purity to water or, at the time of constraint, to dust, and not to anything else. The wisdom here is that the Lord of the Worlds created Adam from water and dust, and the Adamites should always be aware of this. They should know that their own eminence lies therein and that they should give gratitude for this blessing. Adam found eminence over Iblis because Iblis was from fire and Adam from dust, and dust is better than fire. Fire shows defects, and dust conceals them. Whenever you put something in fire, it shows its defects. It distinguishes genuine from false silver and adulterated from pure gold. Dust, however, conceals defects. It conceals whatever you give to it, so the defects do not show. Fire is the cause of cutting off, and dust is the cause of joining. With fire there is cutting and burning, with dust there is joining and keeping. Iblis was from fire, so he broke off. Adam was from dust, so he joined. Fire's nature is arrogance, so it seeks to be higher. Dust's nature is humility, so it seeks to be lower. Iblis brought higherness with his words, “I am better” [38:76]. Adam brought lowerness with his words, “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves” [7:23]. Iblis said, “I and my substance.” Adam said, “Not I, rather my God.” They have also spoken about another wisdom in specifying water and dust for purity. They say that whenever something catches fire, the force of that fire is put out by water and dust. There are two fires in front of the person of faith: One is the fire of appetite in this world, and the other the fire of punishment in the afterworld. The Lord of the Worlds made water the cause of his purity so that today it will put out the fire of appetite for him and tomorrow the fire of punishment. Know also that purity began in an era that was made known by a report from God's Messenger by way of the Commander of the Faithful, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. He said, “When the angels heard talk of Adam and his description, they said, 'What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corrup- tion there and shed blood?' [2:30]. Afterwards, they regretted saying that and they feared God's punishment. They wept and wailed and asked God for His approval. The command came from God, 'You want Me to pass over you, lift away the heaviness of those words from you, and have mercy on you. I have created an ocean under the Splendorous Throne and named it “the Ocean of Life.” Go to that ocean and, with its water, wash your faces and hands, wipe your heads, and wash your feet. ' The angels obeyed the command. The command came, 'Each of you now say, “Glory be to Thee, O God, and Thine is the praise. I bear witness that there is no god but Thou. I ask forgiveness from Thee and I repent to Thee.”' They said that and the command came, 'I have accepted your repentance and will pass over you.' They said, 'O Lord, is this generosity specific to us, or do we share in it with others?' He said, 'It is for you, for the vicegerent whom I will create, and for his children until the coming of the Hour. Whenever someone conveys water to these four members as I have commanded you, even if he has filled heaven and earth with sins, I will pass over him and bestow upon him my approval and mercy.'” In keeping with this meaning is the sound report from ʿAlī Murtaẓā. He said, “Whenever I heard something from God's Messenger, God gave me benefit from it. From him I came to know the certainty of knowledge and the worthiness of deeds. If I myself had not heard his report, but someone narrated it to me, I would make that person swear an oath. When he swore it, I would rely on him. Abū Bakr ṣiddīq narrated to me, but I did not make him swear an oath to the truthful- ness of his words, because he always spoke the truth. He said, 'I heard God's Messenger saying, “Whenever a servant with faith does a sin and, after that sin, makes an ablution and washes himself fully, then, after finishing, he performs two cycles of prayer, God will pass over that sin from him and will pardon him.”'” The explication of this report is in the Splendorous Qur'an: “Whoever does something ugly or wrongs himself and then asks forgiveness of God, he will find God forgiv- ing, ever-merciful” [4:110].

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. As long as you have curtailed your wishes, you are one of the sincerely truthful. Seek the means of approach to Him. He is saying, “O you who are worshipers, seek nearness to God with the virtues; O you who are knowers, with proofs; and O you who are recognizers, by abandoning means!” What is the worshipers' means of approach? The repenters, the worshipers, the praisers, the journeyers, the bowers, the prostrators, the commanders to the honorable and prohibiters of the improper, the keepers of God's bounds [9:112]. What is the knowers' means of approach? Have they not gazed upon the dominion of the heavens and the earth? [7:185]. What is the recognizers' means of approach? Say “God,” then leave them [6:91]. The worshipers' means of approach is practice, the knowers' means of approach unveiling, and the recognizers' means of approach face-to-face vision. The worshipers' means of approach is truthfulness, the knowers' means of approach friend- ship, and the recognizers' means of approach nonbeing. The worshipers' means of approach is remembrance with need, the knowers' means of ap- proach remembrance with joy, and the recognizers' means of approach remembrance with neither need nor joy. This story is long. This is why the Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, if anyone has found You by seeking, I have found You by fleeing. If anyone has found You by remembering, I have found You by forgetting. If anyone has found You by searching, I have found searching from You. O God, the means of approach to You is You. First were You, last are You. All is You, and that's it. The rest is folly.” It has also been said that the means of approach is the precedent solicitude concerning which the Exalted Lord says, “those to whom the most beautiful has preceded from Us” [21:101], and the mercy that He wrote against Himself in the Beginningless: “Your Lord has written mercy against Himself” [6:54]. He caressed the servant without the servant, placed the army of solicitude in front and wrote mercy against Himself. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, where will I find again the day when You belonged to me and I was not? Until I reach that day again, I will be in the midst of fire and smoke. If I find that day again in the two worlds, I will profit. If I find Your being for myself, I will be pleased with my own nonbeing.” And struggle in His path. This is addressed to the warriors. His words, “Struggle in God” [22:78], are addressed to the recognizers. The struggle of the warriors is with the sword against the enemies of the religion. The struggle of the recognizers is with severity against their own souls. Tomorrow the warrior's fruit will be houris and palaces, but the realizer will be inundated by light in the ocean of face-to-face vision. The struggle of the warriors goes forth from worship and, at the time of contemplation, they will gaze on the Endless. Hence He says to them, “Perhaps you will prosper,” that is, in the Endless. The struggle of the recognizers goes forth from recognition and, at the time of contemplation, they will gaze on the Beginningless, so the Exalted Lord says about them, “He chose you” [22:78].

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. ' What do defective attributes have to do with beginningless and endless attributes?” Ibn ʿAṬāÌ was asked what love is. He said, “Branches that grow in the heart and give fruit in the measure of intellect.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The sign of finding friendship's response is approval, the water of friendship increases through loyalty, the basis of friendship's treasure is light, the fruit of friend- ship's tree is joy. Whoever fails to keep away from the two worlds is excused from friendship. Whoever seeks from the Friend something other than the Friend is ungrateful. Friendship is friend- ship for God, all the rest disquiet.” Whom He loves, and who love Him. A great work and a magnificent bazaar rose up in water and clay and became the kiblah of the Real's friendship and the target of union's arrow. How could the traveler not be delighted that friendship is the nearest way station to the Protector? The tree that produces only the fruit of joy is friendship, the soil that grows nothing but the flowers of intimacy is friendship, the cloud that rains nothing but light is friendship, the drink whose poison turns into honey is friendship, the road whose dust is musk and ambergris is friendship. Friendship's inscrip- tion is beginningless, and friendship's burning brand endless. When the Friend's friendship is my habit and disposition, I am all from the Friend, and all of me is the Friend. Behold how long friendship's good fortune lasts! Listen how fitting is the tale of the friends! The field of friendship is a vast heart, and the kingdom of paradise is one branch of friendship's tree. He who drinks friendship's wine is promised vision. Whoever is truthful will one day reach his desire. God revealed to David, “O David, he who seeks Me will in truth find Me, but how can those who seek others find Me? “O David, tell the people of the earth, 'Turn toward companionship and intimacy with Me! Become intimate with My remembrance! Then I will be your heart's intimate.' “I have created the clay of my friends from the clay of My bosom friend Abraham, from the clay of My speaking companion Moses, and from the clay of My beloved MuḤammad. “O David, I have created the hearts of those who yearn for Me from My light and nurtured them with My majesty. I have servants whom I love and who love Me: whom He loves, and who love Him. They remember Me and I remember them: So remember Me; I will remember you [2:152]. They are happy with Me and I am happy with them: God approves of them and they ap- prove of Him [9:100]. They stay loyal to My covenant and I stay loyal to their covenant: And be loyal to My covenant; I will be loyal to your covenant [2:40]. They yearn for Me and I yearn for them: 'Surely the yearning of the pious to encounter Me has become protracted, but My yearning to encounter them is more intense.'”

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

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

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

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 this house, it will thank you in that house. MuṣṬafā said, “Whenever someone detests his own soul in God's Essence, God will make him secure from the chastisement of the Day of Resurrection.” He also said, “O ʿAlī, when you see people occupying themselves with the defects of others, occupy yourself with the defects of your own soul. And when you see people occupying themselves with cultivating this world, occupy yourself with cultivating your heart.” It has been said that in man's makeup the heart is like the Kaabah, the soul is like a tavern, and the two are facing each other. Night and day the commanding soul raids the heart's pavilion. Like someone stricken by affliction the heart complains each time to the Exalted Threshold, and each time a robe of honor is sent to the ledgers at the side of Eternity. “Surely in every day and night God has 360 gazes at the hearts of the servants.”

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. In the same way, in the earth of service there are seven seas in which are the felicity and salvation of the servant. Abū Ṭālib Makkī, author of Nourishment of the Hearts, alluded to all of them by saying that the well-trodden paths of the wayfarers are seven seas: the intoxication of ecstasy, the lightning of unveiling, the bewilderment of witnessing, the light of proximity, the friendship of finding, the splendor of togetherness, and the reality of solitariness. He said that these seven seas have been placed at the top of the street of tawḤīd. God placed the seven depths of hell in the road of paradise for the sake of the mimickers, and until the mimickers and the common people pass them by they will not reach paradise. In the same way, so long as the wayfarers on the road of tawḤīd have not passed over these seven seas, they will not reach the reality of tawḤīd. And made the darknesses and the light. Wherever there is ignorance, all is darkness, and wherever there is knowledge, all is light. Wherever there are both knowledge and deeds, there is light upon light [24:35]. As long as the servant governs over his own work, he is in the darkness of ignorance and the wrap of heedlessness. As long as he delegates it, he is in the brightness of rec- ognition and the light of guidance. Among the traditions has come the saying, “O child of Adam! You have two great tasks ahead of you. One is putting the commands and prohibitions to work, and this I have placed upon you. Cling to it! The other is governing over your best interests, and that I have accepted for Myself and lifted from you. Do not busy your heart with it. I govern My servants through My knowledge-surely of My servants, I am aware, seeing [35:31].”

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. “O Adam! Look carefully lest you be self-seeing. The angels who sang the song 'O Glorified! O Holy One!' to the melody of We glorify Thy praise [2:30] were self-seeing. They kept their eyes on their own beauty, so We emptied their inner selves of passion for the sake of your eminence. We pulled you up from the depths of the sea of omnipotence so that you would sing the song of Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves [7:23] to the melody of your disobedience. “Quit being the companion of self-nurturing habit-worshipers! Kiss the dust beneath the feet of those who have disowned self!” [DS 972]

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. If they are the recognizers hoping for vision, then here is My vision.” Thus the road of the servants is to open their mouths in praise and laudation. In the state of brokenness they should keep on saying with the attribute of pleading and poverty, “O closer to us than ourselves! O more lovingly kind to us than ourselves! O caresser of us without us through 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.”

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

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

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

And He is the Severe over His servants. He breaks the pleasures of the servants, and in Essence and attributes He is above all the travelers. For the poor He is the good fortune of the heart and the life of the spirit. He perceives the unper- ceivable and sees the unseen face-to-face. One breath with the Real in exchange for the two worlds is cheap, one vision of Him for a hundred thousand spirits is gratis, one moment of intimacy with Him is sweeter than the spirit. He who is slain in this work is between fire and joy, and he who is unaware of this work is jailed in the prison of mortal nature. O God, vision of You is close, but at such closeness the work is too subtle. O God, everyone is upon something, but I don't know what I'm upon. I fear only the moment when who I am appears. Since he who is in remembrance is happy with You, why is he who is happy with You lamenting? When someone has a sweetheart like You in his arms, how would he be aware of the noise of the Resurrection?

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

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

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

No, He it is whom you will supplicate, so He will remove that for which you supplicate Him if He will, and you will forget what you associated with Him. “You will call upon Me, you will know Me, and you will ask Me to remove the trial. It is I who am powerful to perfection, I who am bounteous with bestowal, I who am the beautiful doing, beautiful- wanting friend and companion.” In the reports of David has come this: “O David! Ask the earth-dwellers why they do not be- come friends with Me, for I am worthy of friendship. I am the Lord with munificence and without niggardliness, with knowledge and without ignorance, with patience and without incapacity. There is no change in My attributes and no alteration in My words. I am the bestower upon the servants and vast in mercy. I have never turned back from bounty and generosity. In the Beginningless I wrote mercy toward them against Myself and burned the incense of love. I lit up their hearts with the light of recognition.” The tongue of the servants' state says in the tune of thanksgiving, “Love for Your Essence, my God, is the belief of the friends, remembering Your description, O Lord, dispels the grief of the grieving. The cash in hand of the servants is the treasure-house of Your bounty, so the hopeful keep on sewing the purse of hope.” “O David, if those who turn away from Me knew how I wait for them and how I yearn to put aside their acts of disobedience, they would die in yearning for Me and would cut off all their ties be- cause of love for Me. O David, this is what I desire for those who turn away from Me. How then is My desire for those who turn toward Me?! “O David! I give blessings, and they show gratitude to others. I fend off trial, and they see that from others. Their shelter is My Presence, and they take shelter in others. All right, let them go, let them flee, and they will return at last.” You also have brightness from Me- you'll keep wandering, then you'll come to Me. “O David! I am the friend of him who befriends Me. I am the companion of him who takes Me as companion. I sit with the one who sits with Me in the seclusion of remembrance. I am the intimate of him who becomes the intimate of remembering Me. “O David! Whosoever seeks Me finds Me, and he who finds Me is worthy of not losing.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O Remembered in the proofs, O Reminder of intimacy! Since You are present, of what use to us is seeking? O God, everyone has a hope, and my hope is vision. Without vision I have no need for any wage nor any use for paradise.” As long as I have this hidden pain I will be seeking You-You know the remedy. No, He it is whom you will supplicate. Concerning the intimations of this verse Jurayrī said, “The recognizers return to Him at the first beginnings, and the common people return to Him after de- spair of the creatures.” At the first of the work and the beginning of their states with the Real, the recognizers flee to the Real, do not set their hearts on the creatures, and do not see the secondary causes. The common people get caught up with the secondary causes and set their hearts on the creatures. Finally, once they despair of the creatures, they return to the Real. Junayd said, “Those who supplicate the creatures are supplicating Him, for God says, 'No, He it is whom you will supplicate.'” By putting the pronoun referring to the Real first and placing the call of the creatures after- wards, He is alluding to the fact that the servant reaches supplication by means of the response of the Real; he does not reach the response of the Real by his own supplication. This is the same as saying that the recognizer finds seeking from finding, not finding from seeking. This question has details, which were explained in the Surah of al-FātiḤa.

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, “Perhaps thou art consuming thyself with grief that they do not have faith in this talk” [18:6]. One narrative has reported that God's Messenger sent ʿUmar with a message to these poor men, telling them to come less often for a few days so that perhaps those people would have faith. ʿUmar had not taken three steps before Gabriel came and brought this verse-“And drive not away! O MuḤammad, do not drive them away, for I have not driven them away. Do not caress those whom I have not called.” Yes, those accepted by the Presence are one thing, those driven away by severance something else! Those poor men were the ones called by And God invites to the abode of peace [10:25], and those estranged ones were the ones driven away by Slink into it, and do not talk to Me! [23:108]. God's Messenger called ʿUmar back. The unbelievers returned and said, “If you can, at least give us a turn one day and them a turn another day, and then we may have faith in you.” God's Messenger aspired to set these turns as they wanted. Gabriel came and brought this verse: “And keep thy soul patient with those who supplicate their Lord [18:28]. Be with them, for I am with them. You should want them, for I want them.” When the unbelievers despaired of his setting down turns day by day, they returned and said, “If you do not set down turns, we allow that. We will sit along with them for a time, and you look at us, not at them. You show respect to us, and then we will have faith in you.” MuṣṬafā called ʿUmar and sent him to the poor men to make their hearts happy and to seek their heart's approval for this so that perhaps those unbelievers would have faith. But the goal of the unbelievers in what they were asking was not to have faith. Rather, they wanted to torment the hearts of the poor so that perhaps they would find MuṣṬafā repellant and leave his religion. When ʿUmar set out on the road to take this message, Gabriel came and brought this verse: “And let not thine eyes turn away from them” [18:28], O MuḤammad, do not turn your face away from these poor men and do not lift your eyes away from them, for I am always gazing upon them.” God's Messenger turned totally to the poor and sat with them. He always used to say, “Welcome to those concerning whom my Lord counseled me.” Desiring His face. Abū Yaʿqūb Nahrjūrī was asked, “What is the attribute of the desirer?” He recited the verse, “Those who supplicate their Lord morning and evening, desiring His face” [18:28]. Then he said, “They wake up and have nothing to ask from this world of theirs, nor any demand for their afterworld. Their only aspiration is to talk with their Patron. When they become disengaged for God, the Real's solicitude devotes itself to them and undertakes to speak for them. Hence He said, 'And drive them not away, O MuḤammad!'” Desiring His face. The meaning of desire is a man's wanting as he travels the road. It is of three sorts: One is desiring only this world, another is desiring only the next world, and the third is desiring only the Real. Desiring this world is what He says: “You desire the chance goods of this life [8:67]. Whosoever desires this hasty world [17:18]. Whosoever desires the tillage of this world [42:20]. If you desire the life of this world and its adornment [33:28].” The mark of desiring this world is two things: ap- proving of increase in this world by means of decrease in the religion; and turning away from the poor among the Muslims. Desiring the afterworld is what He says: “Whosoever desires the afterworld [17:19]. Whoso- ever desires the tillage of the next world [42:20].” Its mark is two things: approving of the safety of the religion by decreasing in this world, and bosom friendship with the poor. Desiring the Real is what God says: “Desiring His face [6:52]. If you desire God and His Messenger [23:29].” Its mark is stepping beyond the two worlds, becoming free of the creatures, and escaping oneself. This was an explication in terms of learning and the verification of the expression. As for the explication in terms of understanding in the tongue of allusion, it is what the Pir of the Tariqah said when he was asked about desire: “It is a breath between knowledge and the present moment in the quarter of joy, the neighborhood of friendship, and the house of nonbeing. The house has four borders: one with the distraught, another with the strangers, a third with the heart-lost, and a fourth with the yearners.” Then he said, “O helping and lovingly kind! Exalted is he who has one breath with You. O Found and Findable! What mark does the desirer show other than selflessness? Everyone's tribu- lation is because of distance, but the desirer's because of nearness! Everyone is thirsty from not finding water, but the desirer is thirsty from being quenched. “O God, I seek the Found. I say to the Seen, 'What do I have, what should I seek, when will I see, what should I say?' I am entranced by this seeking, I am seized by this speaking.” As long as I have the spirit, I will suffer in grief for You. Without the spirit I will not entrust Your passion's pain to anyone.

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. You came out foolishly, and I gave you respite. You put aside My command, and I did not take away kind favor from you. You disobeyed, and I lowered the curtain over you. With all of this, if you come back, I will accept you, and if you turn away, I will await your coming back. I am the most munificent of the munificent, the most gener- ous of the generous, and the most merciful of the merciful.”

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light. ” This is alluded to in His words, “And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord” [39:69]. Here a chevalier of the Tariqah made an exalted point and clarified the traveling of the travel- ers and the pull that takes those who are snatched away. He said, “When the caress of And God took Abraham as a bosom friend [4:125] reached Abraham from the court of Unity in the attribute of clemency and mercy, the command came, 'O Abraham, there is no stipulation that you stand still in the road of bosom friendship. Go higher than the way station of I submit to the Lord of the Worlds [2:131]. Make the journey that is called the journey of solitariness. 'Travel with the precedence of the solitary!'” Abraham was a fast-going seeker, looking for the reminder of the Beginningless. He put the sandals of intention on the feet of his aspiration and went forth on the journey of I am going to my Lord [37:99]. The treasuries of exaltedness were opened up from the hiding place of the Unseen, and many pearls of the Unseen and wonders of the treasuries were strewn in the road of I am going. Abraham was still a traveler and became attached to I am going. He had not yet reached the center point of togetherness. He looked back and saw plunder, so he busied himself with the plunder. The beauty of tawḤīd unveiled itself to him: “Why did you look back?” Finally he asked forgiveness with I love not those that set. He still saw those pearls of the Unseen and he stood back: “This is my Lord, this is my Lord,” for those pearls of the Unseen were so heart-deceiving and preoccupying. It was said to him, “O Abraham, you should not have halted like this. Why did you go forth on the road of I am going to my Lord and then look back at the plunder and treasures? Why did you not turn the eye of aspiration away from that? Why did you not put to use the Sunnah of the eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]?” This is the Sunnah of that paragon of the world and the characteristic of that master of Adam's children. On the night of nearness and familiarity, the greatest signs [53:28] disclosed themselves in his road, and he remained in this courtesy: The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass. “O Abraham! When someone is searching for the reminder of the Beginningless and the mys- tery of the Beneficent, what use has he for plunder and treasures?” When a serpent bites a man's liver, they give him the antidote, not candy. Abraham pulled the hand of disengagement from the sleeve of solitariness and turned away from the secondary causes: Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters. In other words: “I aim solely for God, I have made myself pure of ties to anything but God, I have preserved my covenant in God for God, I have purged my finding through God. I belong to God in God, or rather, I am effaced in God, and God is God.”

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light. ” This is alluded to in His words, “And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord” [39:69]. Here a chevalier of the Tariqah made an exalted point and clarified the traveling of the travel- ers and the pull that takes those who are snatched away. He said, “When the caress of And God took Abraham as a bosom friend [4:125] reached Abraham from the court of Unity in the attribute of clemency and mercy, the command came, 'O Abraham, there is no stipulation that you stand still in the road of bosom friendship. Go higher than the way station of I submit to the Lord of the Worlds [2:131]. Make the journey that is called the journey of solitariness. 'Travel with the precedence of the solitary!'” Abraham was a fast-going seeker, looking for the reminder of the Beginningless. He put the sandals of intention on the feet of his aspiration and went forth on the journey of I am going to my Lord [37:99]. The treasuries of exaltedness were opened up from the hiding place of the Unseen, and many pearls of the Unseen and wonders of the treasuries were strewn in the road of I am going. Abraham was still a traveler and became attached to I am going. He had not yet reached the center point of togetherness. He looked back and saw plunder, so he busied himself with the plunder. The beauty of tawḤīd unveiled itself to him: “Why did you look back?” Finally he asked forgiveness with I love not those that set. He still saw those pearls of the Unseen and he stood back: “This is my Lord, this is my Lord,” for those pearls of the Unseen were so heart-deceiving and preoccupying. It was said to him, “O Abraham, you should not have halted like this. Why did you go forth on the road of I am going to my Lord and then look back at the plunder and treasures? Why did you not turn the eye of aspiration away from that? Why did you not put to use the Sunnah of the eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]?” This is the Sunnah of that paragon of the world and the characteristic of that master of Adam's children. On the night of nearness and familiarity, the greatest signs [53:28] disclosed themselves in his road, and he remained in this courtesy: The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass. “O Abraham! When someone is searching for the reminder of the Beginningless and the mys- tery of the Beneficent, what use has he for plunder and treasures?” When a serpent bites a man's liver, they give him the antidote, not candy. Abraham pulled the hand of disengagement from the sleeve of solitariness and turned away from the secondary causes: Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters. In other words: “I aim solely for God, I have made myself pure of ties to anything but God, I have preserved my covenant in God for God, I have purged my finding through God. I belong to God in God, or rather, I am effaced in God, and God is God.”

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light. ” This is alluded to in His words, “And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord” [39:69]. Here a chevalier of the Tariqah made an exalted point and clarified the traveling of the travel- ers and the pull that takes those who are snatched away. He said, “When the caress of And God took Abraham as a bosom friend [4:125] reached Abraham from the court of Unity in the attribute of clemency and mercy, the command came, 'O Abraham, there is no stipulation that you stand still in the road of bosom friendship. Go higher than the way station of I submit to the Lord of the Worlds [2:131]. Make the journey that is called the journey of solitariness. 'Travel with the precedence of the solitary!'” Abraham was a fast-going seeker, looking for the reminder of the Beginningless. He put the sandals of intention on the feet of his aspiration and went forth on the journey of I am going to my Lord [37:99]. The treasuries of exaltedness were opened up from the hiding place of the Unseen, and many pearls of the Unseen and wonders of the treasuries were strewn in the road of I am going. Abraham was still a traveler and became attached to I am going. He had not yet reached the center point of togetherness. He looked back and saw plunder, so he busied himself with the plunder. The beauty of tawḤīd unveiled itself to him: “Why did you look back?” Finally he asked forgiveness with I love not those that set. He still saw those pearls of the Unseen and he stood back: “This is my Lord, this is my Lord,” for those pearls of the Unseen were so heart-deceiving and preoccupying. It was said to him, “O Abraham, you should not have halted like this. Why did you go forth on the road of I am going to my Lord and then look back at the plunder and treasures? Why did you not turn the eye of aspiration away from that? Why did you not put to use the Sunnah of the eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]?” This is the Sunnah of that paragon of the world and the characteristic of that master of Adam's children. On the night of nearness and familiarity, the greatest signs [53:28] disclosed themselves in his road, and he remained in this courtesy: The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass. “O Abraham! When someone is searching for the reminder of the Beginningless and the mys- tery of the Beneficent, what use has he for plunder and treasures?” When a serpent bites a man's liver, they give him the antidote, not candy. Abraham pulled the hand of disengagement from the sleeve of solitariness and turned away from the secondary causes: Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters. In other words: “I aim solely for God, I have made myself pure of ties to anything but God, I have preserved my covenant in God for God, I have purged my finding through God. I belong to God in God, or rather, I am effaced in God, and God is God.”

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light. ” This is alluded to in His words, “And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord” [39:69]. Here a chevalier of the Tariqah made an exalted point and clarified the traveling of the travel- ers and the pull that takes those who are snatched away. He said, “When the caress of And God took Abraham as a bosom friend [4:125] reached Abraham from the court of Unity in the attribute of clemency and mercy, the command came, 'O Abraham, there is no stipulation that you stand still in the road of bosom friendship. Go higher than the way station of I submit to the Lord of the Worlds [2:131]. Make the journey that is called the journey of solitariness. 'Travel with the precedence of the solitary!'” Abraham was a fast-going seeker, looking for the reminder of the Beginningless. He put the sandals of intention on the feet of his aspiration and went forth on the journey of I am going to my Lord [37:99]. The treasuries of exaltedness were opened up from the hiding place of the Unseen, and many pearls of the Unseen and wonders of the treasuries were strewn in the road of I am going. Abraham was still a traveler and became attached to I am going. He had not yet reached the center point of togetherness. He looked back and saw plunder, so he busied himself with the plunder. The beauty of tawḤīd unveiled itself to him: “Why did you look back?” Finally he asked forgiveness with I love not those that set. He still saw those pearls of the Unseen and he stood back: “This is my Lord, this is my Lord,” for those pearls of the Unseen were so heart-deceiving and preoccupying. It was said to him, “O Abraham, you should not have halted like this. Why did you go forth on the road of I am going to my Lord and then look back at the plunder and treasures? Why did you not turn the eye of aspiration away from that? Why did you not put to use the Sunnah of the eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]?” This is the Sunnah of that paragon of the world and the characteristic of that master of Adam's children. On the night of nearness and familiarity, the greatest signs [53:28] disclosed themselves in his road, and he remained in this courtesy: The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass. “O Abraham! When someone is searching for the reminder of the Beginningless and the mys- tery of the Beneficent, what use has he for plunder and treasures?” When a serpent bites a man's liver, they give him the antidote, not candy. Abraham pulled the hand of disengagement from the sleeve of solitariness and turned away from the secondary causes: Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters. In other words: “I aim solely for God, I have made myself pure of ties to anything but God, I have preserved my covenant in God for God, I have purged my finding through God. I belong to God in God, or rather, I am effaced in God, and God is God.”

So also We were showing Abraham the dominion of the heavens and the earth, that he might be one of those with certainty. When night darkened over him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” When it set he said, “I love not those that set.”... Then when he saw the sun rising, he said, “This is my Lord, this is greater.” When it set he said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate. Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters.” First He showed him the dominion of heaven and earth so that he would derive evidence of the exis- tence of the Artisan by way of inference. He looked at the stars and said, “This is my Lord,” that is, “evidence of my Lord, for my Lord has no beginning or end, but this has set.” He said, “I love not those that set.” At last the beauty of the Haqiqah showed its face to him. By means of inference and proofs he went back to witnessing and face-to-face vision. He turned away from everything and said, “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. He said to Gabriel, “As for turning toward you, no.” First he was like a knower, then he became like a recognizer. WāsiṬī said, “The world's creatures are going to Him, but the recognizers are coming from Him.” He also said, “If someone says, 'I recognized God through the evidence,' ask him how he recognized the evidence.'” True, at the beginning there is no escape from evidence, as was the beginning of Abraham's path. All that evidence came into Abraham's path-the star, the moon, the sun. When he reached each piece of evidence, he would cling to it and say, “This is my Lord.” When he passed beyond the degrees of the evidence, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eye of face-to-face vision. He said, “O my people, I am quit of what you associate,” that is, I am quit of inference from the crea- tures to the Creator, for there is no evidence for Him save Himself. This is the same as that great one of the religion said: “I recognized God through God, and I recognized that which is beneath God through God's light. ” This is alluded to in His words, “And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord” [39:69]. Here a chevalier of the Tariqah made an exalted point and clarified the traveling of the travel- ers and the pull that takes those who are snatched away. He said, “When the caress of And God took Abraham as a bosom friend [4:125] reached Abraham from the court of Unity in the attribute of clemency and mercy, the command came, 'O Abraham, there is no stipulation that you stand still in the road of bosom friendship. Go higher than the way station of I submit to the Lord of the Worlds [2:131]. Make the journey that is called the journey of solitariness. 'Travel with the precedence of the solitary!'” Abraham was a fast-going seeker, looking for the reminder of the Beginningless. He put the sandals of intention on the feet of his aspiration and went forth on the journey of I am going to my Lord [37:99]. The treasuries of exaltedness were opened up from the hiding place of the Unseen, and many pearls of the Unseen and wonders of the treasuries were strewn in the road of I am going. Abraham was still a traveler and became attached to I am going. He had not yet reached the center point of togetherness. He looked back and saw plunder, so he busied himself with the plunder. The beauty of tawḤīd unveiled itself to him: “Why did you look back?” Finally he asked forgiveness with I love not those that set. He still saw those pearls of the Unseen and he stood back: “This is my Lord, this is my Lord,” for those pearls of the Unseen were so heart-deceiving and preoccupying. It was said to him, “O Abraham, you should not have halted like this. Why did you go forth on the road of I am going to my Lord and then look back at the plunder and treasures? Why did you not turn the eye of aspiration away from that? Why did you not put to use the Sunnah of the eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]?” This is the Sunnah of that paragon of the world and the characteristic of that master of Adam's children. On the night of nearness and familiarity, the greatest signs [53:28] disclosed themselves in his road, and he remained in this courtesy: The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass. “O Abraham! When someone is searching for the reminder of the Beginningless and the mys- tery of the Beneficent, what use has he for plunder and treasures?” When a serpent bites a man's liver, they give him the antidote, not candy. Abraham pulled the hand of disengagement from the sleeve of solitariness and turned away from the secondary causes: Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving, and I am not of the associaters. In other words: “I aim solely for God, I have made myself pure of ties to anything but God, I have preserved my covenant in God for God, I have purged my finding through God. I belong to God in God, or rather, I am effaced in God, and God is God.”

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

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

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

Were We to send down the angels to them, were the dead to speak to them, and were We to muster all things in front of them, they would still not have faith, unless God willed. He is speaking about those rejected by the Presence, those driven away by severance. “If We were to send the angels of heaven-the proximate and the cherubim, the emissaries and the pi- ous, the watchers over the decree and the measuring out, the trustees of the Exalted Threshold- to the earth to invite the abandoned to Us and to report about Us; and if We were to muster the dead in the earth to direct them to Our threshold; and if We were to bestow eloquence on all the animals and inanimate things, the entities and bodies of the created things, the form and essence of the determined things, and the instances and individuals of the known things and send these to them to offer them the signs of Our divinity and the signposts of Our lordhood so that they may see and know all of the reports, still, as long as I, who am the Lord, did not want and did not show them the road, they would not have faith and they would not find the way to recognize Us. How can a handful of dust talk about the eternal were it not for the eternal solicitude and want of the Generous?” Who is the heart that it should scatter pearls without You? What is the body that it should run a kingdom without You? By God, intelligence does not know the way without You, the spirit has not the gall to remain without You The belief of the Folk of the Sunnah is that as long as the Exalted Lord does not make Himself recognized to the servant's heart, and as long as He does not fix the marks that bear witness to the eternal attributes in the servant's heart, the servant will not find the road to recognition of Him. This is why the ulama of the Sunnah and the leaders of emulation have said, “Recognition becomes necessary when transmitted, requisite when conveyed, and acquired when made known.” Indeed, it is a candle, but when will He light it? It is a pearl, but where will He deposit it? God says, “It is one of My secrets that I deposit in the hearts of those whom I love among My servants. ” One must have both recognition and familiarity to be the target of this work and worthy for this robe. Claiming familiarity without recognition is rejecting the truth, just as He reports about those estranged ones who said, “We are God's children and His loved ones” [5:18]. Claiming rec- ognition without familiarity is nothing but deception, as in the case of him who was abandoned by the Threshold, the head of the wretched, Iblis, who had recognition, but not familiarity. Both his beginning and his end were nothing but deception, concealed in the depths of unbelief. Outwardly he had the angelic form, wearing the mask of calling God holy, but inwardly he was corrupt. For thousands of years he had walked on the carpet of worship in the hope of union. When he fancied that the eye of his hope would be opened, or the breath of union would blow inside him, he fell from the heaven of loftiness to the dust of the curse: Upon thee shall be My curse [38:78]. 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.

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. The elders ridiculed him, the poets lampooned him, the children threw stones at him, the women poured dust on him from the roofs. Then they came to an agreement and made a compact among themselves to remove him and to help their own gods. At that point Gabriel came and said, “O Master! Get up, and leave the city to them. Set out for exile, for 'Seeking the Real is exile.'” In commanding him to exile there is a secret that a chevalier has brought out in his verses of poetry: O you who were an orphan, now be gentle to orphans! O you who were a stranger, now be kind to strangers! The generosity We showed to you in your poverty and orphanhood- you show the same, O generous in character, to Our creatures! Be a mother to orphans, nurture them with gentleness, be noble to askers, fulfill their requests. [DS 36]

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 finger and said, “This one is being transferred from abode to abode. His friends do not die. Rather, they are taken from their secret cores to another house.” Junayd said, “Yes, I know, such is the case. But you must let go of my finger so that I can wash you and carry out the custom of the Shariah.” Abū ʿAbdallāh Khafīf said that Abu'l-Ḥasan Muzayyan said, “I went to Mecca, and Shaykh Abū Yaʿqūb AqṬaʿ was in the state of going. They said to me, 'If he looks at you, present the Sha- hadah to him.' They took me as inexperienced because I was a child. I sat at his pillow, and he looked at me. I said, 'O Shaykh, bear witness that there is no god but God!'” He said, “You mean me? By the exaltedness of Him who does not taste death! Nothing re- mains between Him and me save the veil of exaltedness.” Shaykh al-Islām said, “The curtain of His exaltedness is He, for He indeed is He, and you are you.” Abū ʿAbdallāh Khafīf said, “A man was burning in the Divinity beyond the curtain of exalted- ness, and they came and presented him with the Shahadah!” Abu'l-Ḥusayn Muzayyan for a time used to say, “A beggar like me came so that I could pres- ent the Shahadah to His friends!” Shāh Kirmānī recited this verse and then said, “The mark of this life is three things: Finding intimacy by losing dread, being filled with solitariness by the constancy of remembrance, and be- ing aware of awe by the purity of watchfulness. ” It is retirement from the creatures and solitariness with the Real, the tongue with the remembrance and the heart with reflection; sometimes in awe from gazing upon majesty and exaltedness, sometimes in hope from gazing upon gentleness during watchfulness. One's spirit is constantly roasted in the pan of passion and burnt like a moth. In the dark night, at wit's end like the distracted, one hopes that by dawn the morning of “God descends” will arrive, for He attends to the ill. He says, “O angels, you circumambulate their hearts so that I may place a balm on their wounds.” The tongue of the servant's state keeps on saying in the at- tribute of need, “O branch of the passionate man's hope for union, grow! O moon, leave the mansion of disloyalty! O morning of union with the Friend, come one day! O dark night of separation, come entirely to an end!”

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

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

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 disloyal toward his own self. Though the millwheel of the states is turning, so what? The pivot of His will is in place.” O friend, I have become all yours. In truth these words have no lying, no deceit. Were you to jump right out of your own selfhood, I would likely be there in your place, my dear.

The weighing that day is true. The weighing of deeds with the scales of self-purification is true, and the weighing of states with the scales of truthfulness is just. Hapless and deprived is he whose deeds are tainted with eye- service and whose states are mixed with self-admiration, for in the station of the scales these states will have no value and those deeds will have no weight. God says, “On the Day of Resur- rection, We shall assign them no weight” [18:105]. Among the traditions of ʿUmar is this: “Take an accounting of yourselves before you are brought to account, weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and prepare for the Greatest Exposure.” He is saying, “Weigh your own deeds before they are weighed against you, take an account of yourself and gaze upon your own works: What have you made ready for the Greatest Exposure and the gathering place of the resurrection?” This is why the Lord of the Worlds said, “Let every soul consider what it has forwarded for tomorrow” [59:18]. A report has come that an intelligent man has four hours in which to seek his felicity and adorn his days: the hour in which he takes an accounting of himself and weighs his own deeds and states, the hour in which he whispers secretly with the Real and shows his need to Him, the hour in which he takes care of his own livelihood, and the hour in which he takes his ease in whispered prayer and in what he has been given of this world. The weighing that day is true. The pirs of the Tariqah and the lords of recognition say that the scales are diverse. The soul and spirit have a scale, the heart and intellect have a scale, and recogni- tion and the secret core have a scale. The scale of the soul and spirit is commands and prohibitions, and its two pans are the Book and the Sunnah. The scale of the heart and intellect is reward, and its two pans are threats and promises. The scale of recognition and the secret core is approval, and its two pans are fleeing and seeking. Fleeing is to escape from this world and to cling to the after- world. Seeking is to leave aside the afterworld and seek the Patron. Nothing will be found without seeking, but until you find the Real, you will not seek. This is why seekers of the Real are rare. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, if anyone has found You by seeking, I indeed found seeking from You. If anyone has found You by searching, I found You by fleeing. O God, since finding You is before the seeking and the seeker, the seeker seeks because unsettledness has over- powered him. The marvel is that finding has become hard cash when seeking has not yet arisen. The Real is seen, but the curtain of exaltedness is in place.” O Beauty from whose union a world is deprived and distant! Aching for You, they bind the sash of bewilderment and unbelief. Things are there to be seen, yes, but nothing can be said- inside the serpent's maw there's no way to talk.

We created you, then We formed you, then We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before Adam.” The wise Lord, the renowned and tremendous all-compeller, the enactor, the knowing keeper of ser- vants, is reminding the children of Adam of His favors. He is teaching them about His good Godhood and His holding to the Covenant. He is saying, “I created you, and I sculpted your beautiful faces. I drew your tall statures and gave you two seeing eyes, two listening ears, and a speaking tongue. I am the Lord who makes being from nonbeing, who brings forth what is from what was not, and who makes things newly from the outset. The painter of faces is I, the adorner of beauties is I, the one who pairs everything with its companion is I, the maker of every being in a fitting way is I. I created heaven, earth, and the inanimate things to manifest power. I created the angels, satans, and jinn to manifest awe. I created Adam and the Adamites to manifest forgiveness and mercy. “For 700,000 years Gabriel, Michael, Seraphiel, the Cherubim, the Circlers, and the Row-keep- ers circumambulated the Kaabah of All-Compellingness saying 'The Glorified! The Holy!' They never gained access to or recognized My names of love, loving kindness, and friendship. They never had the gall to claim friendship with Me, but I claimed friendship with the dust-dwellers: We are your friends [41:31]. He loves them [5:54]. I derived several of My names from My friendship and loving kindness toward them: the Forgiving, the Loving, the Clement, the Ever-Merciful. To the angels I showed only severity and all-compellingness. I kept them behind the veils of awe. To the dust-dwellers I showed only clemency and mercy. I kept them on the carpet of expansiveness.” Among the angels, Gabriel was honored and foremost, and he was singled out for the special favors of proximity. His name was Servitor of the All-Merciful. He was standing constantly on the carpet of justice with the attribute of awe. He had never seen the carpet of bounty and expansive- ness. Before Adam the Chosen came, there was no separation or union, no rejection or acceptance. There was no talk of heart, sweetheart, and friendship. These wonders and storehouses all pertain to the register of passion. Other than Adam's heart, there was no oyster shell for the pearl of love. Everyone came by the road of creation, and he alone came by the road of love: He loves them, and they love Him [5:54]. From the angels there was nothing other than glorifying and hallowing-their work was one color. The wonders of service, the courteous acts of companionship, the storehouses of affection, the subtleties of love-all appeared with Adam, for he was the chameleon of predetermination. The rule of selfless wandering and the custom of gambling away was brought to the city by you, O beautiful companion! Then We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before Adam.” The angels were commanded to prostrate themselves before Adam. The secret here is that the angels were looking at their own ceaseless worship with the eye of high regard and giving great weight to their own glorifying and hallowing. That is why they said, “We glorify Thy praise and call Thee holy” [2:30]. The Majesty of Unity, the Side of All-Compellingness, showed them Its exalted and endless unneediness toward the obedience of all the obedient and the worship of all the heaven-dwellers. It said, “Go, prostrate yourselves before Adam, and do not give your prostration any weight in the Exalted Presence. I still had not written out existence for the existent things when My majesty witnessed My beauty. In My own Selfhood I was enough for Myself. Today that I have created the creatures, I am the same Exalted One that I was. I have no need to join the faith and obedience of newly arrived things to My beginningless majesty.” Her own face had itself as a moon, her own eye had itself as collyrium. Listen to another subtle point from the secrets of We created you, then We formed you, then We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves to Adam”: The Adamite is body and spirit, and what lies beyond body and spirit cannot be brought into expression. Make not your home in body or spirit, for that is low and this is high. Take a step outside of both-be not here and be not there. [DS 51] He said to the body, “We created you,” and He said to the spirit, “then We formed you.” This is just what He said elsewhere: “We created man from an extraction of clay” [23:12]; again He said, “Then We configured him as another creature” [23:14]. Know also that these houses of the creatures were brought out from seventy thousand cur- tains-curtains of light and darkness. The report speaks of this: “God has seventy thousand veils of light and darkness.” Whatever is light is the seed of the goodly word [14:24] and whatever is darkness is the seed of the vile word [14:26] Then all were covered with dust, and dust became the curtain for all. In all this one wonders who is the storehouse of secrets? For whose home is that hidden pearl prepared? You have a secret wink with each spirit, You have a passage into the street of every heart. In the age of Adam the chosen, the exaltedness of the religion shone from the tower of his emi- nence. Everyone came to see with his own coin, and Adam was the touchstone. And Adam dis- obeyed [20:121] was the blackness of the touchstone. All struck their coin against the touchstone so that it would be clear what their coin was. With the coin of fancy the Higher Plenum saw that We glorify Thy praise [2:30]. Iblis the Abandoned saw that I am better [38:76]. Right there he was a verified thorn and a false rose. He pulled out the rose and threw it away, and the thorn remained in the eye of fancy. The roses I picked from the garden of Your union, the pearls I stole from the sweetness of Your lips- Those roses all became thorns in my spirit, those pearls all rained down as my tears. For seventy thousand years, that abandoned and rejected one was the guest of fancy. In himself he was sure that his quarry was gold and he was the Red Sulfur. When he struck his coin against the touchstone of Adam's limpidness, his coin came out counterfeit. In his own quarry he saw naphtha and tar; in place of gold he saw black jet. I painted an image of you in my eye, and a life passed by in seeing that image. When the sun rose in front of me folly remained in my eyes, fancy in my head. It has been said that Iblis deserved to be cursed and abandoned by the Court of Unneediness for five things, and in contrast Adam found the Real's generosity, the light of guidance, and the acceptance of repentance for five things. One is that Iblis “did not acknowledge his sin.” Pride did not let him come forward with ac- knowledgment. But Adam came back with the attribute of incapacity and acknowledged his sin. Second, “He did not regret what he had done” and did not apologize, but Adam regretted his own deed, apologized, and pleaded. Third, “He did not blame himself.” In that disobedience he did not take himself on and did not blame himself, but Adam turned back on himself and blamed himself for abasement. Fourth, “He did not see that it was necessary for him to repent,” nor did he apologize or plead. But Adam knew that repentance was the key to felicity and the interceder for mercy, so he consid- ered it necessary for himself. He hurried and did not look back until he saw the face of acceptance. Fifth, “He despaired of God's mercy.” That ill-fortuned one did not know that one despairs of the base, but the Exalted Lord is not base. And just as there is no despair, so there is no security, for one feels secure from the incapable, and God is not incapable. So, when that wretched one despaired, the door to repentance was shut to him. But Adam did not despair. He bound his heart to mercy and forgiveness. He wept and moaned at the threshold of Unneediness until mercy and forgiveness arrived. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The field of friendship's road is solitariness. The drinker of friendship's wine is promised vision. Whoever is truthful will one day reach his desire.”

O Adam, dwell thou and thy spouse in the Garden, and eat from wheresoever you will, but come not near this tree. Adam has four names: Adam, vicegerent, mortal, and man. He was called Adam because he was created from the surface [adīm] of the earth, drawn from every region. Thus He said, “[We created man] from an extraction of clay” [23:12]. In other words, he was extracted from every region- sweet and briny, soft and hard. In Adam's clay were salty and sweet, coarse and soft, so the natures of his children became diverse. Among them are both sweet-tempered and bad-tempered, open and closed, generous and stingy, easy-going and difficult, black and white. Elsewhere He said, “He created man from dried clay, like pottery” [55:14]. Pottery is dried clay that gives off sound and is full of noise. In other words, the Adamite is noisy, his head full of tumult and turmoil, attached to talking. Elsewhere He said, “from clinging clay” [37:11], from a clay that is sticky, clings to every- thing, and mixes with everyone. Elsewhere He said, “from fetid mud” [15:26], a clay that is dark and black. Thus He taught him his measure so that he would not transgress his stage. He was shown his own root so that, if he should see generosity, he would not see it from himself. He would know that eminence lies in nurture [tarbiya], not in soil [turba]. What arises from soil? Wrongdoing, ignorance, and harshness. Adam disobeyed his Lord [20:121]. What arises from nurture? The generosity of guidance, the acceptance of repentance, and caresses. Surely God chose Adam [3:33]. The fruit of nurture is what He says: “He loves them, and they love Him” [5:54]. MaḤmūd went to the house of Ayāz. He saw all the property, blessings, gold, silver, jewels, multicolored silks, and robes of honor that MaḤmūd had given to him and bestowed upon him. In a corner he saw an old cloak made of patches of cloth hanging from a nail. He said, “So, what is this?” Ayāz answered, “This one is me in all my helplessness and abasement. All that beauty, adorn- ment, and all that exaltedness and delight are you. When I look at this, I see my own incapacity and know my own worth. When I look at that, I see you and know that it belongs to you, so I am delighted and lift my head. ” Tell them to call me nothing but lord- that's a name suited for your serving boy. The reports say that He created Adam's body from clay and put it between Mecca and Taif for forty years. Every time Iblis passed by it, he would say, “Why have you been created?” The Exalted Lord was saying to the angels, “When I have blown into him of My spirit, prostrate yourselves before him” [15:29]. So, when the spirit came into his secret core, Adam opened his eyes and saw that his body was all clay. The wisdom in this is so that he would know his root, recognize his own soul, not be deceived by himself, and see the subtleties he saw as coming from the Real. When the spirit reached Adam's breast, it saw darkness. Some say that this was the darkness of the slip. Others say that it was the darkness of the dust, for the root of dust is from darkness, and the root of the spirit is from light. The spirit wanted to go back, and when its breeze reached his nostrils, he sneezed. Adam said, “The praise belongs to God,” and the Exalted Lord said, “May your Lord have mercy on you!” The spirit heard the mention of the Real's praise and mercy and took up residence. It said, “If this is worthy for God's praise and mercy, it is worthy to be my place.” When the spirit reached the navel, the appetite for food appeared in Adam. He saw the fruit of paradise and he wished for it. He wanted to stand but he was not able to. The Exalted Lord said, “Man was created of haste” [21:37]. His second name was “vicegerent,” because he sat in the place of the angels. The first dwell- ers in the earth were the angels, and then this name was given to Adam. The secret here is that the Adamites would have an excuse for their inclination to and ease with this world. In other words, the angels were not of this world, nor were they created of dust. Once they sat in this world, they were at ease, so being brought out of it was difficult for them. Hence they said, “What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there, and shed blood?” [2:30]. What wonder is it then that Adam's child should incline toward this world, for he was created and made from it? The report says, “When the faithful person dies in submission, the angels say, 'How was he saved from the world in which the best of us became corrupt?'” His third name is “mortal” [bashar]. God named him mortal because of his contact [mubāshara] with affairs. His fourth name is “man” [insān], because he “forgot” God's covenant. Thus He says, “He forgot, and We found in him no resoluteness” [20:115], that is, “We did not find in him resoluteness when he aimed to oppose Me; rather, that was because of forgetfulness [nisyān].” When there is solicitude, why should caresses have a limit? He overlooked his disobedience and He gave him an excuse. He said, “He did not act in opposition intentionally, nor did he have any resoluteness in that. Rather, he forgot My covenant, and it is My generosity to overlook that.” It has also been said that “man” comes from “intimacy” [uns], that is, he had intimacy with his spouse and love in his heart, as God said: “He placed between you love and mercy” [30:21]. That is why the Exalted Lord said, “O Adam, dwell thou and thy spouse in the Garden!” He gave his kind to his kind, He tied the creature to the creature, and He made the shape in the shape. This is because newly arrived things can make do only with their own shapes, are attracted only to their own kinds, and take ease only with those like themselves. It is the Majesty of Eternity and the Exaltedness of Unity that is pure of shapes, likenesses, and kinds, and It is He who is uniquely holy through His own beauty and majesty and exalted through the attributes of His own perfection. He always is, and He is first before all things. He is great through Himself, He acts beautifully toward everything, and He is fitting for greatness and beautiful doing. Then He said, “And eat from wheresoever you will, but come not near this tree. Eat what you want, wherever you want, in this paradise, and be joyful, but do come around this one tree.” He prohibited it to them, and He concealed their eating of it in His unseen knowledge. Then He put the decree into effect over them, so that they would know their own incapacity and weakness and see that protection from sin comes from the divine success-giving, not from the servant's effort.

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

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

“Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. If Thou dost not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers.” “O God, if we weep, weeping for You is sweet. If we lament over you, our lamenting is appropri- ate. O God, what comes from dust other than error? What is born from defect other than disloy- alty? And what comes from the generous other than loyalty? O God, we have come back with two empty hands. What would happen if You placed balm on the wounded? O God, You are the treasure of the poor, the traveling supplies of the distressed, the resource of the fleeing, the hand- holder of the helpless. You created, so You saw the faulty jewel, but You selected it and bought it with all its faults. You lifted us up and no one said, 'Lift up!' Now that You have lifted up, don't put down! Keep us in the shadow of gentleness and entrust us to none but Your bounty!” If You water, You Yourself planted. If You flatten the foundation, You Yourself raised it. I the servant am just what You fancied. Don't throw me down-You lifted me up.

Say: “My Lord has commanded justice. Set your faces in every place of prostration and supplicate Him, purifying the religion for Him. Just as He began you, so you shall return.” In this verse the Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator of the world and the world's folk, the bestower and forgiver, the lovingly kind toward the servants, brings together the foundations of service, the signposts of practice, and the realities of recognition. He makes the faithful aware of pleasing character traits and He instructs them in beautiful worship of Himself and beautiful living with the creatures. He honors them by letting them recognize the causes of His approval. This verse is one of the all-comprehensive words concerning which MuṣṬafā said, “I was sent out with the all-comprehensive words, and knowledge was made very concise for me.” In the Qur'an there is much of the same sort. Let me speak about one of them: “Surely God is with those who are godwary and those who are beautiful-doers” [16:128]. Consider how such a short verse has so many of the meanings. All of God's caresses, the generous giving and boun- teousness of the Real toward the servant, are included in Surely God is with. All service, such as the sorts of worship and the types of practice that the servant does for God, comes under godwary. All that is rightfully due to people from each other in the various sorts of practices comes under beautiful-doers. In the same way, all the pillars of the religion, the standpoints of the Shariah, and the gates of the Haqiqah are included in the words, “My Lord has commanded justice. Set your faces in every place of prostration and supplicate Him, purifying the religion for Him.” He is saying, “God has commanded me to justice, that is, in my practice with the Real, the creatures, and the soul: with the Real by putting commands and prohibitions to work and approving of His decree in every state; with the creatures by living with good character, observing equity toward them in the varieties of practice, and not asking equity for myself; and with the soul by opposing it, pulling it into the field of struggle and discipline, and shutting the door to appetites and ease.” The equal of this verse in the Qur'an is where He says, “God commands justice and beautiful do- ing” [16:90]. Justice is equity, and beautiful doing is preferring others. Justice is that you do to others what they did to you. Beautiful doing is that you do better than what they did to you. Justice is that you do not take away from the mandatory, you do not put aside retribution, you do not add to the punish- ment, and you do not hope for that which cannot be. Beautiful doing is when someone does the beauti- ful toward you, you do more than what he did. When someone does what is bad to you, you do what is beautiful to him. This is the path of the chevaliers and the conduct of the Men. It has also been said that justice in interactions is that you take the straight and you give the straight. Beautiful doing is that you take the withered and you give the plump. Justice is that in answering the greeting of peace you say, “And upon you be peace.” Beautiful doing is that you add to it “and the mercy of God.” Justice is what He says: “The recompense of an ugly deed is an ugly deed the like of it [42:40]. If you would punish, then punish with the like of that with which you were punished [16:126]. And expel them whence they expelled you” [2:191]. Beautiful doing is what He says: “And whoso pardons and sets aright-his wage is upon God” [42:40]. Pardoning a bad-doer is beautiful, and more beautiful is to add to that pardon and act beautifully, as the Exalted Lord says: “Repel the ugly with what is more beautiful [23:96]. And follow the most beautiful of what was sent down to you from your Lord [39:55]. So give good news to My servants who listen to the Word, then follow its most beautiful [39:17-18]. And command thy people to take their most beautiful” [7:145]. Then He says, “And set your faces in every place of prostration.” Junayd said, “He command- ed us to guard the secret core, to lift up the aspiration, and to approve of God in place of everything other than Him.” He is saying, “Keep your secret core limpid so that you may recognize the Real. Lift up your disposition to Him so that you may become bold. See that all is His gentleness so that you may place your love in Him. Sit on the mount of service so that you may reach the way station of honor. Come forth honorably so that you may reach companionship. Have a high aspiration so that you may remain with Him.” In describing MuṣṬafā it has been said that God gave him two generosities that He did not give to any other child of Adam. One is that he had a large aspiration and the other is that he was hum- ble. The highness of his aspiration reached the point that the report has come, “He never stretched forth his hand toward any want.” In humility he was as he said: “If I were invited for the trotter, I would answer, and I were given the shank, I would accept.” When he looked at himself he was so humble that he considered himself weaker than all the weak. When he looked at the Real, the two realms of being and worlds did not enter his eyes because of his great aspiration. This is why he said, “I am the master of the children of Adam, without boasting.” Just as He began you, so you shall return: “In the endless We will bring to pass for you what We decreed for you in the beginningless: A group He guided, and for another group misguidance was the rightful due [7:30].” It has also been said, “Just as He began you, so you shall return-in knowledge, will, and predetermination.” Just as He began your creation with knowledge, predetermination, and want, so in the end you will become what He wanted at first. Junayd was asked about this verse. He replied, “Every man's first is similar to his last, and his last is similar to his first.” Then he said, “The end of every work is the return to its beginning.” The road to the Real is a circle that comes out from Him and goes back to Him. Shaykh al- Islām Anṣārī said, “The last of this work is so similar to the first of this work!” In other words, first of all is pleasure, comfort, and life with repose and happiness, and then man puts his foot into the trap. The collar comes around his neck, and for every comfort he has seen he sees a tribulation. For every rise there is a fall. This is the reality of the words spoken by Abū Bakr Kattānī: “Between the servant and the Real are one thousand stations of light and darkness. All is not light, for with every light there is a darkness, with every fall a rise.” In other words, one is repose, ease, and life, another disappoint- ment, suffering, and unreached desires. One is disclosure, the other curtaining; one is togetherness, the other dispersion. Were it not that repose and comfort were beforehand in the first of the desire, the servants would not have the capacity for those trials and sufferings. They keep on looking back at that, their hearts incline to it, and through the marks bearing witness to it they carry the burden of tribulation. Finally, once they are made to pass through all of it and the term is completed, the hidden becomes apparent, and in the end they become what they were at first. This is the secret of the verse spoken by God, “Just as He began you, so you shall return” in keeping with the tasting of the lords of the recognitions and the companions of the realities. And God knows best.

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

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

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

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

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

Supplicate your Lord in pleading and secret. MuṣṬafā said, “Supplication is worship.” Supplication is calling or asking. If it is calling, it is the same as laudation, and if it is asking, it is fitting for the servant. Both are worship and the means to salvation. YaḤyā Muʿādh said, “Worshiping God is a storehouse, the key to the storehouse is supplication, and the teeth of the key are lawful morsels.” The precondition of supplication is pleading, weeping, and throwing oneself in lowliness on the Exalted Threshold. This is why He says, “in pleading and secret.” It has come in a report that Adam mourned and pleaded over that slip of his for one hundred years. Finally Gabriel said, “Lord God, You Yourself see Adam's pleading, You hear his weeping. Is there any way for You to ac- cept his apology and place a balm on his wound?” The command came, “O Gabriel! Leave Adam to Me, for if I had not known this pleading and weeping from him, I would not have decreed the slip for him. Indeed I decreed the slip for him because I knew that when he became helpless, he would loosen the tongue of supplication and pleading, and I love that the servant should lament and weep for Me. 'The sinner's sobs are more beloved to Me than the glorifier's murmur.'” The like of this verse is “Your Lord has said, 'Supplicate Me; I will respond to you' [40:60]. He says, “Call on Me so that I may respond to you; know Me, so that I may forgive you; ask from Me, so that I may give to you.” In another place He says, “He who responds to the distressed when he supplicates Him [27:62]. That hapless and helpless man, having lost the capacity to bear the trial-who will answer his call if not I? Who will hear his supplication if not I? Who will come to the aid of his helplessness if not I?” The distressed is someone who has no handhold and gazes on his own days given to the wind. He sees that his hands are empty of all the means of approach and acts of obedience. The supplica- tion of such a person is like an arrow that goes straight to the target. Among the preconditions for supplication, one is lawful morsels. MuṣṬafā said, “Keep your food goodly and your supplication will be responded to.” The second is wakefulness and sharp-wittedness with a heart in presence and far from heedlessness. MuṣṬafā said, “God does not respond to the sup- plication of an inattentive heart.” Third is fear and want, for the Exalted Lord says, “Supplicate Him in fear and want” [7:56]. This fear and want, meaning fear and hope, and that pleading and secrecy, meaning self-purification and truthfulness, are like four streams in the opened heart. As long as these four streams are flowing and bright, the heart flourishes, faith is in place, and supplications are answered. But, if these four streams are held back from the heart and their springs dry up, the heart becomes dead, tears are held back from the eyes, remembrance from the tongue, and love from the heart. Obedience does not grow up from him, and faith does not come. He becomes as they say: That heart you saw has all been changed, my pool full of water has filled with blood. The garden full of blessings is now a desert, and the running water has left my garden.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And We promised Moses thirty nights, and We completed them with ten. So the appointed time of his Lord was completed in forty nights. And Moses said to his brother Aaron, “Take my place among my people.” How exalted is making promises in friendship! How great is sitting in the promised place of friendship! How sweet is breaking promises in the religion of friendship! Concerning the intimations of this verse the Pir of the Tariqah said, “The promises of lovers, even if broken, show intimacy.” Then he said, “You put me off, You procrastinate, You promise, but You don't come through.” It is not approved to put back the promised time and to add days before the promised moment except in the religion of friendship, for in friendship disloyalty is the same as loyalty, and disdain friendship. Do you not see what the Lord of the Worlds did with Moses in this exchange? He promised him thirty days. When those passed, He added ten more. He added them because Moses was happy with that. Moses counted the thirty days as capital and the ten days as profit. He said, “Indeed, I heard the hard cash of the Real's speech for a second time when He added that.” Come forth, by your life! Stay not away! Give hope of your encounter, then put us off. Promise and put off as you like, for we love you when you put off the passionate. If you fulfill the promise, we will be happy, but we will live with your promise, content for a time. In this journey, Moses waited thirty days without remembering food and drink or being aware of hunger, for he was carried by the Real in a journey of generosity, waiting for whispered prayer. The other time, when he was sent to Khiẓr on the first journey in search of knowledge, he did not have the capacity for a half day of hunger, so he said, “Bring us our food” [18:62]. This is because that was a journey of teaching courtesy and of hardship. At the beginning of the traveling he was carrying; he was not being carried. He was aware of his own suffering, for he was with himself. He saw the marks of hunger because he was in the road of creatures. And Moses said to his brother Aaron, “Take my place among my people.” His intention was whispered prayer with the Real, so he left Aaron with the people and went alone, for there is no sharing in friendship. The friend's attribute in the path of friendship is nothing but aloneness and oneness. If you're not busy and you're alone, come to Me in loyalty-you're worthy of Me. Then, when he was going to Pharaoh, he asked for Aaron's companionship: “Make him share with me in my affair” [29:32], for that was going to the creatures, and things having to do with the creatures bring aversion and dread. In carrying the burden of dread, no one flees from a kind companion and his companionship. When Moses returned from whispered prayer and saw that the Children of Israel had left the circle of obedience and become calf-worshipers, he rebuked Aaron, not them, so that you would know that not everyone who sins is deemed worthy of rebuke. Rebuke is appropriate when a per- son still has something of friendship. He who burns in fear of separation is the one who recognizes the exaltation of union: How can the Beloved's passion be suited for just anyone? Only Majnūn was worthy of loving Laylā.

When Moses came to Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, “Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee.” He said, “Thou shalt not see Me, but look at the mountain. If it stays firm in its place, thou shalt see Me.” Then, when his Lord disclosed Himself to the moun- tain, He made it crumble to dust, and Moses fell down thunderstruck. When he recovered he said, “Glory be to Thee! I repent to Thee!” Moses had two journeys: one was the journey of seeking, the other the journey of revelry. The journey of seeking was the night of the fire, as in His words, “He observed a fire on the side of the Mount” [28:29]. The journey of revelry was this one: When Moses came to Our appointed time. Moses came, having become selfless to self, lost to himself in his own secret core. He had drunk the wine of love from the cup of holiness, so the pain of this talk's yearning was pressing into him and the wave of Show me was billowing up from the ocean of his passion. He wandered around the neighborhoods of the Children of Israel and gathered the words of their messages and goals so that he could draw out his words when he arrived at the Presence. I consider it unlawful to talk with others- whenever I talk with You, I draw out my words. When he reached the presence of whispered prayer, he was drunk with the wine of yearning and burnt by listening to the Real's Speech. He forgot everything, and the hard cash of his state ap- peared like this: “Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee!” The angels threw the stones of blame at his desire: “O child of menstruating women! Do you hope to see the Exalted Lord? What does dust have to do with the Lord of lords?” How can a being made of dust and water talk to Eternity? How can someone who was not, then was, be worthy of seeking union with Him who always was and always will be? In drunkenness and selflessness Moses answered with the tongue of solitariness: “Accept my excuses, for I did not fall here by myself. First He wanted me-I did not want. I saw the Friend at my pillow when I woke up from sleep. I was seeking for fire, and being chosen came forth: I chose thee for Myself [20:41]. I was not aware, and the sun of bringing near rose up-And We brought him near as a confidant [19:52]. “From the first You began passion's talk- now make me worthy of You!” The command came to the angels, “Leave Moses alone, for when someone drinks the wine of I chose thee for Myself from the cup of I cast upon thee love from Me [20:39], he will make no less of an uproar than this.” In the realities of those unveilings Moses tasted the wine of love from the storeroom of gentle- ness. His heart flew into the air of solitariness, and the breeze of union's intimacy blew on his spirit from the side of proximity. The fire of love shot up in flames, patience fled from his breast, and he lost all restraint. He said, “Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee: Please, at least a look!” If sparks were to shoot from this burnt heart, no trace would remain of Pleiades' circle. There's danger when I stand before you, sweetheart- at least lift separation's veil for a look. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Everyone has a hope, and the recognizer's hope is vision. Without vision the recognizer has no need for any wage, nor any use for paradise. People are all passionate for life, so death for them is difficult. The recognizer needs death in the hope for vision. Then his ears may enjoy the listening, the Real's lips will pay back the debt of love, his eyes will be adorned with the day of vision, and his spirit will be drunk without giddiness from the wine of finding.” I want a heart for choosing only You, a spirit for breathing the pain of Your passion, A body for desiring only Your love, an eye for seeing You and only You. He said, “Thou shalt not see Me.” They say that at the moment Moses heard “Thou shalt not see Me,” his station was higher than at the moment he said, “Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee.” At the former moment he was in what the Real desired, and at the latter moment he was in what he desired. Moses' being was more complete in what the Real desired than in what he desired, for the latter is dispersion and the former togetherness, and inescapably togetherness is more complete. He said, “Thou shalt not see Me, but look at the mountain.” Moses received the blow of Thou shalt not see Me. At once, however, He applied the balm of but. He said, “O Moses, I struck the blow of Thou shalt not see Me and applied the balm of but so that you would know that this was not My severity, but rather an excuse.” Then, when his Lord disclosed Himself to the mountain. When a sliver of the signs of majesty and a trace of the exaltedness of unity reached the mountain, it returned to the state of nonexistence and no mark of it remained. He said, “O king! If a black stone had the capacity for this talk, it would have accepted the Trust at the beginning of existence and bought it with spirit and heart.” Here there is a subtle point: The mountain with all its tremendousness could not endure, but the hearts of the weak and the old women of MuḤammad's community could endure. God says, “And they feared it, and man carried it” [33:72]. And Moses fell down thunderstruck. When Moses' existence disappeared in that strike and his mortal nature was thrown to the mountain, the self-disclosure fell on the true center point: “Now, We are. When You disappear from the midst, It is We who are seen.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, I seek the Found. I say to the Seen, 'What do I have, what should I seek, when will I see, what should I say?' I am entranced by this seeking, I am seized by this speaking. “O God, the splendor of Your exaltation left no room for allusion, the eternity of Your unity took away the road of ascription-I lost all that I had in hand, and everything I fancied came to nothing. “O God, Yours kept on increasing and mine decreasing until at last there remained only what there was at first.” You said, “Be less and less”-that was good and straight. You are Being enough, less and less is fine for Your servant. When he recovered he said, “Glory be to Thee! I repent to Thee!” When he came back to his senses, he said, “O Lord, You are far too pure for any mortal to hope to reach Your self-sufficiency, or for anyone to seek You through himself, or for any heart or spirit to talk today about the vision of You. I repent.” It was said, “O Moses, do people put down the shield all at once the way you do? Do they wander off all at once the way you do? Have you turned back so soon and so easily?” The tongue of Moses' state was saying, “I desire union with Him, He desires separation- I give up my desire for His desire.” “What should I do? I did not reach the goal. Well then, let me go back to the place of service and the station of servanthood's incapacity, and let me go to the beginning of the command.” When someone's perplexed in his own work, he'd best go back to the beginning of the thread. When he went back to the place of service and the station of repentance, the Lord of the Worlds repaired his heart and spoke to him with benevolence:

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

And in the tablets We wrote for him of everything an admonition, and a detailing of every- thing. “So take hold of them with strength, and command thy people to take their most beautiful. I shall show you the abode of the ungodly.” It has been mentioned in the traditions that one of the admonitions that the Exalted Lord wrote in the tablets for Moses and gave to him was this: “O Moses, if you want to be respected at the threshold of My exaltation and be specified for My nearness and proximity, act beautifully toward orphans and do not abase the poor. O Moses, I am the caresser and well-wisher of orphans, and the lovingly kind and bestower of bounty on the poor. Caress those whom I caress, and do not drive away those whom I call.” MuṣṬafā said about the poor, “The poor who remain patient will be the sitting companions of God on the Day of Resurrection.” Concerning the orphans he said, “When an orphan weeps, the Throne of the All-Merciful trembles at his weeping, so God says, 'If someone makes him approv- ing, I will make that person approving.'” “O Moses, if you want Me to brag about you among the angels, be without harm and keep stones and thorns away from the road of the submitted.” [MuṣṬafā said,] “Faith has seventy-some branches, the highest of which is 'There is no god but God,' and the least of which is removal of harm from the road.” “O Moses, if you want Me to answer your supplications, deal with people beautifully, learn knowledge, and teach others knowledge, for I have honored the knowers by giving them knowl- edge. For them I make the dust sweet, I illuminate and expand their graves, and tomorrow I will muster them among the troops of the prophets.” MuṣṬafā said, “Do you know what Gabriel said to me? He said, 'O MuḤammad, do not count as lowly a servant whom God has given knowledge, for God did not count him as lowly when He gave him knowledge. Surely God will gather the knowers in one place and say to them, 'I have deposited My knowledge with you only because of a good that I desired for you. I forgive you for what has come forth from you. '” And in the tablets We wrote for him. Among God's caresses and gentlenesses to Moses, one is that He kept him in the station of whispered prayer and wrote the Torah for him on the tablets, such that the sound of the pen's moving on the tablet reached Moses' ears. “O Moses, today be content with My name! Gaze on My writing so that it may be a consolation for you. 'When someone is prevented from gazing, he is consoled by traces.' O Moses, in the perfection of My wisdom I have decreed that as long as MuḤammad has not seen Me and MuḤammad's community has not seen Me, I will not show the vision to anyone. I will not change or alter My decree. With Me the word does not change [50:29].” Moses said, “Lord God, who are the community of MuḤammad?” He said, “The best community brought forth to mankind, who command the honorable, pro- hibit the improper, and have faith [3:110] in both the first book and the last book. They will fight the folk of misguidance until they fight the one-eyed Dajjāl. They are those who ask for response and are given response. To them belong the interceders and those interceded for. Their scriptures are in their breasts. In their prayers they stand in rows like the angels. Their voices in their places of prostration are like the droning of bees. We have honored them and chosen them. Among them are wrongdoers to themselves, among them are moderate, and among them are preceders in good deeds by God's leave [35:32].” Moses said, “So make them my community.” He said, “They are the community of AḤmad.” So take hold of them with strength. This is an exalted allusion that taking to the utmost is evi- dence of proximity. Then He says, “And command thy people to take their most beautiful.” There is a difference between the former taking and the latter taking. The former is taking from the Real, and the latter is taking from creation. The former is Moses' taking from the Patron, and the latter is the people's taking from Moses. The former taking is by way of the realization of nearness and the confirmation of union, and the latter taking is by way of accepting to serve and clinging to obedience. I shall show you the abode of the ungodly. In the tongue of the folk of recognition, the abode of the ungodly alludes to the commanding soul and the ruined heart. The commanding soul is the source of appetites, and the ruined heart is the quarry of heedlessness. Just as no one sits and takes ease in a ruined house, so also obedience does not dwell in a ruined heart, nor does any good settle down there, nor does any worship come forth from it. We seek refuge in God from the depths of wretchedness!

I shall turn away from My signs those who are proud in the earth without the Real. Even were they to see all the signs, they would not have faith in them. Were they to see the way of rectitude, they would not take it as a way. Pride is of two sorts: one with the Real, the other without the Real. That which is with the Real is the pride of the poor toward the rich. They are high in aspiration and rich in the heart through the Real. They have turned their aspiration away from the Throne and everything beneath it, cut their hearts off from the creatures, and busied themselves with love for the Real. Their aspiration is greater than this world and better than the afterworld. Their yearning is for the vision of the Patron. WāsiṬī said, “Pride with the Real is pride toward the rich and the sinful and toward the unbelievers and the folk of innovation. It is been transmitted in the traditions, 'Meet the ungodly with dark faces.'” The pride that is without the Real is the pride of the rich and the world-rulers toward the poor. This is what is meant by His words, “who are proud in the earth without the Real.” Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said on this verse: “I shall keep back their hearts, their secret cores, and their spirits from roaming in the dominion of holiness.”5 In other words, “I will bind their hearts and secret cores from going. I will make their own being into their veil. I will turn them away from My road so that their secret cores will not be able to roam in the world of holiness and the Dominion. They will be held back from seeing the wonders of the Dominion and become intimate with their own souls and the creatures of this world. They will not taste the flavor of finding and they will remain unaware of the charismatic gifts of the folk of election. They will never see a day of good fortune for themselves, nor will the rose of union bloom for them.” The poor wretch who has never caught a scent of these words! How can he have anything of the ocean when he has no stream? Were they to see the way of rectitude, they would not take it as a way. By way of allusion He is saying, “Not everyone who sees the road travels the road, and not everyone who has recognition finds the success of practice.” The Exalted Lord reports about the estranged when He says, “And they denied them while their souls were sure of them because of wrongdoing and highness” [27:14] So, whenever someone recognizes the Real through the Real, that is of no use until he finds success and puts it into practice. And whenever someone recognizes the unreal through the unreal, that has no profit until he is given protection from following the unreal. This is why MuṣṬafā said, “O God, show us the Real as Real and provide us with following it, and show us the unreal as unreal and provide us with avoiding it!”

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

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

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

And Moses chose his people, seventy men, for Our appointed time, and when the earth- quake took them, he said … “It is naught but Thy trial. Thou misguidest thereby whomsoever Thou wilt and Thou guidest whomsoever Thou wilt. Thou art our Friend, so forgive us and have mercy upon us, and Thou art the best of forgivers!” There is a difference between the community of Moses and the community of MuḤammad. The community of Moses was chosen by Moses, for He says, “And Moses chose his people.” The community of MuḤammad was chosen by God, for He says, “We chose them, with a knowledge, above the worlds” [44:32]. Then He said about those chosen by Moses, “They said, 'Show us God openly,' and the thunderbolt took them because of their wrongdoing” [4:153]. Here He says, “The earthquake took them.” Concerning those He Himself chose He said, “Faces that day will be radi- ant, gazing upon their Lord” [75:22-23]. The want is the want of the Real, the choice the choice of the Real. God says, “And thy Lord creates what He wants and chooses. They have no choice” [28:68]. Moses was bold on the carpet of proximity in the station of whispered prayer. He had the attribute of realization in the state of brokenness and poverty because of anguish and bewilderment, and he showed this remorse: “It is naught but Thy trial.” Then he perceived himself and returned to the attribute of incapacity and brokenness, entering from the door of awe and veneration. He threw the decree entirely back to the Real: “Thou misguidest whom Thou wilt, and Thou guidest whom Thou wilt.” He was not content with this, so he loosed the tongue of laudation and connected it with pleading and weeping: “Thou art our Friend, so forgive us and have mercy upon us.” He displayed his need and lowliness to Him and asked for mercy and forgiveness. He said, “So forgive us and have mercy upon us, and Thou art the best of forgivers!” It has come in the traditions that on the day of the whispered prayer, Moses reached the edge of Mount Sinai. With every step he took, he lauded God, called upon Him, and displayed a need. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “There is no rejecting the needy, there is no deception behind the door of need, and there is no means of approach to the Friend like need. ” When Moses reached the station of whispered prayer, the tree of his need gave fruit, and the instances of bounty came forth. The night of separation went down and the day of union rose up. Moses had yearning in the heart, remembrance on the tongue, love in the spirit, and staff in hand. The call came from the Compeller of all engendered beings, “O Moses, it is the moment of secret whispering, the time of joy, the day of access. O Moses, ask and it will be given to you. What do you need? What gift do you want? O Moses, ask and I will bestow, speak so that I may listen.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The servant who is wanted by the Real and worthy of His love is adorned with solicitude, given entrance by bounty, cloaked in a robe of honor by love, and caressed with generosity so that he may become bold. Then he is passed back and forth between jealousy and love. Sometimes jealousy shuts the door and the servant's tongue begins to beg, sometimes love opens the door and the servant is filled with the joy of face-to-face vision.”

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

Among the people of Moses is a community that guides by the truth and does justice thereby. This is the story of the friends and the description of the state of the chevaliers and the conduct of the wayfarers. The Lord of the Worlds has shown them the road of felicity, singled them out for the special favors of proximity and nearness, and honored them with the attraction of generosity. The relation of godwariness lives through them, the trodden path of truthfulness is built on the firm fixity of their feet, and the good fortune of the religion is joined with the blessings of their breaths. God's Messenger said, “Were the light of one of them to be divided among the folk of the earth, it would embrace them.” If the light of their hearts were given an open road and the glitter of its radiance were to fall on the world and the world's folk, all recalcitrant people would become tawḤīd-voicers and replace their sashes of unbelief with belts of passion for the religion. They are rare and precious, however. He does not show them to anyone, nor does He give them over to this world or the afterworld. He keeps them like fugitives in His own protection and nurtures them with the attribute of love under the domes of jealousy. Revelation came to Moses: “O speaking-companion of the empire! Be careful not to open up the oyster of your pain's pearl before those without eyes. Do not recite the verses of the form of passion for My majesty to the non-privy or those dismissed from the reality of hearing and listen- ing. O Moses! If you want to expose My mystery to someone, then do so to those who are the locus of the covenant of My secrets, who are busy night and day serving My threshold, the tent of their passion pitched in the contemplation of My majesty, having been branded with this mark of most-worthiness by the threshold of Lordhood: a community that guides by the truth and does justice thereby. This brand of most-worthiness is one of the divine secrets, a lordly subtlety that departed from the World of the Unseen and settled down only within the curtain of the stages of the clay of the poor. If you want to catch a whiff of it, go into the curtains of the soul until you reach the heart, then go into the curtains of the heart until you reach the spirit, then go into the curtains of the spirit until you reach union with the Beloved, for you will not see it placed anywhere save in the spirit of the friends. ” I said, “Where should I seek You, O heart-stealing moon?” He said, “My resting place is the spirit of the friends.” I said, “Why do You make Your resting place in the spirit?” He said, “Lest anyone find a trace of Me.” I said, “Be my guide to Yourself.” He said, “Look at the slain, left and right.” Whenever David the prophet saw a poor man burnt in harvest and plundered by love, he knew him to be a place of the covenant of the beginningless secrets. He would sit with him and be at rest. He would say, “My goal and my heart's repose has been placed in him.” When Jacob the prophet sat in the House of Sorrows and wept so much at the pain of separa- tion from Joseph that he lost his eyesight, you would say that he was attached to Joseph's form. But in terms of the realities, it was the remnants of the purity and limpidness of [Abraham's] bosom friendship, placed on Joseph's forelock, that kept Jacob in turmoil. Ruwaym Baghdādī said, “The recognizer is a mirror. When someone gazes in the mirror, his Patron discloses himself there. To this He alludes with His words, 'We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in their souls until it is clear to them that He is the Real' [41:53].”

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

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

When your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their loins, their offspring and made them bear witness concerning themselves. " Am I not your Lord? " They said, " Yes indeed. " In terms of understanding in the tongue of the Reality, this verse has another intimation and another tasting. It alludes to the beginning of the states of the friends and the binding of the compact and covenant of friendship with them on the first day in the era of the Beginningless, when the Real was present and the Reality was there. How blessed were Laylā and those nights when we were meeting with Laylā! What a fine day was the day of laying the foundation of friendship! What an exalted time was the time of making the compact of friendship! Those who desired on the first day will never forget their desire. Those who yearned at the time of union with the Friend know the crown of life and the kiblah of the days. How blessed was the time of Your covenant, without which my heart would have no place for ardor! The command came, " O Master, remind them of the days of God [14:5]. These servants of Ours have forgotten Our covenant and have busied themselves with others. Remind them of the day when their pure spirits made the covenant of friendship with Us, and We were anointing their yearning eyes with this collyrium: 'Am I not your Lord?' " O indigent man! Remember the day when the spirits and the very persons of the friends were drinking the wine of passion for Me from the cup of love in the assembly of intimacy. The proxi- mate angels of the Higher Plenum were saying, 'These indeed are a people with high aspiration! As for us, we have never tasted this wine, nor have we found a scent of it. But the roaring and shouting of these beggars has risen to Capella: " Is there any more? " [50:30].' " Of that wine not forbidden by my religion my lips will not stay dry till I'm back in nonexistence. One day that paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam was saying, " This is a moun- tain that loves me and that I love. " They said, " O Master, you talk like this about a mountain? What is the intimation here? " He said, " Yes, there I drank the wine of love from the cup of remembrance. " In the beginning of the work, when the traces of prophecy and the marks of revelation were appearing to him, he used to spend days in the Mountain of Ḥirā, and the pain of this talk overtook him in that place of seclusion. That mountain was like his sympathizer. Your ache knows only to circle round my heart- in its wonders Your ache is like You. Though Your ache has put me in the fire, how I will ache if Your ache leaves me! For a time he was in contraction, for a time expansion, for a time intoxication, for a time sobriety, for a while affirmation, for a while effacement. Anyone aware of the beginning of the desirers' desire knows what his state was, and what his pain! It was as they say: Now at least I have the hard cash of pain- I won't give up this pain for a hundred thousand remedies. The Pir of the Tariqah said in whispered prayer, " O God, what sweet days they are-the days of Your friends with You! What a sweet bazaar it is-the bazaar of the recognizers in Your work! How fiery are their breaths in mentioning and remembering You! What sweet pain-the pain of those yearning in the fire of yearning and love for You! How beautiful is their voicing Your names and marks! " " Am I not your Lord? " They said, " Yes indeed. " On the Day of the Compact He disclosed Him- self to their hearts in the majesty of His exaltation and the perfection of His gentleness-one group with the attributes of exaltedness and harshness, another group in respect of gentleness and generos- ity. Those who were the folk of dominance were inundated by the oceans of awesomeness and the waves of confoundedness. Upon them was placed the burning brand of deprivation: Those are like cattle. No, they are further astray [7:179]. Those who were fit for caresses and generosity were specified for the redoublings of proximity and the special favors of love. The signet of generosity was stamped on the edict of their faith: Those-they are the rightly guided [49:7]. Am I not your Lord? Here a beautiful and subtle point is made. He said, " Am I not your Lord? " He did not say, " Are you not My servants? " He connected His joining with the servant to His own Godhood, not to the servant's servanthood. Had He connected it to the servant's servant- hood, then, when the servant did not comply with servanthood, the joining would be defective. Rather, He connected it to His own Godhood. Given that His Godhood is forever perfect, without any defect, it must be that the servant's joining with Him is never broken. Also, He did not say, " Who am I? " Had He done so, the servant would have been bewildered. He did not say, " Who are you?, " lest the servant become proud of himself or fall into despair. He did not say, " Who is your God?, " lest the servant be helpless. On the contrary, He asked while instructing in the answer. He said, " Am I not your God? " This is extreme generosity and utmost gentleness. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, " Generosity said, 'Am I not your Lord?' Kindness said, 'Yes indeed.' Given that the caller and the responder are one, what is the meaning of the two sides? The King called the servant to Himself. The servant listened to Him through Him, and He responded without him, bestowing the response on the servant. " This is just like what He says about MuṣṬafā: " Thou didst not throw when thou threwest " [8:17]. In this verse, He burnt away claims and caressed his meaning, so that whenever he came back to himself, he would recognize Him. He assigned the flood of lordhood to the dust of mortal nature and snatched him away from himself, then made him a deputy. He is saying, " Thou didst not throw when thou threwest. " This indeed is " I am his hand and he grasps through Me " -if you recognize it.

And to God belong the most beautiful names, so supplicate Him by them, and leave those who deviate concerning His names. God has names, and those names are His attributes. By those names He is renowned, praised, and recognized. They are names full of blessing, sweet to the hearts. They are a pure arrangement and pure words from the pure Lord, a worthy arrangement and beautiful words from the one Lord, the ornament of the tongue, the lamp of the spirit, and the everlasting laudation. He Himself says, " 'My light is My guidance, 'No god but God' is My word, and I am He': The servant who gains access gains it with My light, when he finds the way he finds it with My lamp-the lamp of the Sunnah, the lamp of recognition, the lamp of love. I light the lamp of the Sunnah in their hearts, I light the lamp of recognition in their secret cores, and I light the lamp of love in their spirits. " Happy is the servant who walks among these three lamps! Who is more exalted than he in whose heart the greatest light is shining and who sees the Friend face-to-face in his heart? Then He said that " No god but God " is My word and My attribute. " God " is My name, and I am the name that I am, for My name is requiter and lovingly kind, the God of all, the keeper of the world, the giver of turns to the world's folk. The Pir of the Tariqah has a few words appropriate to this place. He said, " O worthy of Your own laudation, O grateful for Your own bestowal, O You who show Your own trial as sweet! In myself I am incapable of lauding You, in my intellect I am incapable of recognizing Your favor, in my ability I am incapable of what is worthy of You. O generous one! I am captive to the pain for which You are the remedy. I am slave of that laudation of which You are worthy. What do I know of You? You know. You are what You Yourself have said, and what You Yourself have said, You are that. " This is the same as MuṣṬafā said: " I do not number Thy laudations-Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself. " And leave those who deviate concerning His names. Deviation in God's names is to turn back from the road of rightness and correctness. It is of two sorts: either it increases or decreases. Someone speaks of a name or an attribute that God Himself did not speak about, or someone does not mention what He did speak about. The first is an assertion of likeness and the second a declara- tion of ineffectuality. The folk of asserting likeness increased and thereby deviated, and the folk of declaring ineffectuality decreased and thereby deviated. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, " What God showed of Himself, that He is and such is His at- tribute. God is the explication of Himself, and MuṣṬafā has face-to-face vision of Him. About Himself He says, 'Ask about Him from one who is aware' [25:59]. About MuṣṬafā He says, 'He does not speak out of caprice' [53:3]. " It is not appropriate for someone to affirm attributes for God on his own, nor to declare Him incomparable on his own. Keep your ears fixed on the Book and the Sunnah! Whatever they say, you say that it is that. God said there are attributes, there are names, so you should also say that. Since He did not say that there are not, you should not say that there are not. He did not say " how " He is. If He had said " how " He is, we would say that. God said, " I am. " He did not speak of how- ness. You should speak of being, but you should not speak of howness. Anyone who comes to know two verses of the Qur'an will escape from declaring Him similar: " Is He who creates like him who does not create? " [16:17]. " Nothing is as His likeness, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing " [42:11]. These are affirmation of the name, not declaration of similar- ity. Calling holy while negating is the creed of Iblis. Those who declare similarity are outside the precinct of the submission, and those who reject attributes are heretics. Know also that the Creator has names and created things have names. Every name of a created thing is an artifact, borrowed, made up, and metaphorical. Every name of the Creator is eternal, beginningless, worthy of Him, and true. None of His names is newly arrived. Some people have said, " There must be the created for there to be a Creator, there must be the provided for there to be the Provider. " But it is not as they have said, for no newly arrived thing has access to the name God. There was nothing created while our Lord was the Creator, there was nothing provided for while our Lord was the Provider. God has ninety-name names and is renowned by those names. He is not named by the things to which He gives names, for He is named in the beginningless. In heaven and earth He is, just as He is in the first and in the last. Imaginations have nothing to perceive, nor do understandings have causes. He causes things but He is not caused. He throws everything into " why, " but He Himself does not come under why. Thus all who go into whys and hows have gone outside the path of the Sunnah, for the Exalted Lord does not enter into opinions, is not encompassed by understandings, is not classified by intellects, and is not perceived by imaginations. He is recognized, but through attribute and name. In relation to Him all are standing on marks and messages through the light of recognition, the Book, the Sunnah, and inspiration.

He it is who created you from one soul and made of it its spouse so that it may rest in her. Great and magnificent is the lovingly kind Lord, the beautiful in name, the keeper of the servants, the creator of the world's folk, the caretaker of all! He is pure and faultless in name and mark, pure of offspring and Himself unborn, pure of partner and helper, pure of spouse and of similar. When He created the creatures, He created them as pairs linked to each other. He made male and female together, He bound similar to similar and genus to genus, as He says, " and made of it its spouse, so that it may rest in her. " It is God who is one, who is peerless in attributes and separate from faults, the creator, the keeper, and the nurturer. When He wants to show power in creation, He brings forth a hundred thousand subtleties and wonders from one drop of feeble water. First some dust, then some water, then a clot, then tissue, then bones and skin, then an animal. When it becomes four months old, it comes to life in that firm settledness [77:21] in three-fold darknesses [39:6]. In this individual He creates three pools: one the brain, one the liver, and one the heart. From the brain the streams of the nerves open out to the whole body so that the strength of sensation and movement will go there. From the liver the veins open out to the whole body so that nourishment will go there. From the heart the arteries open out to the whole body so that the spirit will go there. He created the brain in three strata. In the first He placed understanding, in the second He placed intellect, and in the third memory. He created the eye in seven strata and placed brightness and sight therein. What is more wondrous is the pupil, its measure that of a single lentil, but within it appears the form of heaven and earth with all this vastness. More surprising is the forehead, which He created stiff and hard so that it would not grow hair and take away beauty. In the midst He created the skin of the eyebrow, so that a bit of hair would come up and not become too long. He created the ears, a bitter water placed within so that no animal would go inside. He created within it many twists and turns so that, if you are asleep and the crawling things of the earth aim for it, the road will be long and you will become aware. He put the tongue in the place of saliva so it would move and you would not be held back from speaking. He made a spring of sweet water come forth from under the tongue so that it would give water in a flow and food would become wet. Otherwise, food would not go down the throat. At the top of the gullet He created a veil so that when you take down food, the top of the gullet closes so that food will not go down by the route of the breath. He created the liver to give all the multicolored foods one attribute in the color of blood, so that this would be the nourishment of the seven bodily parts. Pure and faultless is the Lord who made apparent all this artisanry from one drop of feeble water! He showed so many wonders and marvels of power! When you think about it you will say, " So blessed is God, the most beautiful of creators! " [23:14]. Bravo O beautiful doing, lovely- sculpting Creator! He sculpted the body and He sculpted the heart. When He sculpted the body, He praised Him- self. He said, " So blessed is God, the most beautiful of creators. " When He sculpted the heart, He praised you, for He said, " Those-they are the rightly guided " [49:7]. In the beginningless knowl- edge and endless decree, it has gone out on the Pen that He will turn some faces away. When He arrived at sculpting the faces, He said, " He sculpted beautifully. " He praised the Sculptor, not the sculpture, for if He had praised the sculpture, it would not be permissible for Him to scour it away, for the generous one does not efface what He Himself praised; He does not reject the one whom He Himself has lifted up. When He reached the heart, He praised the sculpture, not the Sculptor, so you would know that He will never efface the sculpture of the heart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thou didst not throw when thou threwest, but God threw; and that He may try the faithful with a beautiful trial. When thou threwest is dispersion, but God threw is togetherness. Dispersion is the attribute of servanthood, and togetherness is the description of Lordhood. Dispersion without togetherness is of no use, and togetherness without dispersion is not correct. Sheer dispersion without togetherness is the belief of the free-willers, sheer togetherness with- out dispersion is the religion of the predestinarians, and dispersion along with togetherness is the road of the Sunnis and is correct. The free-willers are those who give themselves ability and choice and do not step outside of themselves. The predestinarians are those who lose their own hands and feet to the harshness of all-compellingness; they do not see the secondary causes and give them- selves no free choice. The Sunnis are those who say to them, “In your practice be at the threshold of Thee alone we worship; in your heart ask, weep, and supplicate at the threshold of Thee alone we ask for help [1:5].” Thou didst not throw when thou threwest, but God threw. This is an allusion to the reality of solitariness and the path of unification. He is saying: “Leave aside all other objects of desire. What does he who is seized by My love have to do with other than Me? O MuḤammad, lay no favor on Me because of your activity, but look at My success-giving! Be not delighted at your own remembrance-look at My instruction! Flee from your own marks and see only My love!” The path of unification is oneness and estrangement from self. Giving marks of “me” and “us” is duality, and duality is proof of estrangement. With duality there are today and tomorrow, but the tawḤīd-voicer is apart from today and tomorrow. As long as the tawḤīd-voicer has not found the shadow of the Sun of existence, he has not been released from self. As long as he has not been released from self, he has not found the Real. When thou threwest is the attribute of the desirer who is sitting on the road of variegation and gazing on himself from the Real. But God threw is the description of the desired; having left him- self behind and found stability, he gazes on the Real from the Real. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “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 is suspect. The desirer is a wage-earner, the desired a guest. The wage of the wage-earner befits the wage-earner, the feast of the guest befits the host. The guest is bound by the work with which he is busy. His eyes are in face-to-face vision, his spirit radiant in His love. His spirit is all eye, his secret core all tongue. That eye and that tongue are helpless in face-to-face vision's light.” And that He may try the faithful with a beautiful trial. The beautiful trial is to be given the success of showing gratitude for bestowal and to realize patience in tribulation. What the Real does is beauty from the Real because it is His to act, and this is the reality of beauty-it is what belongs to the doer to do. Whenever someone does an act appropriate for himself, that is beautiful from him. All that comes from the Real and is conveyed to His servant, whether blessing or tribulation, ease or hard- ship, is beautiful, for He is the Lord of all. No one has it over Him to ask why and how. What He does with His own creation is not injustice. And to God belongs the conclusive argument [6:149]. In whatever God does, He has the complete argument, for He is the Creator and Enactor of the world and the world's folk. He is the bringer of nonbeing into being, the one who makes appear, the king over the servant.

O you who have faith, respond to God and the Messenger when he invites you to that which will give you life, and know that God comes between a man and his heart, and unto Him you will be mustered. In the tongue of the folk of allusion, response is of two sorts: one is the response of tawḤīd, and the other the response of realization. TawḤīd is that the faithful say “one,” and realization is that the rec- ognizers be one. TawḤīd is the attribute of the travelers, and realization is the state of those snatched away. The first is the attribute of the Bosom Friend, the second the attribute of the Beloved. The Bosom Friend was a traveler and stood before the Exalted Threshold in the station of service: “Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, un- swerving” [6:79]. The Beloved was snatched away, sitting in reverence at the top of good fortune. The Beginningless Presence addressed him, “Peace be upon thee, O Prophet, and God's mercy and His blessing.” The traveling of the wayfarers lies in the outward response of following the Messenger. The attraction of the snatched away lies in the secret core's response of contemplating the Knower of Unseen Things. This is why that master of the Tariqah said, “Respond to God in your secret core and His Mes- senger through your outwardness when he invites you to that which will give you life. The life of the souls is through following the Messenger, and the life of the hearts is through contemplating the unseen things.” May I be a ransom for the men dwelling in the Unseen, their secret cores roaming in all that is there! The reality of life will not be turned over to anyone among the folk of creation without the response of tawḤīd and the signet of realization. Hence this call of exaltedness came from the prophetic presence: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they say 'No god but God.'” When He invites you to that which will give you life. In reality the folk of life and the living are those who are pure of backsliding, far from suspicion, famous for friendship, released from the ruling power of the soul, their hearts joined to the Patron, their secret cores adorned with awareness of the Real, alive in the breeze of intimacy, having found the beginningless reminder and reached the Friend The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, nothing other than recognizing You is happiness, and nothing other than finding You is life. He who lives without You is imprisoned like a corpse. Life without You is death, and the one who lives with You lives forever.” 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. * I will have no spirit if You turn away from me. O Spirit of the world, You are my unbelief and faith. And know that God comes between a man and his heart. The wayfarers on the road of the Haqiqah are two groups: the knowers and the recognizers. The knowers find their hearts in keeping with the verse, “Surely in that is a reminder for him who has a heart” [50:37]. The recognizers lose their hearts in keeping with the verse, “And know that God comes between a man and his heart.” This is a strange intimation and a marvelous allusion: The heart is the road, and the Friend is the homeland. When someone arrives at the homeland, he no longer walks on the road. At the beginning, there is no escape from the heart, but at the end, the heart is a veil. As long as someone stays with the heart, he is the desirer. The one without a heart is the de- sired. At first the heart is needed because one cannot traverse the road of the Shariah without the heart. Thus He said, “a reminder for him who has a heart.” At the end, remaining with the heart is duality, and duality is distance from the Real. Hence He said, “comes between a man and his heart.” It is said that the possessors of the heart are four: The renunciant, whose heart is wounded by yearning; the fearful, whose heart is washed by doubt; the desirer, whose heart has tightened its belt in service; and the lover, whose heart is joined with the Presence. Revelation came to David the prophet: “'O David, make for Me a pure house in which I may reside!' O David, make a house fitting to be the field of union with Me, and turn away from the others toward Me. ” David said, “O Lord, which house can be fitting for Your majesty and tremendousness?” He said, “The heart of the faithful servant. 'O David! I am with fevered hearts.' Wherever you see someone in the road of searching for Me whose harvest has been burned by the fire of passion in seeking Me, take that as the mark. The pavilion of My holiness is set up only when the heart of the burnt is annihilated. The heart of the faithful servant is the treasury of My bazaar, the domicile of looking upon Me, the prayer-niche of union with Me, the tent of yearning for Me, the lodging place of speaking with Me, the treasure house of My secrets, the quarry of seeing Me.” When something is burnt, it loses value, but when a heart is burnt, it gains in value. MuṣṬafā said, “The hearts are God's containers in the earth. The most beloved of the containers to God is the most limpid, the most tender, and the most solid.” He said that the hearts of this community's lovers are cups for the wine of love for the Lord. Any heart that is more limpid in relation to en- gendered beings and more merciful toward the faithful is more exalted in the Exalted Presence. Beware, consider the heart exalted! Protect its face from the opacities of caprice and appetite, for it is a lordly subtlety and the gazing place of the Glorified. MuṣṬafā said, “Surely God gazes not on your forms or your acts, but He gazes on your hearts.” In other words, “Do not adorn your faces, for the adornment of faces has no honor with the Exalted Presence; do not curl your hair, for curled and knotted hair is of no account in that Court. Do not be proud of your forms, for the form has no measure or worth. The only thing of any use is a heart full of pain.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “For this work, a man is needed with a heart full of pain. Alas that no pain remains in the world, nor in the hearts!” Concerning His words, “God comes between a man and his heart,” one of the realizers said, “He is alluding to the hearts of His lovers, the fact that He takes the hearts away from them, pro- tects them for them, and makes them fluctuate through His attributes, as the Prophet said: 'The heart of Adam's child is between two fingers of the All-Merciful-He makes it fluctuate as He will.' Then He seals it with the seal of recognition and impresses it with the imprint of yearning.”

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

And know that, whatever booty you take, a fifth is for God, and for His Messenger and for kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, and the son of the road, if you have faith in God…. Booty is the property of unbelievers that Muslims capture in the time of battle and struggle. It is said that struggle is of two sorts: the outer struggle and the inner struggle. The outer struggle is against the unbelievers with the sword, and the inner struggle is against the soul with severity. Those who struggle with the sword are three men: the wage-earning striver, the forgiven wounded, and the martyred slain. In the same way, the strugglers against the soul are three men: One strives, and he is among the pious; one attacks, and he is among the Pegs; one is released, and he is among the Substitutes. He who struggles against the unbelievers becomes rich by possessing the booty. He who struggles against the soul becomes rich in the heart. When someone is rich in property, the prop- erty is either permitted and a tribulation, or forbidden and a curse. When someone is rich in the heart, his aspiration is greater than this world and his desire greater than the afterworld. MuṣṬafā called struggle against the soul more magnificent and greater. He said: " We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle. " This is because you can avoid the enemy, but you cannot avoid the soul. When you get along with an enemy, you will be secure from his evil. If you get along with the soul, you will see your own destruction. One of the misfortunes of the soul is what MuṣṬafā said: " God gazes not on your forms or your deeds, but He gazes on your hearts. " He said that He gazes on the heart, but He does not gaze on the soul. It is well known that gazing is the result of love, and not gazing the result of hatred. If the Real did not consider the soul an enemy, He would gaze on it just as He gazes on the heart. This makes it mandatory to consider the soul an enemy. One must conform with the Real and not gaze on the soul with affection and love. In the battlefield of struggle, one must act against it severely with the sword of discipline. One must sew shut the eye of its desires with the needle of solitari- ness and disengagement. This is why MuṣṬafā said, " When someone detests his own soul in God's Essence, God will keep him secure from chastisement on the Day of Resurrection. " In this meaning, the story of AḤmad ibn Khiẓrūya is well known. He said, " I was passing the days in severity toward my own soul in order to keep it back from its desires and pleasures. One day it became elated by battle. It clung to me saying that fighting in battle was a stipulation of the religion, the support of being a Muslim, and the mark of obedience. I was surprised at its elation, for the soul does not become elated by obedience and rarely inclines to the good. I was sure that there must be some deception connected to it. I was commanding it to fast. Perhaps it could not put up with hunger and wanted to travel so as to be delivered from it and break its fast while trav- eling, so it wanted to put to use the concession for traveling. I said to the soul that I had made a pledge not to break the fast while traveling but rather to increase it. The soul said that it would ac- cept that and would not break the fast. I thought that perhaps it was not able to put up with standing in prayer all night. It wanted to be delivered from that while traveling. I put it into my heart that I would not decrease my standing in prayer at all and I would keep the soul on its feet from night to morning. The soul said that it would accept that and not complain at all. I thought that perhaps it was because it did not mix with people and that dread of seclusion made it do this. I decided that I would dismount only at ruined way stations and avoid people. It also accepted that from me and approved of it. Then, in incapacity and pleading with the Real, I wept and said, 'O God, inform me of the soul's deception by Your bounty and make me happy with Your gentleness!' " In the end I found out that that this is what the soul was saying: 'Every day you strike me with the sword of struggle and you kill me a thousand times, but the people don't know anything about it. At least let me go to battle so that I may be killed once and for all. I will be a martyr, and the world's folk will recount that AḤmad Khiẓrūya was martyred in battle.' " I said to myself, 'It is a difficult enemy who shows himself to be in conformity in this world but does not want felicity in the afterworld. It wanted to spring the ambush of eye-service on me and destroy me that way, but the Exalted Lord informed me of its deception and gave me a place next to His generosity and gentleness.' Then I increased my prayers of thanksgiving and saw many gentle favors of generosity. " The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, it may be from dread that I have come to the edge. I simply do not know how I fell in with this soul and this work. I have not taken heed, nor have I seen people taking heed. No matter how much I tried to see one breath of mine worthy of You, I have not seen it. O King, You know that it was not in Your tracks that I chose these days. O God, do not make manifest the secrets of someone You have called-the sins that You have concealed! Generous One, You are the judge between me and You. Do what is worthy of You! " A fifth is for God, and for His Messenger. Just as booty is taken from wealth and a por- tion of it is for God and for the Messenger, so also God has a portion in the transactions of the Haqiqah, which are the heart's booty: The servant should be free of his own share in it and of slavehood to the realm of being; all of him should be the Real and in the Real, disowned of self and free of the world. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " A present moment comes to the servant when of the body the tongue remains, and that's it. Of the heart the mark remains, and that's it. Of the spirit face-to-face vision remains, and that's it. Hearing goes, the Heard remains, and that's it. The heart goes, the Shown remains, and that's it. The spirit goes, what was remains, and that's it. " This chevalier arrived at the way station and asked, 'What mark is given of a flood?' When he reached the ocean, he fell into the ocean and all words were consumed. He who reaches the Patron reaches himself. " At the time of drunkenness, poverty is a marvelous falcon, taking fresh fish from a dry riverbed. First the diver abandoned spirit and children, then he went deep into the ocean after a pearl. For years Majnūn wandered the mountains and deserts- one night he found his beloved at home without her mother. [DS 835]

Wert thou to see when the angels take those who disbelieve, beating their faces and their backs: " Taste the chastisement of the burning! " Death is of four sorts: the death of degradation and the curse, the death of remorse and affliction, the death of the gift and generosity, and the death of honor and contemplation. The death of the curse is the death of the unbelievers, the death of remorse is the death of the disobedient, the death of generosity is the death of the faithful, and the death of contemplation is the death of the prophets. About the death of the curse He says, " Wert thou to see when the angels take those who disbe- lieve. " In another place He says, " Wert thou to see when the wrongdoers are in the throes of death... [6:93]. O master! If only you were to see the unbelievers in the agonies of death and the blows and strikes of the chastising angels, before whose harshness, awesomeness, and fearsomeness heaven and earth tremble-the unbelievers caught amidst smoke, fire, unpleasant smells, and the striking of the angels, their hearts overcome by severance from possessions. If they complain, the pain increases, and if they weep, the call no good news [25:22] comes to them. The dust of unworthiness sits on their face, the fire of severance falls into their spirit, hell is filled with their moaning, and the angels disown them. Beware of the severity of severance! Beware of the wound of separation! " As for the death of remorse, that is the death of the disobedient, who passed their days in heedlessness and fell short in the acts of obedience and worship. Suddenly they fall into the grasp of the angel of death and are caught by death's agonies. On one side they see the angel of mercy, but they are ashamed because they did little good. On the other side they see the angel of chastise- ment, and they fear because they did bad and ugly things. The hapless, disobedient servant stays in the middle, his eyes toward the Unseen to see what will come. Will generosity or degradation come from there? Will he see bounty or justice? Then the angels present his obedience and dis- obedience to him, his obedience being little, his disrespect great. His many works add remorse to the remorse and disobedience to disobedience. Then those deeds of his-little obedience, much disobedience-are both sealed and hung around his neck. He remains like this in the bier, like this in the grave, and like this at the resurrection, just as the Exalted Lord says: " And every man, We have fastened his omen to his neck " [17:13]. Third is the death of the gift and generosity for the faithful and the good men. The angels of mercy will seize their pure spirits from them with hundreds of thousands of generosities, benevo- lences, comforts, good news, and glad tidings. They will give good news with the gentle favors of generosity and infinite caresses: " Peace be upon you! Enter the Garden for what you were doing " [16:32]. MuṣṬafā said, " The gift of the person of faith is death. " This is because what veils the per- son of faith from the Real is his soul, and death is the lifting of the veil. But the recognizers receive no bestowal and no gift from the opening up of the road to the Friend or the lifting of the veils. Take care not to fear this death of form- fear rather the life you have right now. True life will not rise up from this life- it's a wolf, and wolves are not shepherds. [DS 675] Bishr Ḥāfī said, " What a difference there is between two groups: a group who are dead but whose hearts are alive through their remembrance, and a group who are alive but whose hearts have be- came hard through their deliberation. " It has been said that a poor man heard someone recite the verse, " Surely the quaking of the Hour is a tremendous thing " [22:1]. He became happy and began to dance. He shouted out, say- ing, " Oh! When will this day come so this poor man may be let out of his bonds?! " It was said to him, " What was just shown to you? " He said, " This world is a veil, and the resurrection is the time for contemplation. For the friends the veil is a trial, and contemplation a gift. When will we be released from this veil and reach good fortune and union?! " When will I throw off this cage and build a nest in the divine garden?! Fourth is the death of contemplation, which honors and exalts the prophets. It is the caressing of them with the call of gentleness that comes forth without intermediary from the Exalted Presence: " O serene soul, return to thy Lord, approving, approved! " [89:27-28]. ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd said, " A group of us Emigrants and Helpers were gathered in the house of ʿāÌisha. God's Messenger looked at us and his eyes filled with tears. He said, 'Welcome to you! May God give you life, may God gather you, may God help you, may God guide you, may God keep you safe, may God accept you! I advise you to be wary of God, and I will advise God concerning you and will earnestly entreat Him for you.' Then he offered advice and eloquent counsel. " The companions said, 'O Messenger of God! Is it that the days of your life have come to their end and it is time for going?' " MuṣṬafā said, 'The fixed term has now drawn close, and the final return to God-and to the Lote Tree of the Final End, the Garden of the Abode, the Highest Throne, the fullest cup, and the highest Friend.' " Yes, the bird of the Presence is set upon flying back to the nest of Exaltedness, the bird whose wings are passion, whose flight is desire, whose horizon is the Unseen, whose domicile is pain, whose welcome is the majesty of " I come to him rushing. " 9 Whenever this bird of the Presence flies from the cage of mortal nature to the horizon of the Unseen, the cherubim of holiness put their hands over their eyes. Otherwise, the lightning of its beauty would burn their eyes. At the moment of Moses' death, lightning flashed from the pavilions of awesomeness in the air of passion, and that flash of awesomeness took one of Azrael's eyes back to the state of nonbeing. It was said, " O Azrael, when you go to My friends, take care to observe courtesy. Do not go to them without their permission. " The tongue of the yearner's state, in the jealousy of friendship and the perfect burning of be- ginningless love, keeps on saying, " O Lord, if You annihilate me with the sword of friendship, the angel of death will have nothing to do with me. Whoever drinks the draft of Your passion from Your cup will know the pain of craving when none is left. " [DS 211]

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

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

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

The freewill offerings are for the poor, and the indigent.... and the son of the road.... O you whose heart has never for one day walked in poverty and who, in your whole life, have never for one hour sat like Jacob in poverty's house of sorrows! O you who have never for one day placed your own attributes with the description of poverty in the mangonel of struggle and never for an instant sacrificed your spirit in the cave of exile and the state of indigence by following the beloved Prophet and the sincerely truthful Abū Bakr. You suppose that without tasting the drink of poverty and wearing the clothes of discipline today you will dwell tomorrow in the domiciles of the High Chambers with the poor among the Companions and the men of the road of poverty. Your supposition is erroneous and your self-governance wrong. They were a thousand times more passionate about that poverty of theirs than you are about being a chief. ʿAbd al-RaḤmān ibn ʿAwf was one of the paragons among the Companions, but the beauty of poverty had hidden its face from him. One day he came in to the presence of MuṣṬafā, and Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, a poor Companion, was present. Words came forth from ʿAbd al-RaḤmān that made the poor man sad, and he became ill. Then ʿAbd al-RaḤmān made one-half of his wealth a sacrifice for the suf- fering of his heart, but he would not accept. God's Messenger said, " O Saʿd, why will you not accept? " He said, " O Messenger of God! The pearl of poverty is too exalted to be sold even for the whole of this world. " For a hundred years the sun must rise in the east and set in the west before the beginningless decree gives a recognizer the eyes to see the beauty of poverty and recognize the exaltedness of poverty. He must have a pain that makes him familiar with seeking. But this seeking is not like the seeking of other things. This pain is not like other pains, which arise from the vapor of forbidden morsels and appear at the top of the stomach. The pain of the religion and the vision of this seeking arise from the level of the liver of the free man, and the exaltedness of the poverty in the hearts of seekers appears in the measure of their pain. The more a heart is full of pain and burnt, the more the exaltedness of poverty remains with it. MuṣṬafā was offered this world, but he was not pleased with it. He said, " What do I have to do with this world? " He was offered the afterworld, but he did not look at it. About him it was said, " The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass " [53:17]. The poor were placed before his eyes and heart, and he wanted to turn away from them and not look. The Exalted Lord did not let that pass. He commanded him to gaze upon them: " And let not thine eyes turn away from them [18:28]: O Master, do not lift your eyes away from them and always honor gazing upon them. O Master, I who am the Lord gaze upon their hearts. Look at those at whom I am constantly looking! " It has been said that poverty has three levels: first need, second poverty, and third indigence. The possessor of need turns his head to this world so that it may block his poverty. The possessor of poverty does not give his heart to this world but inclines to the afterworld and is at ease with the bliss of paradise. The possessor of indigence wants only the Patron. He does not want joy or blessing, rather the mystery of the Patron of Blessings. MuṣṬafā wanted indigence. He said, " O God, let me live in indigence, let me die in indigence, and muster me among the indigent! " But he sought refuge from poverty: " I seek refuge in Thee from poverty. " This means that the possessor of poverty still has something left of his own shares, so he will be veiled from his Lord by what is left. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " Here there are three stations. First, lightning shines from the heaven of poverty to make you aware, then a breeze blows forth from the air of indigence to make you familiar, then a door of recognition opens to make you a friend and dresses you in a robe of honor to make you bold. " O God, You mixed the fire of finding with the light of recognition. You stirred up the breeze of proximity from the garden of union. You poured down the rain of solitariness on the dust of mortal nature. You burned water and clay with the fire of friendship. Thus You taught the recog- nizer's eyes how to see You. " Then, at the end of the verse, He finishes mentioning the owners of portions with " the son of the road. " In the tongue of the ulama, the son of the road is he who seeks separation from his homeland and passes his days in the abasement of exile and the suffering of travel. In the tasting of the cheva- liers, it is he who cuts himself off from the habits and familiar things of his own caprice and detaches his heart totally from self, links, and all creatures. Like an exile, he takes up a corner with a heart full of pain and a spirit full of remorse. To the tune of longing and bewilderment he keeps on murmuring, " O God, everyone's an exile in body, but I'm an exile in heart and spirit. Everyone's an exile while traveling, but I'm an exile at home. Every illness is healed by a physician, but I have been made ill by the physician. Everyone has a portion from the apportioning, but I have no portion. Everyone who's lost his heart has a friend and sympathizer, but I have no friends and am an exile. " Every night the people sleep-what about me awake? Everyone's sleeping with a friend-what about me without a friend?

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

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

And others who are made to hope for God's command; either He will chastise them or He will turn toward them. And God is knowing, wise. In these verses the Generous Lord, the lovingly kind, the able, the pure-knowing knower, the one and unique in name and mark, divides MuḤammad's community into three groups according to the degrees of their faith, the disparity of their acts, and the difference of their character traits. This is the same classification that He provided in detail elsewhere: " Among them are wrongdoers to themselves, among them are moderate, and among them are preceders in good deeds " [35:32]. There He mentioned them together and here apart, but the classification and the ranking in terms of virtue are the same. First are the preceders, the first, and they are the preceders. Second are others who have acknowledged their sins, and they are the moderate. Third are others made to hope for God's command, and they are the wrongdoers. He begins with the preceders. In the beginningless they have the precedence of solicitude and the bounty of guidance from God. They are the first chieftains and the forebears of this commu- nity, the best of creation, the lamps of guidance, the signposts of the religion, the treasurers of the Real, the pillars of the submission, the masters of this world, the interceders of the next world, the chosen of mortal man, the boast of Adam's children. They are the Companions of MuṣṬafā and the chosen of God, the leaders of the submission and the Sunnah, the first in the religion and recogni- tion. They were the first to hear the Real's message and they were the first to accept the message- bringer and to welcome the Real. One group are the Emigrants. They left behind their homes and families and lost their means and homeland for God's sake. Another group are the Helpers, who accepted MuṣṬafā with heart and spirit and gave his companions refuge. As a bird nurtures its chick, they nurtured the submission. They made their bodies and spirits shields for the religion of the submission. They took this world as lowly and they placed their love in the religion. Another group are the Followers who came later: and those who followed them in beautiful doing. They learned the religion from them, took their character traits as their own, and then they conveyed their good qualities, their fatwas, and their conduct to the community. God approves of them, and they approve of Him. God is happy with them, and He will make them happy with themselves. This one group is the preceders. The second sort are the moderate. Moderation is to go by the middle road, with neither the excellence of the preceders nor the excessiveness of the wrongdoers. Rather, they go by the middle road and mix obedience and disobedience together. They are like the companions of the Ramparts, whose good deeds and bad deeds are equal, and who stay far from hell but do not reach paradise. The moderate are the ones about whom the Exalted Lord says, " And others who acknowledged their sins ": those who attest to their own sins and acknowledge their own bad disposition. They see their own faults and are ashamed of their own acts. Acknowledgement is two: One is the acknowledgment of the estranged tomorrow at the res- urrection. When they see the first parts of the chastisement and the traces of the Real's anger and vengeance, and the harshness and moaning of hell, they acknowledge their own sins. But what profit does acknowledgement have on that day? Of what use is attestation at that time? God says, " So they acknowledge their sins. Away with the companions of the Blaze! " [67:11]. " We acknowl- edge our sins. Is there a way to go out? " [40:11]. The other is the acknowledgment of the faithful in this world. They acknowledge their sins and attest to their faults, with regret in the heart, apology on the tongue, and burning and remorse in the midst of the spirit. This is acknowledgment in its own place and acknowledgment in its own time. God says, " And others who acknowledged their sins. " Then He says, " They mixed a whole- some deed with another that is ugly ": They mixed together their acts, one good and one bad, some pure and some defiled, some permitted and some forbidden, some straight and some crooked, some faulty and some excellent. It has also been said that this is to combine asking forgiveness with sin. They sin, and along with the sin they ask forgiveness. In the report has come, " He who asks forgiveness is not persist- ing [in his sin]. " The Exalted Lord says, " Whoever does something ugly or wrongs himself and then asks forgiveness of God, he will find God forgiving, ever-merciful " [4:110]. It has also been said that when the servant combines slips with wholesome deeds, this is evi- dence that his sins do not nullify the reward of the obedience for, if they nullified it, He would not have said wholesome deed. Then He says, " Perhaps God will turn toward them. " God makes it necessary to accept them with all their faults and to take them with all their offenses. Surely God is forgiving, ever-merciful, for God is fault-hiding, forgiving, and lovingly kind. ʿUthmān used to say that there is no verse in the Qur'an offering more hope than this verse. And it is a sound report from MuṣṬafā, narrated by Samra ibn Jundab, that he said, " Two comers came to me last night and took me. We reached a city built of gold and silver bricks and were met by men, half of whose creation was like the most beautiful you have ever seen and half like the ugliest you have every seen. The two said to them, 'Go and fall into that river.' They fell into it, then they returned to us, the ugliness having gone from them, and they had become the most beautiful form. Then the two said to me, 'This is the Garden of Eden, and it is your dwelling place. As for those who were half beautiful and half ugly, they mixed a wholesome deed with another that is ugly. God has shown forbearance.' " The third sort are others who are made to hope for God's command. He is saying, " There are others, a group with great faults and dreadful offenses, bad deeds, crooked words, and numerous plaintiffs-unfit children, impudent youths, weak old men, ungrateful poor, impure rich, cruel in the day of good fortune, insolent in the days of strength, no foundation except in the heart, strangers to familiarity and attestation. " Of them He says, " made to hope for God's command: Leave them to My will and put them down with hope, and do not throw them into despair. Either He will chastise them, or He will turn toward them. Either He will chastise them with justice or accept their excuses through bounty. If He is just, that is permissible for Him, and if He shows bounty, that is fitting. " Not everything that is permissible for justice is fitting for bounty, but everything fitting for bounty is permissible for justice. Bounty is ruler over justice, and justice is captive in bounty's hand. Justice is silent before bounty, and bounty has the ring of union in its ear. Do you not see that justice is hidden and bounty apparent such that the enemy is deluded and the friend distracted? Then He says, " And God is knowing, wise. " God knows through right knowledge, without er- ror, and He is wise without negligence or fault. Nothing is missing from His knowledge, nothing is outside of His power, and nothing overcomes His decree. He keeps the creatures in His decree, between His bounty and justice, in His knowledge. He is alone in His creation without any other, knowing through beginningless knowledge before all known things, His Essence always before all creatures, right in knowledge, pure in knowing, always working, bestowing as fits Him; He is true in speech, pure in knowledge, fine in artisanry, complete in bounty, eternal in love-majestic is His majesty, exalted His magnificence, tremendous His rank! Majestic is His unity and holy His self-sufficiency!

Surely God has bought from the faithful their souls and their possessions so that they may have the Garden.... So rejoice in your sale you have made to Him. In the tasting of the recognizers and the path of the elect, this verse is a place for the joy of the friends and a playing field for the secret cores of the sincerely truthful. It is felicitation for the faithful, a fitting felicitation and an appropriate bestowal of eminence. It is a felicitation that is the heart's intimacy and the spirit's message, the ornament of the session and the capital of the indigent, the adornment of tongues and the life of hearts. It is a generous felicitation, from a gen- erous Lord-generous in Essence, generous in attributes, generous in love, generous in caressing, generous in bestowal. The servant himself is bestowed by His bounty, and then He buys back what He Himself be- stowed. He makes the transaction, but He bestows all the profit on the servant and accepts the loss for Himself. This is beautiful doing and generosity, loving kindness and gentleness. In the Torah of Moses God said, " The Garden is My Garden and the possessions My posses- sions. Buy My Garden with My possessions! If you profit, that is yours, and if you lose, that is Mine. O children of Adam, I did not create you to profit from you. I created you only so that you would profit from Me. " In the Beginningless, before the servant's existence, the Lord of the Worlds bought him. He was the seller and the buyer. He Himself sold and He Himself bought. In the Shariah of MuṣṬafā, it is not permitted for the buyer and seller to be the same, unless it be a father, for whom it is permitted on condition of tenderness, negation of suspicion, perfect loving kindness, and fatherly love. What then do you say about someone who is more clement and merciful toward the servant than a father, a God whose loving kindness has no bounds and whose love is greater? Given that it is permitted for a father, it is more appropriate and more complete in the case of the loving Creator. Moreover, the Exalted Lord knew that the servants are bad-tempered, breakers of the Cov- enant, and disloyal to it. He knew that when they reached maturity they would protest. He shut down the road of protest by buying souls full of fault and blight in exchange for a paradise full of joy and blessing. He bought souls full of appetite and trial in exchange for a paradise that has the levels and degrees of proximity to the Real. According to the Shari'ite rules on transactions, when the price given for the bought object is more than it is worth, there is no way to protest. Also, He bought the soul, not the heart. This is because the heart is an endowment to the Real's love and affection, and it is not permitted to buy or sell endowments. Moreover, one of the conditions in transactions is delivery. When something cannot be de- livered, the Shariah does not permit it to be bought and sold. Birds in the sky and fish in the sea cannot be sold, because they cannot be delivered. The state of the servant's heart is exactly the same, and surrendering it is impossible. Thus the Exalted Lord says, " He comes between a man and his heart " [8:24]. Naṣrābādī said, " He buys your attributes from you, but the heart is one of His attributes, so it cannot be bought and sold. " The Prophet said, " The heart of Adam's child is between two fingers of the All-Merciful. " It is also said that the soul is the heart's doorman, standing like a serving boy, a subject serving its lord. As for the heart, it has the place of witnessing. Carrying lordhood like a sultan, it governs the kingdom. So, if the value of the soul, which is the serving boy, is paradise with its treasuries of blessings, what do you say about the heart, with all its nearness and proximity? What is its value other than the neighborhood of the Exalted Presence and the continuity of contemplation and vi- sion? The Pir of the Tariqah said, " There is a pearl fallen in the dust in the middle of the road, and no one in the world is aware of its value. Suddenly a fortunate person happens upon it and finds an everlasting kingdom, but without drums and hats. In no way did the value of that pearl in the road become less. The value it had yesterday is still there. " For whom does the light of that pearl shine? For him who knows solicitude. Then complaint rises up. But who began the kindness? Who wanted this work from the beginning? Who planted the tree of love? Who decorated the house of friendship? With all this gentleness, why all these bad thoughts? " On the day of buying, He saw the faults and He said that it was permitted. O God, all this happiness from You is our portion! Who has a patron like You, where is a friend like You? With the attributes You have, nothing else is fitting. Then, when You say that this is the mark, and the celebration is tomorrow; that this is the message, and the robe of honor is in place, how can there be patience, how can there be repose? " On the day You put Your head outside the curtain, I know You will bring down the realm of time. If You'll be adding to this adornment and beauty, O Lord, what will You do to our livers!? So rejoice in your sale you have made to Him. He is saying, " Be happy, My servants, be joyful in the transaction you have made with Me. Rest in My name, take your ease in My name and mark. " When someone makes a sale, his happiness lies in the price of the object sold. The better and greater the price, the more his happiness. The Lord of the Worlds did not say, " Be happy with the price you received. " Rather, " Be happy with the sale you have made with Me and the transac- tion you carried out with Me. " What sorrow has he who has Him? What worth has he who is not worthy for His proximity? A Psalm of David says, " O child of Adam, why do you love other than Me when I am worthy for love? Why do you trade with other than Me when I am munificent and bountiful? Why do you not transact with Me when I am the bestower of great bestowals? O traders in this world, the profit of this world is evanescent, but My profit remains. " What is with you runs out, but what is with God subsists [16:96]. The subsisting things, the wholesome deeds, are better with your Lord in reward, and better in expectation [18:46]. So rejoice in your sale-the sale that He made in His own beginninglessness and that we did not make. He opened it with our name, and he called it out in our name: " The sale that I made you made. " In the same way, He said to MuṣṬafā, " Thou didst not throw when thou threwest, but God threw " [8:17]. This is an allusion to the center point of togetherness and the realization of solitari- ness. The breeze of the Beginningless blew, the lightning of oneness flashed, and the servant was stolen away from the hand of water and dust. Duality turned to nonexistence, the Haqiqah became limpid, and I-ness became a loan. The world's tumult is all this talk of me and you- give up " me " and the whole world will be your garden.

The repenters, the worshipers, the praisers, the journeyers, the bowers, the prostra- tors, the commanders to the honorable and prohibiters of the improper, the keepers of God's bounds-give good news to the faithful! These are the attributes of the faithful, the conduct of the familiar, and the custom of the friends, who are the hindmost in this world and the foremost in that world. They are the witnesses among the prophets and the interceders for the people, the masters of this world, the lovers of the religion and the beloved of the Real. In this verse their grades are mentioned in a pleasing arrangement. He praises them and bears witness to them, beginning with the lowest of them. First He mentions the lower ones, those who repent and turn back from sin, so that they will not stay ashamed and stricken in heart, but will have new hope. He is saying: " The repenters, those who have turned back from sin, who apologize and are regretful; the worshipers, those who worship, observe the commands, and do service; the praisers, those who praise, extol, and laud; the journeyers, those who go on the hajj, keep the fast, and seek for knowl- edge; the bowers, those who are humble, who serve others, who obey the commands of a pir they have reached; the prostrators, those who say the prayer, who plead, and who put their faces in the dust for the sake of My majesty; the commanders to the honorable, those who command the people to the religion, who call out and invite to obedience, who give good counsel and advise each other; and prohibiters of the improper, the just sultans, those who call to remembrance and who bring the people away from evil and who receive them with spirit and heart. Give good news to the faithful! Give good news to the faithful that whatever shortcoming they may have, My unneediness is equal to it. Whatever may be displeasing from them, My loving kindness is on top of that. Whatever the servant may hope, My bounty is greater than that. Give good news to the faithful that when I chose them, I saw the faults. I did not approve before I had examined the hidden things. With My own unneediness I bought the servants as they are. " Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, " There is no correct worship without repentance, nor correct repentance with- out praise of Him for the path of repentance that came. Praise is not correct without constant journeying and discipline, nor are these stations and preliminaries correct without constant bowing and prostration. And none of this is correct without commanding the honorable and prohibiting the improper. And none of these are correct without keeping the bounds outwardly and inwardly. The person of faith is someone who has this description, for God says, 'Give good news to the faithful'- those who have this description. " It has come in the traditions that tomorrow on the Day of Resurrection a group from the com- munity will be brought to the place of the Scales. The angels to whom they were entrusted will begin to enumerate their bad acts: " O Lord, these are the breakers of the Covenant, the disloyal, the forgetful, the sinners, the bold, the insolent. " The Exalted Lord will say, " Inasmuch as this is their doing, that is the way they are, but inas- much as this concerns My generosity and pardon, they are the repenters, the worshipers, the prais- ers, the fasters, and the performers of the prayer. They want My friendship with their spirits and hearts and they are One-sayers in My love. " Through the attribute of brokenness and poverty the tongue of the state of these helpless ones is saying, " O Lord, whether ungodly or worshipful, we are Yours as we are. We are dependent upon Your keeping and Your will. We are recognized as Your servants-there's no passing You by, and without You nothing is complete. " The servants, whether beautiful or ugly, belong to You. The passionate, whether knowing or not, are Yours.

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

Now there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves; what troubles you is difficult for him; eagerly desirous is he for you, clement and ever-merciful toward the faithful. He is in contact with you through mortal nature, but he is different from you in election. " O MuḤammad, keep on saying, 'I am a mortal like you' [18:110]. I will keep on saying, 'Did He not find thee an orphan and shelter thee?' [93:6]. You are the orphan pearl, the like of whom is no other. How can a mortal reach the forefront of the Real's acceptance such that He puts up with his disdain? By thy life! [15:72]. How can a mortal be worthy for the grasp of the attributes to explain the polish of his heart's mirror by virtue of solicitude? Did We not expand for thee thy breast? [94:1]. How can a mortal be such that the auditor of the beginningless and endless register turns over the acceptance and rejection of the creatures to his threshold? Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; whatever he prohibits you, forgo [59:7]. O Muhammad! You are something dif- ferent, and your work is different! " You are a tongue other than the speech of every mouth, you are a soul other than the gentleness of anyone else. You are a thought other than in anyone's mind. How can they reach you? You are indeed another world. It has been said that in friendship are both separation and union. In the era of the Beginningless, when love was apportioned, the wail of separation's pain rose up from the house of Abū Jahl, and the glitter of union's sun shone from the chamber of MuḤammad the Arab. From that separation was created a hell in the heart of the estranged, and from this union was affirmed a paradise in the breast of the friends. After the sun of union shone on that paragon, the world's folk were bewildered in his work. The wish for his beauty and for following him rose up in the prophets. Moses the Speaking Com- panion said, " Lord God, make me one of his community! " Jesus the Spirit of God said, " Lord God, make me the door-keeper of his threshold! " [Abraham] the Bosom Friend said, " Lord God, make my mention flow on the tongue of his community! " More wonderful than all this is that the paragon himself became bewildered in the steps of his own path. This is just like Majnūn and Laylā. He said, " The means of my knowledge are lost in the ends of your tresses! " She said, " O Majnūn, that is not such a great claim, for my tresses are themselves lost in my work! " That chevalier said it beautifully in this poem: O you who are bewildered in yourself, what image is this? O candle of the beauties, what union is this? O you like whom is none in the world, what perfection is this? O our candle and lamp, what beauty is this? Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, " His soul was in conformity with the souls of the creatures in created nature, but different from them in reality, for it was hallowed by the lights of prophecy, confirmed by the con- templation of the Haqiqah, and fixed in the closest locus and the highest station: The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]. " Take care not to say that his pure soul was like the souls of others. If one speck of his soul's shining were to shine forth on the spirits and hearts of all the sincerely truthful, they would all go forth to the world of holiness and settle down in the seat of truthfulness [54:55]. Despite all this, he used to say in supplication, " 'Do not entrust us to our souls for the blink of an eye!' Lord God, lift up this curtain of the soul from before our heart and lift this burden of selfhood away from us, for it is our veil in the road of the Haqiqah. " The command came, " O Muhammad, unasked We put you beside Us: Did We not expand for thee thy breast, and lift from thee thy burden? [94:1-2]. O MuḤammad, We put aside that burden of you from you. Our desire took care of your work, Our solicitude lit up your lamp. You did not come for yourself, nor did you come by yourself. You did not come by yourself because We brought you: Who took His servant by night [17:1]. You did not come for yourself because you came as a mercy for the creatures: We sent thee only as a mercy to the worlds " [21:107]. Just as a bird takes its chick under its wing and nurtures it, in the same way the perfection of MuḤammad the Arab's generosity, clemency, and mercy nurtures his community under its wing: And lower thy wing to the faithful who follow thee [26:215]. Jaʿfar al-ṣādiq said, " God knew that His creatures were incapable of obeying Him, so He made them recognize that so that they would know that they would not reach the limpidness of serving Him. He set between Him and them a creature of their own kind in form and said, 'Now there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves.' Then He clothed him in His attributes of clemency and mercy and sent him out to the creatures as a truthful emissary. He made obeying him obeying Him and companionship with him companionship with Him, for He says, 'Whoso obeys the Messenger has obeyed God' [4:80]. "