Kashf Al-Asrar Tafsir (Maybudi) — Yunus 10:2 – Al-Hajj 22:78

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

To Him is your place of return, all together-God's promise in truth. To return is to go back, and going back must have a beginning. To God belongs the command, before and after [30:4]. Concerning the intimations of the verse, " To Him is your place of return, all together, " Junayd said, " From Him is the beginning and to Him the end. What is between these are the pastures of His bounty and the uninterruptedness of His blessings. For those to whom felicity preceded at the beginning, this will be displayed in His pastures and in moving about in His blessings by their mak- ing manifest the tongue of gratitude, the state of approval, and the contemplation of the Patron of Blessings. As for those who were not permitted the felicity of the beginning, they will nullify the days of training their souls and collect ephemeral chaff so as to be pushed back to the wretchedness that preceded at the beginning. " Junayd is saying that all things begin with God and all return to God. In other words, everything is brought forth by His power and returned to His decree. He is the First and the Last. The Begin- ningless is His predetermination, the Endless His decision. Everything arrives newly through His gentleness, and all the newly arrived things are annihilated by His severity. Between this and that are the pastures of His bounty and the marks giving witness to His blessings. All those whom the begin- ningless command brought into being inscribed with felicity came forth in the pastures of bounty giving gratitude for blessings and approving of the apportionment, their tongues in remembrance, their hearts grateful, and their spirits limpid and believing. All those who received the beginningless decree of wretchedness had ruined lives, indigent days, and bad outcomes. They were tainted by this world, captivated by the forbidden, and attached to diversions and games. He wanted this for them in the end in order to take them back to the beginningless decree and the First Day. This is what the Lord of the Worlds is saying: " To Him is your place of return, all together-God's promise in truth. " It has been said, " Promised to the obedient are the highest paradises, and promised to the disobedient are mercy and approval. The Garden is the Real's gentleness, and mercy is the Real's description. Gentleness is an act that was not, then came to be, but the description is an attribute that always was. " Abū Bakr al-WāsiṬī said, " The obedient are porters, and porters have nothing but burdens, and this is the threshold of Him who has no needs. The disobedient are destitute, and the destitute have nothing but destitution, and this is the carpet of the destitute. " O owners of obedience, I do not say, 'Do not obey!', lest you suppose wrongly about the Qur'an. As much as you can and as much as you have the capacity, bring forth acts of obedience! Then, let them go, for they are nonbeing. The obedient person and the obedient act are two, but this is the carpet of oneness. " O owners of slips! Do not constrict your hearts, for this burden of disobedience is also His burden, just as obedience is His burden. But, obedience is something that is put in place, and dis- obedience is something that is lifted away. Putting in place is your act, and lifting away is His act. "

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

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

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

Surely those who have faith and do wholesome deeds, their Lord will guide them in their faith. In terms of allusion according to the tasting of the folk of recognition, this verse has another inti- mation. He is saying that in reality the faithful and the good men are those whom the Unity keeps under the domes of jealousy through the blessing of generosity. He nurtures them with the beauty of solicitude, He gives them access to recognition of Him, and He brings them close to companion- ship with Him so that they will become one for Him and estranged from other than Him. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " TawḤīd is not just that you know Him to be one. True tawḤīd is that you be one for Him and estranged from other than Him. " The beginning of solicitude is that He gives them a goal in the Unseen to take them away from the world. When they become solitary, they are worthy for union with the Solitary. Your seeker must be solitary like You- he must be free of every defect and pain. Until the diver cuts his heart away from the kingdom of life, it is not permissible for the hand of his seeking to reach the desired pearl. What then do you say about someone who, in seeking His majesty and beauty, aims for the greatest salvation? As long as he does not wash his hands of love for life, how will he reach union with the proximity of the Beloved? In the session of Moses a poor man let out a cry. In anger Moses shouted at him. At once Gabriel came: " O Moses! God says, 'In your session, the owner of pain and possessor of heart was that one man. It was he who was present in your session for My sake. You shouted at him. Even though you are My speaking companion and My dear one, you do not see the secret that we have placed under a black blanket. It is yearning for My beauty that brings the friends into ecstasy. It is the demand for My beauty that pulls their hearts into the world of fear and hope, contraction and expansion. And God contracts and expands [2:245]. When the eyes are full of this world, they cannot hold the attribute of the afterworld. When the attributes of the afterworld settle down in the eyes, they remain unaware of the majesty of My proximity and the exaltedness of My union. " Not this world, not the afterworld-rather, union with the Patron! Ah, where is an aspiration not of this world? Where is a desire greater than the afterworld, a yearning to see the Patron? Where is a possessor of good fortune so that we may come out of the status of our mortal nature and grasp the stirrup of that possessor of good fortune-perhaps one day we will reach the Desired. 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] Their Lord will guide them through their faith. Wait till tomorrow at the Resurrection when the friends go forth by the light of recognition on the steed of obedience to the carpet of expansiveness. They will be delighted in the station of witnessing, group by group and company by company, just as God said: " We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves " [19:85]. In each domi- cile that appears, a company of angels will come forth by virtue of the command, saying " Peace, " and giving them the good news of everlasting joy and bliss. This is why He says,

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

He it is who makes you journey on land and sea. Even so, when you are in the ship-it takes them along with a goodly breeze, and they rejoice in it; there comes upon them a raging wind, and waves come from every place and they think that they will be encompassed by them; they supplicate God, purifying the religion for Him: " If Thou savest us from this, we shall surely be among the thankful. " In the tongue of the folk of allusion, the journey on land is taking the road to the drinking places of the Shariah through inference by means of the message. The journey on the sea is the overwhelm- ing force of the Real which, at the moment of ecstasy, pulls the reins of the servant's steed without intermediaries through the way stations of the Haqiqah to the places of contemplating holiness. Just as on the sea you make a one-month journey in one day, so also in this field the chevalier traverses the distance of a whole lifetime with one divine attraction. This is why they say, " One attraction of the Real is equivalent to all the deeds of jinn and men. " The journey on land is the journey of the worshipers and renunciants in the desert of struggle on the steed of discipline with the guidance of the Shariah. Their goal is the paradise of approval and everlasting blessings. The journey on the sea is the journey of the recognizers and the sincerely truthful in the ship of kind favor, which is driven by the wind of solicitude in the sea of contemplation. Their goal is the Kaabah of union and the mystery of the Beneficent. It has also been said that land and sea are allusions to the contraction and expansion of the recognizers. Sometimes in contraction they weep between confoundedness and bewilderment, and sometimes in expansion they are delighted between witnessing and finding. When the wind of happiness again blows from the horizon of self-disclosure and the rain of generosity pours down from the cloud of gentleness, they see solicitude and kind favor, and the hard cash of their present moment becomes it takes them along with a goodly breeze, and they rejoice in it: On the carpet of witnessing, in the state of intimacy, joy comes over them. They see an expansion and are immersed in joy. In that joy and coquetry they say, " We are the knights, the knights are we- we tread on the eyes of Jupiter. " As soon as expansion reaches its limit, they enter by way of power into awe and confoundedness. The ocean of tremendousness throws up the waves of awe, and the poor servants fall into the low- land of veiling. They loose the tongue of pleading and say with weeping and lowliness, " I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand, O guide of those bewildered in Thee! " This is why He says, " There comes upon them a raging wind, and waves come from every place. " That distracted one of the time and leader of the Tariqah, Shiblī, gave reports of both sides in his traveling and passed over both stations. In the station of expansion at the time of happiness and joy, he was saying, " Where are the heavens and the earth that I may carry them on a hair of my eyelid! " In the station of contraction at the time of weeping and lowliness, he was saying, " My abasement suspends the abasement of the Jews. " The witness to this story in the holy Shariah is that MuṣṬafā would sometimes say, " I am the master of the children of Adam, without boasting. " Sometimes he would say, " Do not consider me more excellent than Jonah the son of Mattā. "

And God invites to the Abode of Peace, and He guides whomsoever He will to a straight path. Invitations are four: First is the invitation to tawḤīd and bearing witness. That is His words, " He invites you so that He may forgive you some of your sins " [14:10]. Second is the invitation to praise and response. That is His words, " He will invite you, and you will respond to Him " [17:52]. Third is the invitation to following and leadership. That is His words, " We shall invite all the people by their leader " [17:71]. Fourth is the invitation to generosity and hospitality. That is His words, " And God invites to the Abode of Peace. " When someone wants to invite someone and to make his friends and dear ones his guests, the condition of the entertainment is that first he sends one of those close to him, one of his own special friends, to inform them and give them the good news. Then, when they come, he sends his dear ones to welcome them. He does not invite any of them alone, but rather he invites their friends and relatives as well. He sends steeds and torches in the road, and when they come their place is made up and ready. When they sit, he first gives them rosewater, then fruit is brought. The prepared food is placed, and the serving boys and servants stand by. When that is finished, they listen to music. It is also a condition that the host not hold himself back from being seen by the guests, and finally that he send them back with respect and honor. The Lord of the Worlds has made all of this ready and set it up for the entertainment of para- dise, and He reports of it and explains it in the Qur'an. The first to call them and give them good news is MuṣṬafā, who is, the Real says, " inviting to God by His leave " [33:46]. Then the angels and Riẓwān will come to welcome them: and the angels will receive them [21:103]. He will send them mounts: We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves [19:85], which is to say that they will be mounted on noble steeds of light. He will send lamps of light for their road: their light running before them, and on their right hands [57:12]. He will not call them alone, but He will also call their relatives and near ones: and those who are wholesome among their fathers, spouses, and offspring [40:8]. Then He will make their place be paradise and gardens of bliss [5:65]-a garden whose breadth is the heavens and the earth, made ready for the godwary [3:133]. Their beverage will be they are poured sealed, fine wine, whose seal is musk [83:25-26]. Their fruit will be much fruit, neither cut off nor withheld [56:32-33]. Their food will be the flesh of birds as much as they have appetite [56:21]. Their slave-boys and servants will be with them: going around them are youths for them, as if they were hidden pearls [52:24]. Their listening: they will be made happy in a garden [30:15]. More exalted than all this is that He will turn them toward the vision of Himself so that they may see Him and be delighted, as He says: " Faces that day will be radiant, gazing upon their Lord " [75:22-23]. Their fresh and delighted faces will gaze on the majesty and beauty of the Real, and their faces will be brighter than the sun at daytime, having won the self-disclosure of the Possessor of Majesty. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " The vision of the Friend is the portion of the yearners, the bright- ness of eyes, the good fortune of the spirit, and the adornment of the world. It is the comfort of the spirit, the delight of the spirit, and the pain of the spirit. " Both my heart's pain and my spirit's comfort are You. O chevalier, wait until you see happiness and you sit secure once and for all on the carpet of union with the Friend. From the Friend you will see " What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what has never passed into the heart of any mortal. " This is why the Lord of the Worlds says,

Those who do what is beautiful shall have the most beautiful and an increase. Neither dust nor abasement shall overcome their faces. It is they who will be the companions of the Garden, dwelling within it forever. The companions of the Garden are one thing, the lords of companionship something else. About the companions of the Garden He says, " And God invites to the Abode of Peace " [10:25]. About the lords of companionship He says, " And He guides whomsoever He will to a straight path " [10:25]. The most beautiful, blessedness, and nearness belong to the folk of the Garden. Increase, proxim- ity, and companionship belong to the folk of recognition. I envy your house because of your neighborhood- blessed is he who becomes a neighbor of your house! God's Messenger said, " When God settles the folk of the Garden in the Garden and the folk of the Fire in the Fire, He will send the Faithful Spirit to the folk of the Garden. He will say, 'O Folk of the Garden! Your Lord greets you and commands you to visit the courtyard of the Garden.' It is the bed of the Garden, and its soil is of musk. Its pebbles are pearls and carnelians, its trees are gold and dates, and its leaves emeralds. The folk of the Garden will go out happy and joyful. Then there will be an assembly, and therein God's generosity will alight upon them, and they will gaze on His face. It is this that was promised by God, and He fulfills it for them. " He said, " God will give them permission to listen to music, eat, and drink, and wear the cloth- ing of generosity. Then a caller will call out: 'O friends of God! Does anything of what your Lord promised you remain?' " They will say, 'No. He has fulfilled what He promised us, and there remains nothing but gazing at the face of our Lord. " He said, " So the Lord will disclose Himself to them in veils and say, 'O Gabriel, lift My veils for My servants so that they may gaze at My face.' He will left the first veil, so they will gaze at a light from the Lord and fall prostrate before it. The Lord will call to them, 'My servants, lift your heads. This is not the abode of deeds, it is the abode of reward.' Then he will lift the second veil, and they will gaze on something even more tremendous and more majestic. They will fall before God, praising, prostrating themselves, and recognizing. The Lord will call to them, 'Lift your heads. This is not the abode of deeds, it is the abode of reward and permanent bliss.' Then he will lift the third veil, and at that they will be gazing on the face of the Lord of the Worlds. They will say as they gaze on His face, 'Glory be to You! We have not worshiped You with the rightful due of Your worship!' " He will say, 'My generosity has given you the ability to gaze at My face and to alight in My abode.' Then God will give permission to the Garden to speak, and it will say, " Blessedness belongs to Him who has made me everlasting! And blessedness belongs to those for whom I have been made ready! " That is His words, " Blessedness belongs to them, and a beautiful place of return " [13:29].

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

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

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

Surely God's friends-no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they sorrow. God's friends are those who dive for the pearl of wisdom in the oceans of knowledge, who are the sun of desire and the resting place of the covenant of good fortune in the heaven of the innate dis- position, who are accepted by the Divine Presence and the oyster shell of the secrets of Lordhood, who are the title-page of the Shariah and the proof of the Haqiqah. Through them the lineage of MuṣṬafā is alive in the World of the Realities, the pathway of truthfulness is filled with the firm fixity of their feet, their outwardness is adorned with the rulings of the Shariah, their inwardness is illumined by the pearl of poverty. When the traces of the gaze of these exalted ones reach the thorn-bed of deprivation, the jasmine of the religion blooms. When the blessings of their breaths shine upon the salt-waste of misery, the ambergris of passion wafts its scent. If they gaze on a disobedient person, he becomes obedient. If they open their eyes on someone wearing a sash of unbelief, he is accepted and protected by the Exalted Threshold. Thus it is told that once the exalted one of his time and the master of his era, Shiblī, became ill. The caliph of the time liked him, and it reached him that Shiblī was ill. There was a Christian physician, ex- tremely skillful, so he sent him to Shiblī to cure him. The physician came and said to Shiblī, " O shaykh! If I have to make your medicine from my own skin and flesh, I will not hold it back and I will heal you. " Shiblī said, " My medicine is less than that. " He said, " What is it? " He said, " Cut off that sash, and you will have cured me. " The physician said, " It is no stipulation of chivalry that I make a claim and not carry it through. If your healing lies in my cutting off the sash, that's an easy job. " When the physician cut off his sash, Shiblī got up from the illness. The news of what happened reached the caliph. He became happy and said, " I thought I was sending a physician to someone ill. I did not know I was sending someone ill to a physician. " Surely God's friends. It has been said that the mark of the friend is that from head to foot he is nothing but veneration. His eyes have been adorned with reverence so that he does not look at anything unworthy. His tongue has been bound by courtesy so that he does not talk foolishly. His feet have been bound by the Haqiqah so that he does not walk down every street. His gullet has been bound by the Shariah so that he gives nothing access to himself but the permitted. His limbs have been bound by servanthood so that he does not bind his waist with anything but the belt of serving the Real. He is kept like this in this world, and in the next world, no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they sorrow. In this world he is adorned with service and reverence; in the af- terworld he reaches blessing and vision; in this world he has recognition and love, in the afterworld caresses and contemplation. In this world he sees limpidness and loyalty, in the afterworld he reaches encounter and approval. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says,

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

And recite to them the story of Noah when he said to his people, " If my station and my reminding you of God's signs are too much for you, then in God I trust, so gather together your affair and those whom you associate, and let not your affair be obscure for you. Then decide about me, and do not leave me waiting. " This is a lordly example from the Glorious Presence. He is saying, " Trial from My court is a robe of honor for the friends, and drinking the draft of tribulation from the cup of love is the job of men. If someone's makeup is not worthy to be a target for the arrow of My trial, his countenance will also not be worthy of My love and beauty. " When people choose someone for friendship, it is their habit to want every ease and comfort for their friend. The divine custom is contrary to this: Whenever He approves of someone for friendship, He sends him the drink of tribulation with the robe of love. " Surely the people most severely tried are the prophets, then the friends, then the next best, then the next best. " " When God loves a servant, trial is poured down all over him. " For a moment look at the state of Noah, the elder of the envoys and the leader of the godwary: What suffering he saw from his own community, what tribulation, and what a load of trial and trouble he carried in inviting them! For a thousand years less fifty he was inviting them, and ev- ery day they would beat him such that he lost consciousness, and they advised his own children to strike and beat him. With all this tribulation and trial he used to say, " I have so much sorrow that I care nothing for your beating. " He said to them, " In God I trust, so gather together your affair and those whom you associate: Do whatever you want, and prepare whatever deception you can, for I am leaning on my Lord and have accepted Him as my caretaker, for in God I trust. " Trust is the bridge to certainty and the pillar of faith. The Exalted Lord says, " And in God put your trust, if you have faith " [5:23]. " Whosoever trusts in God, He will be enough for him " [65:3]. When someone leans on God, God will be enough for him and he will need no other. On the night of the miʿrāj He said, " O master, O MuḤammad, I wonder how anyone with faith in Me can depend on other than Me. " When someone has My remembrance in his heart, how can he busy himself with remembering others? If someone has love for Me in his spirit, he should let his spirit be lost in that. In God I trust. Trust is the courier of the Presence of Approval and the mark of truthfulness in the Covenant and limpidness in the Haqiqah. Trust has a beginning and an end. In the beginning are the sweetness of service, tenderness toward all living things, and self-purification in the invita- tion. In the end are freedom, happiness, and unsettledness. In the beginning there appears what Moses said to his people: " Then trust in Him, if you are submitters " [10:84]. In the end is seen what the Real said to MuṣṬafā: " And trust in the Living who does not die " [25:58]. Shaykh Abu'l-Qāsim Naṣrābādī sent a disciple to Shaykh Abū ʿAlī Siyāh, telling him to ask where he had arrived in trust. Shaykh Abū ʿAlī sent the reply, " Abū ʿAlī is an idle man who does not recognize trust. But he has become so busy in his idleness that he has no concern for creation. " All the leaders of the Tariqah agree that no wayfarer on the road has spoken words more beautiful and more complete than these. Seeing the perfection of the realization of servanthood in faultiness itself is not the work of just any idle and defiled person. You must yourself become an unbeliever if you want to be a true Muslim.

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

Alif Lām RāÌ Alif: He makes them “familiar” [alf] with blessings and He commands them to tawḤīd. Lām: He “blames” [lawm] them for their failings and commands them to disengagement. RāÌ: He is “kind” [rifq] to them with His bounty and carries them to solitariness. Alif: He makes the creatures familiar with the blessings of the Patron of Blessings, then He calls them to the Patron of Blessings: “Why do you delight in blessings? Desire the mystery of the Patron of Blessings. Why do you take your ease in blessings? Seek the great ease of the heart. How long will you play the dice of perishing love? Seize hold of endless union!” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, sometimes You say, 'Come close!' Sometimes You say, 'Flee!' Sometimes You command, 'Come!' Sometimes You say, 'Keep back!' O Lord, is this a mark of proximity? Is this the resurrection itself? I had never seen good news mixed with threats. O clement and lovingly kind, O gentle and good Friend, I have come to Your Threshold. If You want, keep me in joy, if You want, keep me lowly.” God knows that I'll find nothing if I desire to replace your love. Lām. He blames them: “Watch out! Do not busy yourselves with the picture-house and the scented garden, or you will fall behind the friends and not reach them.” In the report has come, “Travel! The solitary will be the preceders.” God says, “The preceders, the preceders-they are the proxi- mate” [56:10-11]. RāÌ. This is an allusion to the deliverance [rahā] of the chevaliers from themselves, like the enraptured in the playing field of euphoria: When will they come to the end of the road? Where will they reach the shore of this drowning ocean? When will the night of their waiting come to an end? When will the dawn of good fortune appear from the horizon of felicity? The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The reality of this work is all need. It is an endless longing, a congenital pain. In it there are both joy and melting, both a hidden resurrection and everlasting life. It is the unsettledness of the hearts of the finders, the trial of the spirits of the proximate, the bewilderment of the knowledge of the realizers, the incinerating passion of the recognizers, the euphoric striving of the friends, and the perplexity of the chevaliers. Their perplexity in this road is like someone who falls into a bottomless well. The more he goes down in the well, the more it becomes bottomless, so his feet will never reach the ground. So also the travelers on this road are always traveling, falling and rising. They will never reach a halt, nor will they have any consolation in their grief, any bottom to this ocean, any end to this talk.” Be a speedy traveler in this road and beware- don't foolishly think you'll ever see its end. [DS 705]

Perhaps thou art putting aside some of what is revealed to thee, and thy breast is strait- ened by it, that they say, " Why has a treasure not been sent down upon him or an angel come with him? " A command came from the Threshold of Unity and the Side of Self-Sufficiency to the paragon of the engendered beings, the master of the masters, the sun of guidance, the alchemy of good fortune, the Canopus of felicity, the ocean of purity: " I sent you to the creatures to be the physician of the hearts of the grief-stricken, the balm of the pain of the burnt, and the ease of the spirits of the faithful. Recite this book of Mine to them and thereby put out the blaze of their passion's fire and the burning of their hearts in their wish to see Me today. Give them the promise of union and vision tomorrow. " Know also that a few of those who have been deprived by My justice and suffered the wound of severance from Me do not want to hear it, for they do not know how to taste it and do not have the capacity for it. Then, when they ask you to put it aside, you set it aside, and, hoping for their wholesomeness and faith, you seek what they desire. Do not do this, O MuḤammad! Do not seek what they desire and do not attach your hearts to them, for I drove them away in the Beginningless and placed upon them the brand of deprivation and abandon- ment. O Master! They are your enemies and they want bad for you. If they say something in criticism or they try to harass you, do not let your heart be tight. If they do not have faith, do not grieve. They are vile, and My Exalted Presence is pure, giving access only to the pure. 'Surely God is goodly and accepts only the goodly.' When someone is not Mine, even if he is purity itself, consider him defiled. God says, 'The associaters are impure' [9:28]. When someone is Mine, even if he is impurity itself, count him as pure, whether he be a man or a dog. God says, 'And their dog was stretching its paws at the doorstep' [18:18]: A dog took a step in loyalty to the religion and We sent Gabriel to be at his service. We kept it with those chevaliers in this world, We preserved it from blights, and We took its impurity as purity. It was with them in this world, it was with them in the cave, it will be with them at the Resurrec- tion, and it will be with them in paradise.' " So, if a faithful servant has stood on the carpet of submission for seventy years, tasted the flavor of faith, and walked in the footsteps of MuḤammad, while the God of the world has called him pure and placed love for Him in his heart, how can He make him despair at the resurrection? Drive us not away like beggars at Your door! Look, O idol-I'm one of the passionate, the poor.

Whoso desires the life of this world and its adornment, We shall pay them in full for their deeds therein, and therein they shall not be defrauded. " When someone is satisfied with this world without Me, despite the lowliness of its attributes, I will not hold him back from the enjoyment of some days. But the sweetness of its perfection will be followed by the bitterness of its disappearance. The flavor of its honey will be succeeded by the poison of its colocynth. " When someone wants this world from Me, this world will not be held back from him, but he will be helpless in the next world, and this world also will not stay with him. " It is mentioned in the traditions that whoever turns his face towards this world has turned his back on God. Turning one's back on God is to sleep always with thoughts of this world and to wake with thoughts of this world while one's moments are drowned in them. A poor wretch like this does not know that this world is the enjoyment of delusion [3:185]. It is the carpet of playing and jesting, the toy of the ignorant and the cause of their deception. He who keeps to this world is like a traveler sitting in a ship, this world his traveling supplies. If he takes more supplies than he needs, the ship will sink and cause his destruction. It is said that Dhu'l-Qarnayn went to the land of the west, and the kingdom of that region was held by a woman. Dhu'l-Qarnayn said, " Surrender this kingdom to me. " She said, " No! And there is no honor in it. " He wanted to take the kingdom by severity, but he was ashamed to fight against a woman. The woman said, " I invite you to be my guest. After the invitation is completed, I will surrender the kingdom to you. " When he came to the table, he saw a table laden with gold. All the cups were gold, and in place of food there were pearls and gems. Dhu'l-Qarnayn said, " What will I eat? I need food. None of this is fit for eating. " The woman said, " Since your portion of this world is no more than bread, where will you take the kingdom of the earth? It is fitting that you have no kingdom, for your portion is no more than two loafs of bread. Everything else is bane and torment. " Abū Bakr Warrāq said, " The life of this world is one thing, the adornment of this world some- thing else. The adornment of this world is what was said in the verse, 'Adorned for the people is the love of appetites' and so on [3:14]. The life of this world is the abhorrence of death. Whoever loves this world will have no awareness of God and will never wish for death. He will consider life to be just the life of this world-the perfection of appetite and heedlessness without end. He will have no awareness of the goodly life [16:97] with which the friends are busy. " The Splendorous Qur'an and exalted Speech of the Lord God makes this allusion:

And what of him who is upon a clear sign from his Lord? The life of the heedless and the life of the recognizers will never be equal. The life of the heedless is what He says: " Whoso desires the life of this world and its adornment " [11:15]. The life of the recognizers is And what of him who is upon a clear sign from his Lord? He is saying: The recog- nizers have the brightness of familiarity based on the light of the religion and the spirit of certainty. They have gone on the road of success and arrived at the goal of realization. Their hearts are filled by disengagement and solitariness. In the tongue of the folk of allusion, the clear sign is the seed of the pain of passion that He scattered on the first day, at the beginningless covenant, in the hearts of His friends. Thus, it has come in the report, " Then He sprinkled them with some of His light. " Their makeup was a sweet clay which, in the era of the creation of Adam, had come from the goodly sort, receptive to the seed of passion's pain. Then the sun of And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord [39:69] shone forth on it and it received a complete nurturing. When the jasmine of the covenant came up, the flower of intimacy bloomed. The breezes of felicity blew over it and it became the place of the gaze of the Divinity, 360 times in a day and night. The servant was asleep all night, and this gaze was flowing over his heart. He slept, and the gaze of God was his protector. If he inclined even once from the avenue of the Haqiqah or took flight in the air of mortal nature, the call came from the World of the Unseen: " Be penitent toward your Lord " [39:54]. O falcon taken to the sky, come back, don't go! My fingers hold the end of your thread!

Surely those who have faith, do wholesome deeds, and are subservient to their Lord-it is they who will be the companions of the Garden, dwelling within it forever. By way of allusion according to the tasting of the chevaliers of the Tariqah, He is saying: " To- morrow, the residents of the Holy Palisades, the kings of the seat of truthfulness [54:55], and the nobles of the degrees of the High Chambers will be those who today have the ring of My command in the ear of servanthood. They are at ease in the house of subservience, their ears toward the command in the highway of approval because of servanthood, and they have left the road of resistance. " It has been said that the reality of servanthood is two traits: you do what He approves and you approve of what He does. You poor wretch! The rebellious Nimrod in his unbelief fired one arrow of denial at the face of faith. You, while being a Muslim, fire several arrows of denial and protest at the face of the decrees of predetermination every day. How will your attribute of servan- thood become sound? What about approval and surrender? Servanthood is that, in the street of the Haqiqah, you bind your waist with the belt of loyalty and you give your hands over to the ties of the Shariah. As long as your hands are tied, they will never be able to undo the belt. You are a servant, but you are walking on the road of the free. You are a servant, but you are seeking what is desired by lords. A servant will never be like a lord, and freedom and servanthood will never come together. She traveled east and I traveled west- how will the east-goer meet the west-goer? This is why the Lord of the Worlds says,

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

Make the ship through Our eyes and Our revelation. In keeping with the Shariah and by virtue of the outward decree, a command came, " Build a ship from teak and sit in it so as to be delivered from the storm. " In keeping with the Haqiqah and by virtue of special favor and the attribute of proximity, a call came to his secret core, " You have the ocean of the soul before you. It is a drowning, destructive ocean in which are waiting whirlpools full of danger and spirit-stealing sharks. You must cross it in order to reach the shore of security. Build a ship of self-purification in three levels: one fear, the second hope, and the third approval. Then attach to it the sail of truthfulness and set it toward the east wind of awareness of Me. " This is why He said, " through Our eyes and Our revelation: I Myself will drive it as it should be driven and where it should be driven. " He it is who makes you journey on land and sea [10:22]. And We carried them on land and sea [17:70]. By way of allusion He is saying, " My servant, turn over the governance of your work to Me, entrust yourself totally to Me, and keep your self-determination distant. You are being carried by My gentleness, and 'He who is carried by the generous does not fall. And if he does fall, he will find someone to take his hand.' " This is just what MuṣṬafā said: " You indeed will be threading a bridge of fire. If one of you treads on a spark, the bridge will say, 'Your Lord has said to shelter him!' " This is a great generos- ity and an infinite gentleness that the Exalted Lord will do for the disobedient servant tomorrow when he crosses the Narrow Path. " So, sometimes he will stop, sometime stumble, " falling and getting up. The Exalted Lord knows that the servant has no one to come to his aid but He and no one to take his hand but He. In the reports it is mentioned that God's mercy toward the servant is more than a mother's mercy toward her child. Supposing that a child's foot gets caught in the mud a thousand times, each time the mother will say, " Rise up, O soul of your mother! " Each time she will be even more tender and lovingly kind toward the child. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, as soon as Your love appeared, all loves became dis- loyalty. As soon as Your kindness appeared, all disloyalties became loyalty. O God, it was not that we had worth, and then You chose us, nor that we were worthless and then You chose wrongly. Rather, You gave us worth from Yourself when You chose us, and You concealed the defects that You saw. "

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

We will tell thee the most beautiful of tales. What a beautiful tale is the tale of Joseph! It is the tale of the passionate and the object of passion, the talk of separation and union. It wants the pain-stricken to read the tale of those in pain. It wants the passionate to report about the pain of passion and the burning of the passionate. It wants the burnt so that the burning of the longing may leave a trace. I am the slave of the yearner who lights up the fire of longing at the top of the Friend's street. I envy the eye that rains down tears at separation in love for the Beloved. I scatter spirit and heart before the lost-hearted one who tells the story of the lost-hearted. In the city my heart inclines, my dear, to him who sings your passion's tale, my dear. On the day when the seed of passion's pain was planted in the hearts of the familiar, the heart of Jacob the prophet was on the highway of this talk. He found flourishing in disengagement and solitariness, he took himself into the crucible of discipline and self-purification, and he became receptive to the seed of passion's pain. When the seed reached the earth of his heart, the water of “He sprinkled them with some of His light” nurtured it until the jasmine of the Covenant grew up. Then, as a pretext, the beauty of Joseph was made his kiblah, and his mortal nature was given ac- cess to its own kind. This cry went out: “Jacob's throat has been hung by the noose of desire for Joseph.” Within the curtain of jealousy that center point of the Haqiqah said, “Call Me Arsalan so that no one will know who I am.”

When Joseph said to his father, " O my father, surely I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon. I saw them prostrating to me. " Ibn ʿAbbās said, " The eleven stars allude to the eleven brothers. " God is saying, " The stars are bright by themselves and people take to the road by them, " which is in His words, " By the stars they are guided " [16:16]. " In the same way Joseph's brothers had the brightness of prophecy, and within them was found the guidance of the people. " Their treachery toward their brother and their envy toward him are minor sins of the sort that occur for prophets. The wisdom in this is that the world's folk may come to know that the faultless is God, who is one and unique, and all other things have faults. In this meaning they have sung, I am the faulty and my Lord is pure- my faultiness is evidence of the Pure. It was said to Ḥasan, " Does the man of faith have envy? " He said, " What has made you forget the sons of Jacob? " Someone may say that Joseph was an immature child when he saw this dream, and it is known in the Shariah that no rulings apply to the act of a child. Since his act has no ruling, how can his dream have a ruling? The answer is that if the child's act is achieved by his own intention and aim, it can be attributed to his susceptibility to shortcoming and defect. But a dream is a divine showing, and in that children and adults are the same.

So when they went with him and agreed to put him at the bottom of the well, We revealed to him, " Surely thou shalt inform them of this affair of theirs when they are unaware. " Even if the care of his father was cut of from him, he received revelation from his Patron. Such is the custom of God: He never opens up a door of trial to the souls of His friends without opening up the doors of limpidness and the sorts of friendship to their hearts. If trial blocks a road for the servant, so what? God will open up the top of the road of limpid- ness with the attribute of friendship. If He takes back one mouthful, what's the loss? He will wrap up a hundred morsels for you. This is as they say: If I broke your necklace when drunk, I'll buy you a hundred gold beads to replace it. Although Joseph was sorrowful at separation from his father, why should he have lamented? He was colored by union with the revelation of the Real. The Real's revelation to him in that empty well was sweeter to him than union with Jacob in Canaan. Indeed, all caresses are in the midst of suffering, and beneath one disappointment lie a thousand treasures. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " If the marks of familiarity are true, whatever arrives from the Friend is beautiful doing. When there is no suspicion of the Friend in the apportioning, complaint is a fault. If this claim has meaning, happiness and grief will be the same for it. " I have a spirit inscribed with passion for You whether You pull it to happiness or grief.

They sold him for a paltry price. It is not surprising that Joseph's brothers sold him for a small price. What is surprising is the work of those travelers, who acquired someone like Joseph for twenty dirhams! It is not surprising that people should sell subsistent paradise for this small world. What is surprising is that they gain such a magnificent paradise and tremendous kingdom with a loaf of bread given to a poor man! Indeed, good fortune does not have a price, and the Real's generosity is nothing but a gift. If what Joseph possessed in himself-the characteristics of sinlessness, the realities of proxim- ity, and the subtleties of knowledge and wisdom-had been unveiled to his brothers, they would not have sold him for that small price, nor would they have called him a slave. A single speck of those characteristics and subtleties was unveiled to the governor of Egypt and Zulaykhā. Look how they bestowed their kingdom on his work and what value they placed on him! So also, when the women of Egypt saw his beauty, they said, " This is no mortal! This is none but a noble angel " [12:31]. Yes, it is showing that does the job, not seeing. MuṣṬafā said, " O God, show us things as they are! " Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, " Beauty is of two sorts, outward beauty and inward beauty. Outward beauty is an adorned creation and a lovely form. Inward beauty is perfect character and fine conduct. " The Lord of the Worlds showed Joseph's outward beauty to his brothers. They saw nothing more, even though in God's eyes the outward has no importance. Hence they sold him for a small price. A trace of the inner beauty was shown to the governor of Egypt, so he said to his wife, " Give him generous lodging " [12:21]. This is so that the world's folk may know that in God's eyes im- portance and worth belong to inner beauty, not outward. MuṣṬafā said, " God gazes not on your forms or your possessions, but He gazes on your hearts and your deeds. " It is said that one day Joseph looked in a mirror and gazed on himself. He saw perfect beauty and said, " If I were a slave, what would my price be!? Who would be able to pay it? " The Lord of the Worlds did not let that pass, not until Joseph had tasted the punishment of gazing on himself. He was made a slave, and his price was twenty dirhams. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " Do not look at yourself, for self-seeing has no worth! Do not adorn yourself, for self-adornment has no value! Do not approve of yourself, for self- approval has no support! " Quit being the companion of self-nurturing habit-worshipers! Kiss the dust beneath the feet of those who have disowned self! [DS 972] " Do not adorn yourself, " and let the Real adorn you: And He adorned it in your hearts [49:7]. " Do not approve of yourself, " and let the Real approve of you: God approves of them [9:100]. Do not belong to yourself, and let the Real belong to you: Thou didst not throw when thou threwest [8:17]. On the night of the miʿrāj, He said to MuṣṬafā, " Be for Me as if you were not, I will be for you as I have always been. " It has also been said that they sold a soul whose selling was not permitted, so his price, even were it great, would be paltry. Among the things you do that is even more surprising is that you sell your soul for the sake of the lowest appetite after you sold it to your Lord at the highest price; that is in His words, " Surely God has bought from the faithful their souls " [9:111].

The king said, " I see seven fat cows that seven lean ones are eating. " The beginning of Joseph's trial was the dream concerning which he said, " I saw eleven stars " [12:4]. The cause of his deliverance was also a dream, that seen by the king of Egypt, who said, " I see seven fat cows. " This is so that you will know that things are done by the predetermination and governance of God and that He is one in driving things and taking care of things. Even though the causes are apparent, remaining with the causes is an error. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " Not seeing the cause is ignorance, but staying with the cause is associationism. Pass beyond the cause and reach the Causer. Do not close the door of causes lest you not reach yourself. " The recognizer's eyes are not on the Tablet, nor on the Pen. He is not bound to Eve, nor in prison to Adam. He has a constant thirst, even though he has a cup again and again. O most gener- ous Guardian, O most merciful Fount of Bounty! Take back the cup once so that this poor wretch may breathe! " It has been said that Joseph was perfect in two things: one was beauty of created nature, the other knowledge and astuteness. The beauty of created nature is the perfection of form, and knowl- edge and astuteness are the perfection of meaning. The Exalted Lord predetermined that his beauty would be the cause of trial and his knowledge the cause of deliverance. Thus the world's folk may know that beautiful knowledge is better than beautiful form. As the proverb says, " Knowledge bestows, though it be slow. " Since Joseph's knowledge of visions was the cause of his kingdom in this world, why is it surprising that knowledge of the Patron's attributes is the cause of the recog- nizer's kingdom in the afterworld? God says, " When thou seest it, thou wilt see bliss and a great kingdom " [76:20].

That, so that he may know that I did not betray him secretly.... But I do not acquit my own soul. Surely the soul commands to ugliness. When [the governor's wife] said, " That, so that he may know that I did not betray him secretly, " she saw the success-giving and protection of the Real. When she said, " I do not acquit my soul; surely the soul commands to ugliness, " she saw the shortcoming of her own service. The first clari- fies gratitude for God's success-giving, the second clarifies apology for shortcoming. The servant must always be passing back and forth between gratitude and apology. Whenever he looks at the Real, he should see blessings, take delight, and increase in gratitude. Whenever he looks at himself, he should see sin. He should burn and come forth in apology. Through the grati- tude, he becomes worthy of increase, and through the apology he becomes deserving of forgiveness. This is why the Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, when I look at myself, I ask who is more miserable than I. When I look at You, I ask who is greater than I. " When my gaze falls on my own clay, I see nothing worse in the world. When I pass beyond my attributes, I look at myself from the Throne. Fuẓayl ʿIyāẓ was seen retired from the people and sitting in the corner of a mosque, having made the Real's remembrance his intimate friend. He had brought to hand the chevaliers' retreat with the Real, on the carpet of expansiveness in the tent of He is with you [57:4]. A friend arrived and saw him alone. He took seeing him as a blessing and sat before him. Fuẓayl said, " My brother, what has made you sit with me? " What has made you intrude upon me in this seclusion? Such detachment, that you attend to me! The dervish said, " Please excuse me. I did not know. I was unaware of your present moment and ec- stasy. Now tell me something about your present moment and speak of a fine point about your traveling so that I may not remain without a portion of companionship with you. " Fuẓayl said, " I will say what is fitting for you. Know that Fuẓayl is not attending to others because he is giving gratitude for the blessings of the Blessing-Giver and asking pardon for his slips. In his heart there is no place for anything. When I look at myself, I ask pardon for slips, and when I look at Him, I show gratitude for blessings. " Then Fuẓayl turned his face toward heaven and said, " O God, who has the capacity in himself to give gratitude to You? Who is able to serve You as is fitting for You? O God, when someone's portion of Your friendship is talk, he has been defrauded! When someone's spirit and heart are of use in this road, what busi- ness has he with Your union? O God, for me it is enough of Your blessings that I have never had patience in love for You; with spirit and heart I sniff the dust at the top of Your street and with the hand of hope I bang the knocker on the door of friendship. Wherever in the world I find someone lost, I tell him my story. " Then he turned his face to the dervish and said, " Fear your place, guard your tongue, and ask God to forgive your sins and those of the faithful, men and women. " Surely the soul commands to ugliness. Know that the soul has four levels: first the commanding soul, then the deceiving soul, third the sorcerous, and fourth the serene. The commanding soul has not been placed in the crucible of discipline, nor has the skin of its existence been taken to the tanner. In dealing with God's creatures it rises up with antagonism and keeps the attributes of a predator. It constantly talks ill of people, speaks up only for itself, and always takes steps in its own desires. It grazes in the world of mortal nature and drinks water from the spring of caprice. It knows nothing other than eating, sleeping, and doing what it wants. Concerning the owners of this soul, the Exalted Lord says, " Leave them to eat, enjoy, and be diverted by hopes-they will soon know " [15:3]. Their form has a human color, but their attribute is satanic. This is why He says, " satans of jinn and men " [6:112]. This soul is a tremendous veil and the disrupter of the religion, the quarry of every sort of ungodli- ness and the center of evils. If a person is able to escape from it, he will escape by opposing it, for the Splendorous Qur'an reports like this: " As for him who fears the standing place before his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter " [79:40-41]. All the prophets and messengers commanded the people to act with severity and to struggle against this soul. MuṣṬafā said, " We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle. " " The most arduous struggle is the struggle against the soul. " Struggle in God as is the rightful due of His struggle [22:78]. The rightful due of struggle is that you not nurture the attributes of the commanding soul-like avarice, appetite, greed, rancor, pride, enmity, and hatred-but you hold them in check. Whenever they stick up their heads, you keep them away from yourself with the stone of struggle, just as that chevalier said: " The serpent-soul is coiled around your heart's treasure- strike it with struggle's stone for the heart's covenant! If you are ill in spirit and fear the jests of the Turning Wheel, pour a draft on your spirit from the cup of striving. " As for the deceiving soul, it is lower than the commanding soul. It does not have the strength to resist a man, but it always lies in ambush to see how it may gain a hold. For example, it sees a desirer in the station of togetherness on the road of struggle and discipline, so it places one of the journeys of obedience before him, like the hajj, or war, or a pilgrimage. It says, " This is better and higher in the way stations of obedient acts. " In what it says, it speaks the truth, but it is deceiving and scheming, for it wants to throw the desirer out of the station of togetherness and scatter his thoughts and perplex him in this journey. He may reach his goal and he may not. And, if he does reach it, he may never again see this togetherness. Thus Junayd said, " A thousand desirers entered this road along with me, but all of them fell short and I came out on top. " This is why desirers need a pir in the road of desire, for the pirs have recognized the way sta- tions of this road, and the deceiving soul's ambuscades are not hidden from them. They keep track of the states of the desirers and guide them to what is suited for their steps. The great ones of the religion have said that as long as a man has not become a possessor of stability, he will not be safe from the deceiving soul. A little bit of water is defiled by a small amount of impurity, but the ocean never becomes defiled. The state of the beginners is delicate: a blameworthy thought arises from the deceiving soul and moves it. But the state of the folk of stabil- ity and the lords of the end is a mountain, and the wind cannot move a mountain. After the deceiving soul is the sorcerous soul. It circles around the folk of the Haqiqah. When it sees them consolidated in acts of obedience and various sorts of discipline, it says, " Be merciful to your own soul-'Surely your soul has a rightful due against you.' " When the man is not a real- izer, it brings him from the station of the Haqiqah to the station of the Shariah and places a conces- sion before him. Whenever a concession comes forth, the ease of the soul appears. The soul gains strength from it and takes him back to the first step-once again the commanding soul comes forth. Ibrāhīm Khawāṣṣ said, " For forty years I quarreled with my soul, which wanted bread and yo- ghurt from me. One day I felt merciful toward it. I brought to hand a dirham of lawful silver and was walking in Baghdad to buy bread and yoghurt. I entered a ruins and saw an old man, fallen in the ter- rible heat. Bees were flying down and taking his flesh. I felt mercy for him and said, 'Poor indigent!' The man lifted up his head and said, 'Khawāṣṣ, what indigence do you see in me? Is the crown of submission not on my head and the pearl of recognition not in my heart? You're the indigent. After forty years you're still not able to prevent your soul from its appetite for bread and yoghurt.' " In brief, know that the sorcerous soul does not command a man to disobedience, rather to obe- dience. When the man steps into the street of obedience, a color rises up from the obedience itself. It says, " After all, you are better than the wine-drinking, ungodly man. " He comes to believe this in himself and he looks upon himself with the eye of approval, while looking at others with the eye of disdain, until finally he is destroyed. Abū Bakr gazed on himself with the eye of the Haqiqah and saw the reality of his self. He said, " Dismiss me, for I am not the best of you. " O Abū Bakr, you keep on saying this, but the religion of the submission and the holy Shariah address you with these words: " The best of the people after God's Messenger is Abū Bakr al-ṣiddīq. " From here begins the serene soul. It is the soul of the prophets and the friends. It has the bond of protection from sin and the curtain of kind favor. The prophets are inside protection's pavilion and the friends inside the curtain of guarding and kind favor. If for one instant the bond of protection were to be taken away from the prophets, the same thing would appear from them that appeared from Pharaoh and Haman. If for one moment the guarding, preservation, and kind favor were to be cut off from the friends, all of them would put on the sash of unbelief. If the Arab Prophet had gone forth for a thousand years, and if there had not been Then He drew close, so He came down [53:8], where would he have gotten to? The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, I am happy that at first I was not but You were. 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 recognizer's eyes how to see You. "

That, so that he may know that I did not betray him secretly.... But I do not acquit my own soul. Surely the soul commands to ugliness. When [the governor's wife] said, " That, so that he may know that I did not betray him secretly, " she saw the success-giving and protection of the Real. When she said, " I do not acquit my soul; surely the soul commands to ugliness, " she saw the shortcoming of her own service. The first clari- fies gratitude for God's success-giving, the second clarifies apology for shortcoming. The servant must always be passing back and forth between gratitude and apology. Whenever he looks at the Real, he should see blessings, take delight, and increase in gratitude. Whenever he looks at himself, he should see sin. He should burn and come forth in apology. Through the grati- tude, he becomes worthy of increase, and through the apology he becomes deserving of forgiveness. This is why the Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, when I look at myself, I ask who is more miserable than I. When I look at You, I ask who is greater than I. " When my gaze falls on my own clay, I see nothing worse in the world. When I pass beyond my attributes, I look at myself from the Throne. Fuẓayl ʿIyāẓ was seen retired from the people and sitting in the corner of a mosque, having made the Real's remembrance his intimate friend. He had brought to hand the chevaliers' retreat with the Real, on the carpet of expansiveness in the tent of He is with you [57:4]. A friend arrived and saw him alone. He took seeing him as a blessing and sat before him. Fuẓayl said, " My brother, what has made you sit with me? " What has made you intrude upon me in this seclusion? Such detachment, that you attend to me! The dervish said, " Please excuse me. I did not know. I was unaware of your present moment and ec- stasy. Now tell me something about your present moment and speak of a fine point about your traveling so that I may not remain without a portion of companionship with you. " Fuẓayl said, " I will say what is fitting for you. Know that Fuẓayl is not attending to others because he is giving gratitude for the blessings of the Blessing-Giver and asking pardon for his slips. In his heart there is no place for anything. When I look at myself, I ask pardon for slips, and when I look at Him, I show gratitude for blessings. " Then Fuẓayl turned his face toward heaven and said, " O God, who has the capacity in himself to give gratitude to You? Who is able to serve You as is fitting for You? O God, when someone's portion of Your friendship is talk, he has been defrauded! When someone's spirit and heart are of use in this road, what busi- ness has he with Your union? O God, for me it is enough of Your blessings that I have never had patience in love for You; with spirit and heart I sniff the dust at the top of Your street and with the hand of hope I bang the knocker on the door of friendship. Wherever in the world I find someone lost, I tell him my story. " Then he turned his face to the dervish and said, " Fear your place, guard your tongue, and ask God to forgive your sins and those of the faithful, men and women. " Surely the soul commands to ugliness. Know that the soul has four levels: first the commanding soul, then the deceiving soul, third the sorcerous, and fourth the serene. The commanding soul has not been placed in the crucible of discipline, nor has the skin of its existence been taken to the tanner. In dealing with God's creatures it rises up with antagonism and keeps the attributes of a predator. It constantly talks ill of people, speaks up only for itself, and always takes steps in its own desires. It grazes in the world of mortal nature and drinks water from the spring of caprice. It knows nothing other than eating, sleeping, and doing what it wants. Concerning the owners of this soul, the Exalted Lord says, " Leave them to eat, enjoy, and be diverted by hopes-they will soon know " [15:3]. Their form has a human color, but their attribute is satanic. This is why He says, " satans of jinn and men " [6:112]. This soul is a tremendous veil and the disrupter of the religion, the quarry of every sort of ungodli- ness and the center of evils. If a person is able to escape from it, he will escape by opposing it, for the Splendorous Qur'an reports like this: " As for him who fears the standing place before his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter " [79:40-41]. All the prophets and messengers commanded the people to act with severity and to struggle against this soul. MuṣṬafā said, " We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle. " " The most arduous struggle is the struggle against the soul. " Struggle in God as is the rightful due of His struggle [22:78]. The rightful due of struggle is that you not nurture the attributes of the commanding soul-like avarice, appetite, greed, rancor, pride, enmity, and hatred-but you hold them in check. Whenever they stick up their heads, you keep them away from yourself with the stone of struggle, just as that chevalier said: " The serpent-soul is coiled around your heart's treasure- strike it with struggle's stone for the heart's covenant! If you are ill in spirit and fear the jests of the Turning Wheel, pour a draft on your spirit from the cup of striving. " As for the deceiving soul, it is lower than the commanding soul. It does not have the strength to resist a man, but it always lies in ambush to see how it may gain a hold. For example, it sees a desirer in the station of togetherness on the road of struggle and discipline, so it places one of the journeys of obedience before him, like the hajj, or war, or a pilgrimage. It says, " This is better and higher in the way stations of obedient acts. " In what it says, it speaks the truth, but it is deceiving and scheming, for it wants to throw the desirer out of the station of togetherness and scatter his thoughts and perplex him in this journey. He may reach his goal and he may not. And, if he does reach it, he may never again see this togetherness. Thus Junayd said, " A thousand desirers entered this road along with me, but all of them fell short and I came out on top. " This is why desirers need a pir in the road of desire, for the pirs have recognized the way sta- tions of this road, and the deceiving soul's ambuscades are not hidden from them. They keep track of the states of the desirers and guide them to what is suited for their steps. The great ones of the religion have said that as long as a man has not become a possessor of stability, he will not be safe from the deceiving soul. A little bit of water is defiled by a small amount of impurity, but the ocean never becomes defiled. The state of the beginners is delicate: a blameworthy thought arises from the deceiving soul and moves it. But the state of the folk of stabil- ity and the lords of the end is a mountain, and the wind cannot move a mountain. After the deceiving soul is the sorcerous soul. It circles around the folk of the Haqiqah. When it sees them consolidated in acts of obedience and various sorts of discipline, it says, " Be merciful to your own soul-'Surely your soul has a rightful due against you.' " When the man is not a real- izer, it brings him from the station of the Haqiqah to the station of the Shariah and places a conces- sion before him. Whenever a concession comes forth, the ease of the soul appears. The soul gains strength from it and takes him back to the first step-once again the commanding soul comes forth. Ibrāhīm Khawāṣṣ said, " For forty years I quarreled with my soul, which wanted bread and yo- ghurt from me. One day I felt merciful toward it. I brought to hand a dirham of lawful silver and was walking in Baghdad to buy bread and yoghurt. I entered a ruins and saw an old man, fallen in the ter- rible heat. Bees were flying down and taking his flesh. I felt mercy for him and said, 'Poor indigent!' The man lifted up his head and said, 'Khawāṣṣ, what indigence do you see in me? Is the crown of submission not on my head and the pearl of recognition not in my heart? You're the indigent. After forty years you're still not able to prevent your soul from its appetite for bread and yoghurt.' " In brief, know that the sorcerous soul does not command a man to disobedience, rather to obe- dience. When the man steps into the street of obedience, a color rises up from the obedience itself. It says, " After all, you are better than the wine-drinking, ungodly man. " He comes to believe this in himself and he looks upon himself with the eye of approval, while looking at others with the eye of disdain, until finally he is destroyed. Abū Bakr gazed on himself with the eye of the Haqiqah and saw the reality of his self. He said, " Dismiss me, for I am not the best of you. " O Abū Bakr, you keep on saying this, but the religion of the submission and the holy Shariah address you with these words: " The best of the people after God's Messenger is Abū Bakr al-ṣiddīq. " From here begins the serene soul. It is the soul of the prophets and the friends. It has the bond of protection from sin and the curtain of kind favor. The prophets are inside protection's pavilion and the friends inside the curtain of guarding and kind favor. If for one instant the bond of protection were to be taken away from the prophets, the same thing would appear from them that appeared from Pharaoh and Haman. If for one moment the guarding, preservation, and kind favor were to be cut off from the friends, all of them would put on the sash of unbelief. If the Arab Prophet had gone forth for a thousand years, and if there had not been Then He drew close, so He came down [53:8], where would he have gotten to? The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, I am happy that at first I was not but You were. 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 recognizer's eyes how to see You. "

Thus We schemed for Joseph.... We raise in degree whomsoever We will. Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, " We tried him with various sorts of trial until We conveyed him to exaltedness and eminence. " In terms of allusion He is saying, " We turned Joseph over to various sorts of trial and kept him for a long time in the station of bewilderment on the carpet of remorse until We conveyed him to the place of generosity and elevation and let him taste the wine of nearness and intimacy. In face of this blessing that tribulation was not heavy, and next to this nearness that remorse was no loss. " The wont of the Lord of the universe is this: The foundation of happiness is all suffering, and be- neath one disappointment lie a thousand treasures. If you want the wisdom of this clearer and an explication fuller, it means, " We ruled and decreed in the beginningless that Joseph would be king of Egypt. First We showed him the abase- ment of slavery so that he would be informed of the remorse of captives and slaves. Then We tried him with the trial of prison so that he would be aware of the burning and grief of prisoners. We threw him into the gloom of exile so that he would not be heedless of the helplessness of exiles. " Be a mother to orphans, nurture them with gentleness, be noble to askers, fulfill their requests. The generosity We showed to you in your poverty and orphanhood- you show the same, O generous in character, to Our creatures. [DS 36] We raise in degree whomsoever We will. First there is going straight, then unveiling, then con- templation: " We give whomsoever We want a high standing, and We lift up his degrees: first the success of obedience, then the realization of recompense; first the self-purification of deeds, then making states limpid; first the resoluteness of service in the station of the Shariah, then the finding of contemplation in the Haqiqah itself. " Going straight alludes to the Shariah, unveiling alludes to the Tariqah, and contemplation alludes to the Haqiqah itself. The Shariah is servanthood, the Tariqah is selflessness, and the Haq- iqah is freedom in the midst of both. Become free of everything in the realm of being- be that Heart-taker's " companion of the cave. "

Return to your father and say, " O our father! Surely thy son has stolen. " When Jacob became distracted and distraught in separation from Joseph, helpless in his pain with- out remedy, he wanted to make the remembrance of that dear one a balm for his wound and to be passionate with someone linked to Joseph. He made Benjamin his reminder and sympathizer, for he had drunk water from the same drinking place as Joseph and had been nurtured on the same lap. The heart of the passionate man always inclines toward someone who has a link or some sort of similarity with the object of passion. Do you not see that Majnūn of Banī ʿāmir went out to the desert hunting for a gazelle? He saw that its eyes and neck were like those of Laylā. He was passing his hands over its neck, kissing its eyes, and saying, " Your eyes are her eyes, your neck is her neck! " When Jacob fastened his heart to Benjamin and when a part of him came to rest in him, the venomous sickle was once again drawn from the sheath of time and Benjamin was separated from his father. Then the name of thief was thrown on him, and this added trial to his trial-salt was sprinkled on his wound and the burn was once again burned. Just as fire wants to kindle burnt rags, so also the pain of separation wants to settle down with a burnt heart. Whenever pain steps forth from this heart of mine another pain takes its place in the breast. I become the companion of every pain for fire flares up when it reaches the burnt. Whenever Jacob saw Benjamin, he was consoled by him, for " He who is prevented from gazing is consoled by a trace. " 4 Then, when he was held back from Benjamin, the burning reached the utmost limit and he moaned at the pain in his heart. With the tongue of longing he said,

" Oh, my grief for Joseph! " And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow that he was suppressing. Revelation came from the Compeller of all engendered beings: " O Jacob! You grieve so much for him, but you do not grieve for what you are missing of Me by being busy with grief for him! " O Jacob, how long this sorrow and regret at separation from Joseph? How long will you suffer grief and coldly sigh? Do you not suffer grief that you are held back from Me while busy with him? " With two kiblahs you can't walk straight on the road of tawḤīd- either the Friend's approval, or your own caprice. [DS 488] " O Jacob! Be careful not to pass Joseph's name over your tongue any more, or I will remove your name from the register of the prophets. " The Pir of the Tariqah said, " Jacob's remembrance of Joseph was the seed of heartache, and Joseph's remembrance of Jacob was the seed of ease. Since Jacob had all that rebuke for remem- bering Joseph, everything other than remembering God is loss. It is said that remembering the Friend is like the spirit. Look more carefully: remembering the Friend is the spirit itself! " When Jacob saw the harshness of the Real's rebuke, he no longer mentioned Joseph's name. Then the mercy and gentleness of the Exalted Threshold gave this command to Gabriel: " O Ga- briel, go to Jacob and remind him of Joseph. " Gabriel came and mentioned Joseph's name. Jacob sighed. Revelation came from the Real: " O Jacob, I know what is beneath your moaning. By My exaltedness, were he dead, I would resurrect him because of the beauty of your loyalty. " And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow that he was suppressing. Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq said, " Jacob wept because of a created thing, so his eyesight went. David wept more than Jacob, but his eyesight did not go, because his weeping was for the sake of his Lord. " Weeping for the Real is of two sorts: weeping from the eyes and weeping from the heart. Weeping from the eyes is the weeping of repenters in fear of God; they weep at seeing their own disobedience. Weeping from the heart is the weeping of the recognizers; they weep because of veneration of the Real in seeing tremendousness. Repenters weep because of remorse and need, recognizers weep because of secret whispering and joy. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, I have a long weeping in my head. I do not know if I weep from remorse or from joy. Weeping from remorse is the portion of an orphan, and weeping from joy is the portion of a candle. What is it like to weep from joy? That story is long. " MuṣṬafā said, " Tomorrow at the resurrection, all eyes will be weeping from the terror of the resurrection and the Greatest Fright, except four: One is the eye of a warrior who was wounded and died in the road of God. Second is the eye turned away from forbidden things so as not to look at the inappropriate. Third is the eye that was always sleepless from standing in prayer at night. Fourth is the eye that weeps in fear of God. " It has been narrated that David said, " O God, what is the recompense of someone who weeps in fear of You until tears flow down his face? " He said, " His recompense is that I will make him secure from the Greatest Fright and will make his face forbidden to the scorching of the Fire. " It has been narrated that God said, " By My exaltedness and majesty, no servant will weep in fear of Me without My pouring for him the nectar of My mercy! By My exaltedness and majesty, no servant will weep in fear of Me without My exchanging that for laughter in the light of My holiness! " And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow. He did not say, " Jacob became blind, " lest that be cruelty, for in reality " blindness " is the heart's inability to see, as He said: " Surely it is not the eyes that are blind, but blind are the hearts in the breasts " [22:46]. Jacob had perfect seeing and clarity of heart, but his eyes were veiled from witnessing anyone but Joseph. This is because, under the ruling power of passion, during the absence of the object of passion the eyes of the pas- sionate man must be veiled from others, for, in the religion of friendship, seeing another in place of the beloved is nothing but associationism. In this meaning someone sang, Once I was certain that I would not be seeing you, I shut my eyes and gazed on no one. * Eyes are useful to me for seeing the Friend- what will I do with eyes without seeing the Friend?

Go with this shirt of mine and cast it upon the face of my father so that he may come to seeing. Joseph said, " Take my shirt to Jacob, for his pain has not ceased from the time he saw the shirt stained with the wolf's blood. The balm will also be my shirt. " When they took the shirt from Egypt, the morning breeze was commanded to take the shirt's scent to Jacob's nostrils so that, before Joseph's messenger could give the good news, he would receive it from the Real's mes- senger and recognize the Real's perfect gentleness and favor toward him. According to the tasting of the recognizers, this is the divine breeze that wanders furtively around the world to the doors of the breasts of the faithful and the tawḤīd-voicers to see where there may be a limpid breast and an empty secret core in which to dwell. Her love came to me before I knew love- it came across a carefree heart and took possession. To this alluded the Prophet: " Surely your Lord has breezes in the days of your time, " and so on. As for Jacob, this generosity was shown to him by means of passion for Joseph. Beneath this lies a magnificent secret. Its explanation is that contemplating Joseph for Jacob was by means of con- templating the Real. Whenever Jacob saw Joseph with the eyes of his head, he was gazing on the Real in contemplation with the eye of his secret core. So, when he was veiled from contemplating Joseph, his heart was also veiled from contemplating the Real. All of Jacob's anxiety and grieving was because of the loss of the contemplation of the Real, not the loss of companionship with Jo- seph. His longing and lamenting at separation from Joseph was because he had lost his mirror. He did not weep for the mirror itself, but for his heart's intimate, which he no longer saw. He burned because of losing that. Hence, on the day when he saw him again, he fell down in prostration, for his heart was contemplating the Real. He was prostrating before the contemplation of the Real, for none other than God is worthy of prostration.

Their father said, " Surely I find Joseph's scent. " The wonder is that the bringer of the shirt found nothing of that scent, but Jacob found it at the dis- tance of eighty farsakhs. For that was the scent of passion, and the scent of passion blows only on the passionate. Moreover, it does not always blow. As long as a man has not been cooked by passion and pounded by the trial of passion, the scent will not blow on him. Do you not see that at the beginning of the work and the outset of the story, when Joseph was taken away from him, the first stage was not reached when they threw him into the well. Jacob had no awareness of this and caught no scent. Finally, at Canaan, he reported about Joseph's scent: " Surely I find Joseph's scent. " It is said that in the House of Sorrows, Jacob wept a great deal every dawn. Sometimes he lamented miserably, sometimes he wailed at his abasement, sometimes he opened the journal of passion and began the chapter on passion. Sometimes he put his head on his knees, sometimes he placed his face in the dust, his two hands raised in supplication. Sometimes he recognized Joseph's scent from the dawn wind and said with the tongue of his state, " The wind at dawn brings your scent, my dear- I am the dawn wind's slave in the tracks of your scent. " Thus it is that on the day of relief the morning breeze brought the scent of Joseph to Jacob and brought him into proximity. This is the custom of the lovers: asking in the lands, conferring with ruined encampments, and sniffing news from the winds. In this meaning someone sang, " I will let the winds guide me to your scent when they blow from your direction And ask them to carry my greetings to you. Respond to me if they come one day. "

So, when they entered in upon Joseph, he embraced his parents.... And he lifted his parents to the throne, and they fell prostrate before him.... " He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison and brought you from the desert after Satan had sowed dis- sension between me and my brothers. Surely my Lord is gentle toward what He will. " In going to Egypt, all were the same. But at the time of proximity and caresses, they were differ- ent, for he put his father and maternal aunt on the throne of generosity and singled them out for the companionship, nearness, and embrace, as the Exalted Lord says: " And he lifted his parents to the throne. " But he brought his brothers down to the place of service: " And they fell prostrate before him. " This is an allusion that tomorrow at the resurrection, all the faithful will be brought into paradise, both the disobedient who have been forgiven and the obedient who have been approved. Then those who were the folk of disobedience, the ones received by the Real's forgiveness, will be set down in paradise, and the folk of recognition will be singled out for the special favor of proxim- ity and nearness. They will be brought to the Presence of At-ness: at an Omnipotent King [54:55]. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " The folk of service are one thing, the folk of companionship something else. The folk of service are prisoners of paradise, the folk of companionship com- manders of paradise. The prisoners are in joy and bliss, and the commanders dwell in secret whis- pering with the Beneficent. " He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison. The beautiful-doer is not he who acts beautifully at the beginning. The beautiful-doer is he who acts beautifully after your disloyalty. Joseph saw the disloyalty of his own soul at first, when he sought refuge with the cup- bearer in prison and said, " Remember me to your lord " [12:42]. Then he saw that his deliverance from the prison was through the Real's bounty and generosity, and he counted that as beautiful doing. He said, " He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison. " Even though he had seen the trial of the well, he did not speak of it again, for he saw this trial as a blessing for him. In the well he had received the revelation of the Real, heard the message of the King, and seen Gabriel, the messenger of the Presence. God says, " We revealed to him, 'Surely thou shalt inform them' " [12:15]. So he counted the tribulation as a blessing and saw that the trial was be- stowal itself. This is why he did not mention the trial of the well, but he did talk about the prison. He said, " God acted beautifully toward me, for I was worthy of blame, but He showed generosity toward me. He saw bad from me and had mercy through His own bounty, delivering me from the prison and, after separation, bringing me together with the honored ones. He did all that out of His own gentleness, servant-caressing, and loving kindness. Surely my Lord is gentle toward what He will. He is a Lord who through His own gentleness comes back to loyalty toward the hopeful and through His own generosity passes over the hidden things of the servants and sets their work aright in the two worlds. "

So, when they entered in upon Joseph, he embraced his parents.... And he lifted his parents to the throne, and they fell prostrate before him.... " He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison and brought you from the desert after Satan had sowed dis- sension between me and my brothers. Surely my Lord is gentle toward what He will. " In going to Egypt, all were the same. But at the time of proximity and caresses, they were differ- ent, for he put his father and maternal aunt on the throne of generosity and singled them out for the companionship, nearness, and embrace, as the Exalted Lord says: " And he lifted his parents to the throne. " But he brought his brothers down to the place of service: " And they fell prostrate before him. " This is an allusion that tomorrow at the resurrection, all the faithful will be brought into paradise, both the disobedient who have been forgiven and the obedient who have been approved. Then those who were the folk of disobedience, the ones received by the Real's forgiveness, will be set down in paradise, and the folk of recognition will be singled out for the special favor of proxim- ity and nearness. They will be brought to the Presence of At-ness: at an Omnipotent King [54:55]. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " The folk of service are one thing, the folk of companionship something else. The folk of service are prisoners of paradise, the folk of companionship com- manders of paradise. The prisoners are in joy and bliss, and the commanders dwell in secret whis- pering with the Beneficent. " He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison. The beautiful-doer is not he who acts beautifully at the beginning. The beautiful-doer is he who acts beautifully after your disloyalty. Joseph saw the disloyalty of his own soul at first, when he sought refuge with the cup- bearer in prison and said, " Remember me to your lord " [12:42]. Then he saw that his deliverance from the prison was through the Real's bounty and generosity, and he counted that as beautiful doing. He said, " He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison. " Even though he had seen the trial of the well, he did not speak of it again, for he saw this trial as a blessing for him. In the well he had received the revelation of the Real, heard the message of the King, and seen Gabriel, the messenger of the Presence. God says, " We revealed to him, 'Surely thou shalt inform them' " [12:15]. So he counted the tribulation as a blessing and saw that the trial was be- stowal itself. This is why he did not mention the trial of the well, but he did talk about the prison. He said, " God acted beautifully toward me, for I was worthy of blame, but He showed generosity toward me. He saw bad from me and had mercy through His own bounty, delivering me from the prison and, after separation, bringing me together with the honored ones. He did all that out of His own gentleness, servant-caressing, and loving kindness. Surely my Lord is gentle toward what He will. He is a Lord who through His own gentleness comes back to loyalty toward the hopeful and through His own generosity passes over the hidden things of the servants and sets their work aright in the two worlds. "

Alif Lām Mīm RāÌ This is one of the secrets of love, one of the treasures of recognition. In the midst of their spirits, the friends have a deposit, but they do not know what they have. The wonder is that they keep on seeing an ocean and they weep in hope for a drop. This is like the Pir of the Tariqah said: “O God, Your stream is flowing-how long will I be thirsty? What sort of thirst is this that I see one cup after another? “Who has ever had a state rarer than this? I'm thirsty and clear water is flowing before me. “Exalted of the two worlds! How much will You be hidden, how much apparent? My heart is bewildered, the spirit distracted. How long this curtaining and self-disclosing? When at last will there be the everlasting self-disclosure?” The allusion is that today the friends have nothing more than the scent of the lights of those secrets and the whiffs of those traces, and that, other than MuḤammad the Arab, no one is worthy of that face-to-face vision. First He alludes to the road of recognition for the elect, since their gaze is on the Essence and the attributes, which are called “the World of the Command.” Then He uncovers the road of recog- nizing Himself for the common people. He knows that their gaze does not pass beyond the newly arrived things, the engendered beings, and the World of Creation. He says,

God is He who lifted up the heavens without pillars that you see. Heaven and earth, land and see, air and space, are the World of Creation, the playing field of the gaze of the creatures, whose end is apparent and which can disappear. But the World of the Command can never have an end, for it is necessarily continuous. As long as a man does not pass beyond the World of Creation, he will not be given access to the World of the Command. The che- valiers whose gaze travels in the World of the Command are the Pegs of the earth. Just as in respect of form the world's mountains keep the earth in place, so also in respect of meaning the chevaliers keep the world standing. " Through them rain falls and through them provision is given. " This is why the Lord of the Worlds says,

And He it is who spread out the earth and placed within it unshaking mountains. In terms of the allusion and intimation of the Folk of the Haqiqah He is saying, " It is He who spread out the earth and placed within it the Pegs, namely the friends and masters among His servants, to whom recourse is had and from whom assistance comes. " The sun rises in the east and sets in the west for a hundred years before someone's eyes are daubed with the collyrium of the Haqiqah by the pencil of solicitude. Perhaps we will be allowed to see those chevaliers and reach endless felicity with one look at them. For thousands of years the moon-faced beauties of Firdaws and the houris of paradise have been standing in wait in that busy bazaar: When will the fortunate procession of those chevaliers be conveyed to the highest of the High Chambers so that they, as hangers-on, may step into the pageant of good fortune at an Omnipotent King [54:55]. On the day Junayd's bier was carried, a bird came and sat on the edge of his coffin. People were waving their hands at it but it would not leave. Ruwaym said, " In generosity the bird is telling us with the tongue of its state, 'Leave me alone, for my claws have been fixed to the edge of his coffin with the nails of passion. Today this frame of Junayd is the portion of the cherubim. If not for the intrusion of your tumult, you would fly with me like falcons in this air.' " When they buried him, one of the poor stood above him and recited these verses: " Oh the grief at separation from a group who are lamps and fortresses, rain clouds, cities, and unshaking mountains, good, security, and stillness. The nights will not change for us until they are brought forth by fate. So every fire belongs to our hearts, every water belongs to our eyes. "

To God prostrate themselves all in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly. In the tongue of commentary, the prostration of the unbeliever is an unwilling prostration, for he prostrates himself and shows humility at the time of tribulation in the state of hardship so as to repel harm from himself. Thus MuṣṬafā said to Ḥaṣīn Khuzāʿī,1 " How many gods do you wor- ship today? " He said, " Seven: one in heaven and six in the earth. " He said, " Which one of them do you look to on the day of your hope and fear? " He said, " The one in heaven. " According to these words, when someone prostrates himself to a god wanting to attract a benefit or repel a harm, that is a prostration of unwillingness, not a prostration of willingness. The willing prostration is the one done for the command alone and to venerate the Real's exaltedness. There is no taint of wanting, no hope for compensation, and no dread of tribulation. The individual is in prostration, the heart in finding, the spirit in witnessing; the individual is with loyalty, the heart with shame, and the spirit with limpidness. That chieftain of the Tariqah, Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī, was addressed in a dream: " 'O Abū Yazīd, Our storehouses are full of worship. Approach Us with brokenness and abasement.' In Our thresh- old, bowing and prostrating are of no use without brokenness of the heart and limpidness of the spirit, for the storehouses of Our exaltedness are already full of the bowing and prostrating of the lords of the heart. When you come to Our threshold, place the heart's pain in the spirit's cup and send it to the Presence of the Beloved, for the heart's pain has measure with Us. " The Pir of the Tariqah said, " The tawḤīd of the hearts of the faithful is in the measure of the heart's pain. The more a heart is burnt and the more complete its pain, the more it is familiar with tawḤīd and the closer it is to the Real. " Without the perfection of burning pain, don't mention religion's name. Without the beauty of yearning for union, don't lean on faith.

He sends down from heaven water, and the wadis flow in their measure, and the flood carries a swelling scum. And from that which they kindle in fire, wanting ornament or ware, arises a scum the like of it. Thus does God strike truth and falsehood. As for the scum, it van- ishes as jetsam, and what profits people abides in the earth. Abū Bakr WāsiṬī said that this verse is the pivot of knowledge of the Haqiqah and recognition. " The meaning is that He revealed from on high to the hearts and ears of the prophets and He in- spired the intellects and insights of the wise. " The majestic Unity, through the attribute of mercy and clemency, sent down from heaven to the messengers the true message and the pure revelation. They heard it with their ears and they perceived it with their hearts. In the same way He inspired the friends and threw the light of wis- dom into their hearts. And the wadis flow in their measure, that is, He made the hearts see in the measure of their capacity, life, and illumination. The hearts of the prophets became clear and bright through the light of revelation and messengerhood, and the hearts of the friends with the lamp of wisdom and recognition. In their measure, that is, each person in his own measure, in degrees and grades-one higher, one middling, one lower-the relative preference and disparity being apparent to everyone. About the messengers He says, " We made some of the prophets more excellent than others " [17:55]. About the friends He says, " They are degrees with God " [3:163]. One has messengerhood in ad- dition to prophethood, another has prophethood in addition to wisdom, another has recognition in addition to knowledge, another has tasting the Reality in addition to faith and bearing witness, another has the knowledge of certainty along with explication, another has the truth of certainty along with face-to-face vision. He gave to each person what was fitting, and He placed within each heart that for which there was room. And the flood carries a swelling scum, that is, He caused loss to those hearts with erroneous views, lowly lapses, and the wishes that Satan casts, what he steals from memory, his casting of slips. Even if those hearts are bright and lit up, they are not free of disquieting thoughts, insinua- tions, and minor lapses, since Satan is always sitting in ambush waiting to find a way into hearts so that he may throw forth a doubt or a mistake, make up a lie, or steal away something memorized. Satan even stole a little something from him who was the paragon of the world, the master of the children of Adam, the pearl of the oyster shell of nobility, in spite of the perfection of prophecy and the bravery of messengerhood. God says: " [We sent never any Messenger or Prophet before thee], but that Satan cast into his wish when he was wishing " [22:52]. So, he sought refuge in God from Satan's goading, for he said, " My Lord, I seek refuge in Thee from the goadings of Satan. " And from that which they kindle in fire, that is, and from that upon which they reflect, about which they ponder, and from which they deduce, wanting a proof or an unveiling, arises a scum, that is, something in addition to the inspiration of God and the suggestion of the angel, the like of it, that is, like the error being cast by Satan. He is saying about this possessor of inspiration and this possessor of recognition that one is busy in the sea of reflection with the hand of deduction bringing out the pearls of meanings from Qur'anic verses and hadiths, and the other is seeking for the realities of unveiling by pondering with the attribute of inspiration. They are striving and going forth so much in their reflection, pondering, and deduction that they pass beyond the measure and seek increase over the inspiration of the Real and the suggestion of the angel. This increase is just like what Satan has adorned, so both of them are to be avoided. As for the scum, it vanishes as jetsam, that is, as for the error, the fault, and the excessiveness, these vanish through remembrance, as in His words, " Surely the godwary, when a visitation from Satan touches them, remember, and then see clearly " [7:201]. And what profits people, such as a deduction for a fatwa or stopping at a meaning, abides in the earth, that is, it takes firm root in the heart. He is saying that erroneous opinions, faults of the tongue, and excessiveness because of Satan do not last and do not find a resting place in the heart of the person of faith, for the person of faith has the mention and remembrance of the Real on the tongue and in the heart. Satan's turmoil cannot last along with the ruling power of remembering the Real. That is why the Lord of the Worlds says, " when a visitation from Satan touches them, remember, and then see clearly. " What is useful for people-because the wholesomeness of the heart and religion lie within it, for it is in the measure of the Shariah and the Haqiqah-becomes firmly anchored in the heart. It is a tree whose roots are firmly anchored, its branches luxuriant, its wood fruitful; its roots are in the earth of loyalty, its branches in the air of approval, its fruit vision and encounter. In sum, this verse alludes to the fact that when the light of recognition shines in the heart, it clears away the traces of the darkness of disobedience. But the lights are diverse, and the acts of disobedience disparate. The light of certainty takes away the darkness of doubt, the light of knowledge takes away the suspicion of ignorance, the light of recognition effaces the traces of disregard, the light of contemplation takes away the traces of the darkness of mortal nature, the light of togetherness lifts away the traces of dispersion. Then, beyond all of these, stands the light of tawḤīd.2 When the sun of oneness lifts its head from the horizon of the Unseen, it says to the night of duality: " Night went, O Morning, and at once I was You- how much longer the attributes of Adamites and Adam? "

Those who have faith and whose hearts are serene in the remembrance of God. The hearts of one group are serene in the remembrance of God, and the hearts of another group are serene in God's remembrance of them: And surely God's remembrance is greater [29:45]. In the tongue of the folk of allusion, this verse reports about two people, one the desirer and the other the desired. One keeps his hours immersed in the remembrance of the tongue, sometimes prayer, sometimes glorification, and sometimes recitation of the Qur'an. The other is joyful with the remembrance of the Real in the midst of the spirit because he is drowned in the ocean of face- to-face vision. He does not attend to the remembrance of the tongue, but keeps on saying, " O God, as long as I remember Your remembrance, my spirit laments at all remembrance. As long as my heart is happy with Your apparentness, the happiness of the two worlds is but wind. " The first travels on the road of the religion, kept in the bonds of his own remembrance, and it is said to him, " Preserve the remembrance and give ear to the commands and prohibitions. " The other is on the carpet of proximity, snatched away from causes and creation and singled out for the divine attraction, and it is said to the remembrance, " Give ear to him. " This is just like one group hop- ing for paradise, while paradise itself is hoping for another group. That is in the Prophet's words, " Surely the Garden yearns for four individuals: the one who fasts Ramadan, the one who recites the Qur'an, the one who protects the tongue, and the one who feeds the hungry. " It has also been narrated that the Garden yearns for Salmān. The desirer's eyes have come upon this: " Remember Me! " [2:152]. The desired has been shown this: " I will remember you " [2:152]. The desired is seeking remembrance, and remem- brance is seeking the desired. The desirer is seeking the present moment, and the present moment is seeking the desired. The desirer is seeking the heart, and the heart is seeking the desired. The field of the desirer's gaze is the world of setting forth in the wrap of createdness, and the field of the desired's gaze is the air of unity and the space of solitariness. Luqmān Sarakhsī and Bu'l-Faẓl Sarakhsī were two pirs of their era who were singular at the time and unique at the moment. Once the two were in listening [samāʿ] and Bu'l-Faẓl was freed from his own hands. He spun a few times like a spinning wheel, then went to the top of the wall. He turned to Luqmān and said, " Why not come up and we will fly in the air of setting forth. " Luqmān shouted at him, saying, " Do not be unmanly! Creation is a narrow playing field. It is not fitting for us to fly. " This is a magnificent allusion to the center point of togetherness, which belongs to those with familiarity in the heart and clarity in the spirit. It has come in a report that faith has seventy-some gates, the least of which is that an aspira- tion arises from your makeup that throws this world and the afterworld off to one side. When this trash is swept aside from in front of your feet, the beauty of faith will disclose itself to your heart, for the subsisting things, the wholesome deeds, are better with your Lord in reward, and better in expectation [18:46]. This is just what that chevalier said: " The beauty of the Qur'an's presence will throw off its veil when it sees the dominion of faith free of turmoil. " [DS 52]

He effaces whatsoever He will, and He affirms. Know that the highway of the Real's religion is three things: submission, the Sunnah, and self- purification. In submission be fearful, in the Sunnah be hopeful, and in self-purification be a lover. Submission has no escape from fear, the Sunnah must have hope, and self-purification is nothing but the foundation of the lover. To the fearful it is said, " Be afraid! " To the hopeful it is said, " Keep on seeking! " To the lover it is said, " Keep on burning! " In the end the address will come to the fearful, " Fear not! [41:30]. Do not fear, for the days of fear have come to an end. " To the hopeful will be said, " Grieve not! [41:30]. Have no sorrow, for your hope has been reached and the tree of joy has grown. " To the lovers will be said, " Rejoice! [41:30]. Be happy, for the night of separation has ended and the morning of union has come. " Each of these things has its own path of effacement and affirmation in the world. From the hearts of the fearful He erases eye-service and puts certainty, He erases stinginess and puts gen- erosity, He erases avarice and puts contentment, He erases envy and puts tenderness, He erases innovation and puts the Sunnah, He erases fright and puts security. From the hearts of the hopeful He erases free choice and deposits surrender, He erases disper- sion and deposits togetherness, He erases perplexity and deposits the precedent light. From the hearts of the lovers He erases the customs of human nature and deposits the marks bearing witness to the Haqiqah, He decreases the marks bearing witness to the servant and in- creases the marks bearing witness to Himself. Then, just as he was at first, so also he will be at last. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, the majesty of Your exaltedness left no room for allu- sions. Your effacing and affirming took away the path of ascription-I lost all that I had in hand. 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 heart and clay? That is what I will be. He effaces whatsoever He will, and He affirms. It has been said, " He effaces the recognizers by the unveiling of His majesty and He affirms them by the gentleness of His beauty. " 4 Through the unveiling of majesty, intellects are eclipsed and swept away, and through the gentleness of beauty, spirits rejoice and are put at ease. First He drowns the servants with the waves of confoundedness in the ocean of unveiled maj- esty until, at the domination of intimacy with Him, they are freed from themselves through a state that the body cannot bear, the heart cannot understand, and discernment cannot view. Like drunk- ards, they turn to the valleys of confoundedness, in thirst and bewilderment, sometimes weeping, sometimes laughing. They have no leisure to search out their frightened heart, no helper to whom to recount their portion. Isolated from friends in every land- the greater the sought, the fewer the helpers. They keep on saying with the tongue of brokenness in the attribute of poverty, " O God, today this burning of mine is mixed with pain-I have no capacity to bear it, no place to flee. O God, why is this blade so sharp?! There is no place for ease and no way to abstain. O Generous One, my home is so far away. The traveling companions have gone back, saying that this is the work of delusion. If my home is joy, this waiting is celebration, and this tribulation on top of tribulation is light upon light [24:35]. " Then, with the gaze of gentleness, He looks into the servants' spirits. The servants come back from intoxication to sobriety, take ease in the gentle favors of solicitude, and light up with the light of contemplation. They are released from self, freed from this world and the next, and live in the breeze of intimacy, seeing the beginningless reminder, having found everlasting happiness. They say, " O God, sometimes I spoke to You and sometimes I listened. In the midst of my offenses I thought of Your gentleness. I suffered what I suffered. All became sweet when I heard the voice of acceptance. "

God is He to whom belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth. WāsiṬī said, “The realm of being all belongs to Him. When someone seeks the realm of being, He is the Being-Bestower. When someone seeks the Real, he will find that He has subjected the realm of being to him along with everything within it.” Whenever someone gives himself over to the Being-Bestower and his heart busies itself with His companionship, the engendered beings and the newly arrived things will busy themselves entirely with serving him. He is saying, “My servant, the seven heavens, the seven earths, and all that is within them are My property and kingdom. All are My servants and servitors. If you bind your waist in loyalty to My covenant and, like serving-boys, bring your head into the collar of obedience, We will put the ring of serving you in the ear of all things and subject them to you. If you turn your head away from the circle of the command or busy your heart with others, We will set them all on their feet in antagonism toward you and We will make your standing place your prison. One day Solomon the prophet, with his high level and rank, was sitting on the throne of the kingdom. The carpet of the realm was spread and the jinn, mankind, and birds were lined up in ranks. He placed the crown of messengerhood on the head of his prophethood, and it occurred to his mind that today no one surpassed David's son in rank and elevation. Immediately the wind was commanded to take away the mantle from his head. Solomon's face darkened and he said to the wind in his anger, “Return my mantle to me!” The wind answered, “'Return to your heart!' O Solomon, bring your heart back to yourself so that I may bring your mantle back to you.”

And We sent Moses with our signs: “Bring thy people out from the darknesses into the light and remind them of the days of God.” “O My MuḤammad! I commanded Moses exactly as I command you. I said to all: 'Light up the lamp of the invitation, call people from the darknesses of doubt to the light of certainty, bring them from the shadow of ignorance to the brightness of knowledge, leave aside self-governance, see the Real's predetermination, do not set down or approve of innovation, and follow the path of the Sunnah and the congregation.'” Remind them of the days of God. These are the days when the servants were in the conceal- ment of nonexistence and the Real was saying with beginningless speech, “My servants!” “O MuḤammad, remind them of the days when you were not and I was there for you. Without you I took care of your work. I bound the compact of love and I wrote mercy against myself: Your Lord has written mercy against Himself [6:54].'” This is what the Pir of the Tariqah intimated in his whispered prayer: “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. “O God, where was I when You called me? I am not I when You remain for me. “O God, when You call someone, do not make manifest the offenses that You have concealed! “O God, 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 gentleness! Entrust us to none but Your bounty and mercy!”

When your Lord proclaimed, “If you give thanks, I will surely increase you.” In other words: “If you give thanks for submission, I will increase you in faith. If you give thanks for faith, I will increase you in beautiful doing. If you give thanks for beautiful doing, I will in- crease you in recognition. If you give thanks for recognition, I will increase you in union. If you give thanks for union, I will increase you in contemplation. If you give thanks for the gifts that I bestow upon you, I will increase you in the encounter I have promised you.” It has been narrated that David said, “My Lord, how should I give thanks to You, for my giving thanks is a renewal of Your favor toward me.” He said, “O David, what you said now is giving thanks to Me.”

Those who have faith and do wholesome deeds were given entry into the Garden....Their greeting therein is “Peace!” The meaning is that tomorrow the faithful and the friends will be brought into paradise, the house of victory, subsistent bliss, and everlasting kingship. The outward meaning of the word were given entry is that this decree was issued on the first day at the Beginningless Covenant and that the faithful were brought into paradise on the day when the decree was issued. It is not a new want that He puts into effect; it is a beginningless deed that He makes appear. He does not caress them today, for He caressed them in the Beginningless and finished the work. The worshipper is always looking toward the Endless, fearing what will be done to him tomor- row. The recognizer is always looking toward the Beginningless, burning because of what may have been done to him then. He who looks toward the Endless sees only bowing and prostrating. He who looks toward the Beginningless sees only ecstasy and finding; absent from seeing himself, he sees neither self nor anything from himself. He sees only the Real and knows only the Real. He who looks at the Endless accepts what he is given and is content with it. He who looks at the Beginningless accepts nothing and is not content with any robe of honor. If he were adorned with every robe of honor in the two realms of being, he would be more naked with every robe. If the whole realm of being were made into a table placed before his heart, he would find no savor in the feast. Both realms of being were made a morsel and placed in Abū Yazīd's maw full of pain, but he gave no mark of surfeit. He kept on shouting out, “I am a captive of face-to-face vision, how can I be content with reports?! I am seeking hard cash, how can hope suffice me?!” Without You, O repose of my spirit, how can I live? If You are not in my embrace, how can I be happy? And those who have faith and do wholesome deeds were given entry into the Garden. They will be settled down tomorrow in the paradises. There is not just one paradise, for there are eight, and not just eight degrees but one hundred. MuṣṬafā said, “Surely there are one hundred degrees in the Garden, made ready by God for the struggler in His path.” A man is wanted who struggles in God's road with severity toward his own soul, patience with the devil, and a sword against the enemy. Then he can pass through these degrees and reach Firdaws, for “it is the center of the Garden, the highest Garden, and above it is the Throne of the All-Merciful.” But he should not be content with that until the generosity of felicitation increases, for “Their greeting therein is 'Peace!'” One group will be greeted by the angels [malak], and another group will be greeted by the King [malik]. The greeting of the angels will be for the folk of obedience and service. He says, “And the angels will enter unto them from every gate: 'Peace be upon you!'” [13:23]. The greeting of the King will be for the folk of limpidness and proximity. He says, “Peace-a word from an ever-merciful Lord” [36:58]. The meaning of peace is freedom and deliverance. He is saying, “You have been freed from incineration, you have been released from separation. Here there is no rebuke, no veil. Come, for it is the time of listening, seeing, and wine.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O chevalier! Do not lament so much, for little remains before what has been reported becomes face-to-face vision. The sun of union will shine from the rising place of finding, all hopes will become hard cash, increase will become boundless, the story of water and clay will be concealed, the beginningless Friend will appear face-to-face, and the eyes, heart, and spirit, all three, will gaze upon Him.” What harm if you suffer for a hundred years so long as you see the Friend in vision some day?

Hast thou not seen how God has struck a similitude? A goodly word is like a goodly tree. The pure words and true speech of a person of faith are like a pure tree that gives forth good fruit. A pure tree in fine soil and pleasing water gives forth only sweet fruit. This is why He says, “And the goodly land, its plants come forth by the leave of its Lord” [7:58]. The pure soil is the soul of the person of faith, the pure tree is the tree of recognition, the pleas- ing water is the water of regret, and the sweet fruit is the formula of tawḤīd. Just as a tree sends down roots into the earth, so also recognition and faith send down roots into the heart of the person of faith. Just as the branches bring forth fruit in the air, so also the tree of recognizing tawḤīd brings speech to the tongue and deeds to the limbs, and both rise up. This is why the Exalted Lord said, “To Him ascend the goodly words, and He uplifts the wholesome deed” [35:10]. A tree is sustained by three things: roots sent down into the earth, a trunk standing in place, and branches lifted in the air. The tree of recognition has three things perfectly: attesting in the heart, acting with the limbs, and speaking with the tongue. The Prophet said, “Faith is recognizing with the heart, assenting with the tongue, and acting with the body.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, the water of Your solicitude reached stone and the stone bore fruit. The stone grew a tree, and the tree gave fruit and produce-a tree whose fruit is all happiness, whose flavor is all intimacy, whose scent is all freedom; a tree whose roots are in the earth of loyalty, its branches in the air of approval, its fruit recognition and limpidness, its outcome vision and encounter.”

It gives its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord. Ibn ʿAbbās said, “The tree that the Exalted Lord used as a likeness for the faith of the faithful is a tree in paradise whose fruit is neither cut off nor finished: neither cut off nor withheld [56:33].” In the same way the subtleties of the hearts of the recognizers are among the fruits of the tree of faith, neither cut off nor withheld, and the hearts of the folk of the realities are not turned away from them or veiled. At every moment and breath the subtleties are freely bestowed and not veiled.

And when Abraham said, “My Lord, make this land secure, and keep me and my sons away from worshiping idols.” In this verse Abraham asked two things from the Real: First, Mecca's security from mastery by enemies, and second, the heart's security from domination by the ruling power of caprice. He said, “Lord God, make this city of Mecca into a secure sanctuary far from the hand of any tyrant and free of fear for all the people.” The Lord of the Worlds responded to his supplication and made it into a blessed sanctuary and a place of security, as He says, “[And when We made the House] a place of gathering for the people, and a sanctuary” [2:125]. Never will the hand of any tyrant reach it; whoever goes into the sanctuary-whether Adamite or non-Adamite, wild prey or bird of the air-will have no fear. He asked for the heart's security in terms of allusion with his words, “Keep me and my sons away from worshiping idols.” Whenever something holds you back from the Real, that is your idol. Whenever your heart inclines and looks to something other than the Real, that is your caprice. The Exalted Lord says, “Hast thou seen him who has taken his caprice as his god?” [25:43]. One person looks to property and trade, another to wife and children, another to position and respect. One person has remained in the bonds of venerating piety and self-restraint and has not taken a step beyond that. Another has made obedience and worship his kiblah-looking at it and leaning on it have become the veil of his road. The Lord of the Worlds says, “And repent all together to God, O you who have faith! Perhaps you will prosper [24:31]. O you who have faith, if you want Me to make your hearts the sanctuary of My gaze and to keep you secure from the veil of severance, turn your faces totally to Me and turn away from everything else!” Sometimes He calls to His road with the tongue of the artifacts to make people realize familiarity. Sometimes He calls to Himself with the tongue of unveiling to confirm friendship. He is saying: “Turn away from yourself and totally to Him so as to recognize what is right- fully due to Him. Look beyond your own obedience and see His favor. Be released from your own existence and taste His friendship.” This is what Abraham meant when he said, “Keep me and my sons away from worshiping idols!” In explaining this verse Jaʿfar ṣādiq said, “Do not push me back to witnessing bosom friend- ship, and do not push my children back to witnessing prophethood.” Lord God! You have given me bosom friendship. Turn my eyes away from it so that I will not see it from myself. You have given my children prophethood. Do not attach their eyes to seeing their own activities or them- selves. Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, “He commanded Abraham to build the Kaabah. He built it as commanded, completed it, and then said, 'Our Lord, accept it from us!' [2:147]. “A rebuke came: 'I commanded you to build the house, and then you lay a favor on Me for doing so? I gave you the success to do it. Are you not ashamed to lay a favor on Me and say, “Ac- cept it from us”? You have forgotten My favor toward you and mentioned your own act and favor.' “Because of the harshness of this rebuke Abraham supplicated, 'Keep me and my sons away from worshiping idols! Lord God, in the road of my bosom friendship and my children's prophet- hood, seeing our own activity and ascribing it to ourselves are idols that lie in ambush for us. By Your gentleness, remove these idols from the road and remove our being from the midst! Keep on bestowing Your favor upon us!'” It has also been said that Abraham was a traveler to perfection, but he had not yet reached the guise of stability beyond variegation. He was stuck between the gentleness of the Real and the poverty of his own soul. When he looked at the Real's gentleness he saw a field of vast bounty. With the tongue of expansion in the state of intimacy, he would say, “And forgive my father, surely he was one of the misguided” [26:86]. Again he would look at the poverty of his own soul and see a narrow courtyard and a dangerous, steep road. With the tongue of contraction in the state of fear he would say, “And keep me and my sons away from worshiping idols.” This is the rule of fear and hope for the folk of the Shariah and of contraction and expansion for the folk of the Haqiqah.

And therein We placed for you livelihoods. The cause of each person's livelihood is different. The livelihood of the desirers is the auspicious- ness of turning toward Him, the livelihood of the recognizers is the gentleness of His beauty, and the livelihood of the tawḤīd-voicers is the unveiling of His majesty. Each is connected to his own state, and each has a portion of His bounteousness. But the Real is incomparable with beautifying Himself through His acts.

Naught is there but its storehouses are with Us. God's storehouses in the earth are the hearts of the recognizers. God has storehouses in the earth, and those storehouses are the hearts of the recognizers and the secret cores of the desirers. They have storehouses of night-brightening pearls and precious deposits and are adorned and decorated by them. Some are adorned by the subtleties of knowledge, and these are the hearts of the knowers. Some are decorated with the realities of intelligence, and these are the hearts of the worshipers. Some are polished with the marvels of the secret core, and these are the hearts of the recognizers. Then the seal of lordhood's love is placed upon them and they are put into the oyster shell of eternity, for “The hearts of the servants are between two fingers of the All-Merciful.” Someone may ask what the mark of this is. I would reply that its mark is the glitter of the rays of the pearl shining on the servant's bodily members such that he is always serving God. He stays up at night in worship and fasts during the daytime. His heart always inclines toward obedience, he hurries to the good, and he does not stoop to concessions. He stays pure of doubtful things, far from the forbidden, and renounces the permitted. He is pained about the past, thoughtful in the present moment, trembling about the rest of his life, and fleeing from hell. He is content with a morsel and a tattered cloak. He has put aside the world for the world's folk and busied himself with serving God. His body burns in yearning, his heart reaches for the Friend, and his spirit is laughing with the Friend. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, everyone destitute has a portion of Your munificence, everyone in pain has a physician from Your generosity. Everyone has a portion from the all-em- bracingness of Your mercy and all the needy have the raindrops of Your kindness. On the head of everyone with faith is a crown from You, in the heart of every lover a lamp from You. Everyone entranced has business with You and everyone waiting will have wine and vision at day's end.”

And We sent forth the winds as pollinators. At the time of spring when the Real's gaze falls on the earth and the world is joyful, He sends down the pollinating wind. He loosens the fastened bonds, and the veins of the trees open their mouths so that their branches may pull water by way of the veins and bring forth subtle fruit. In the same way, the Exalted Lord gazes on the heart of the faithful servant with affection and love and sends down the wind of solicitude, opening up the road of hearing and obeying. Then he may become worthy of accepting admonition and turn back to the Real by repentance and peni- tence: eager in service, occupied with worship, constant in remembering the Real, and persevering in severity toward the soul; the call of kindness always in his ears, the blossom of hope grown up, the fruit of wanting tied to the branch of bounty. Here you have the traces of the wind of solicitude, here you have the pollinators of the breeze of generosity! God says, “We sent forth the winds as pollinators.” When the winds of generosity blow on the secret cores of the recognizers, they are liberated from the fanciful notions of their souls, the frivolities of their natures, and the corruptions of their caprices and desires. The effects of generosity appear in their hearts, so they hold fast to God, depend on Him, and cut off from everything other than Him. The mark of the servant's felicity is that all at once the wind of solicitude blows from the direc- tion of success-giving and piles up the clouds of practice. Then the clouds go down to the ocean of the eye of certainty and pick up the water of regret. The lightning of remembrance flashes, the thunder of desire laments, the rain of reflective thought falls, and the desert of the heart comes to life through that rain. Such are His words, “He gives life to the earth after its death” [30:19]. The servant returns entirely to the Real, with a soul dead in itself, a heart alive through the Real, a tongue let loose in remembrance, and a spirit alive through love. Neither in the heart nor in the mind is any place empty for other than the Beloved. “You are my beloved, my want, my desire!” In Him I live, my pleasure goodly, And when illness descends into my heart, none other than He is my physician.

Surely We give life and We make die. We give the hearts of the recognizers life through contemplation, and We make their souls die through struggle. We bring the hearts of the recognizers to life with contemplation, and We make their bodies die through struggle. The soul is the veil of the heart. As long as the veil is before the heart, the heart is deprived of contemplation. When the soul is killed by struggle according to the Shariah, the life of the heart begins. Guidance arrives, contemplation joins. Those who struggle in Us, We will guide them on Our paths [29:69]. It has also been said, “We give the desirers life through remembering Us and We make the heedless die through separation from Us.”

We indeed know those of you who go forward and We indeed know those of you who fall behind. It has been said that those who go forward are those who hurry to good deeds, and those who fall behind are those who are lazy in good deeds. It has also been said that its meaning is “We have recognized those who are eager in Us and those who have turned away from Us.”

Surely We created man of a dried clay of fetid mud. It has been narrated that Ibn ʿUmar had taken up the sessions. Kaʿb said to a man among those sitting with him, “Ask Ibn ʿUmar from what God created Adam.” Ibn ʿUmar said, “He created Adam from five things: clay, water, fire, light, and wind.” At Ibn ʿUmar's response, Kaʿb said, “Sit with him, for surely he is a man of knowledge.” What is understood from this report is that the Exalted Lord created Adam from five things: clay, water, fire, light, and wind. The wisdom in this is that the Exalted Lord created every one of His creatures from one kind. He created the angels from light and He created the jinn from fire. These are the light of exaltedness and the fire of exaltedness, which is why Iblis swore by exaltedness [38:82], for he was created from the fire of exaltedness and the angels from the light of exaltedness. God created the birds from wind, He created the beasts and the crawling things of the earth from dust, and He created the creatures of the sea from water. He created each from one kind, but He created Adam from all of these kinds so as to honor him and make him eminent. Thus he would be superior to all the creatures of the world. All are subjected to him, and he is given ruling power over all. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “We indeed honored the children of Adam, and We carried them on land and sea, and We provided them with goodly things, and We made them much more excellent than many of those We created” [17:70].

The command of God is coming, so do not seek to hurry it. God's command is many-colored, and obeying Him is many-hued. The servant's outwardness was commanded one thing, his inwardness something else. The outwardness was commanded to stay with tightened belt on the threshold of worship in the way station of service. The inwardness was commanded to stay quiet on the carpet of recognition with the quality of veneration. The heart was commanded to be constant in watchfulness. The secret core was commanded to seek limpidness in the station of recognition. And the spirit was commanded to cling to the Presence in contempla- tion itself. So do not seek to hurry it. Do not hurry to find what is desired and do not go beyond the measure of the command, for everyone truthful will one day reach what he desires, and everyone obedient to the Real has the promise of vision.

He sends down the angels with the spirit from His command upon whomsoever He will of His servants: “Give warning that there is no god but I, so be wary of Me.” The reality of the spirit is that within which is the life of the heart and the life of the religion. It is the beauty of the Qur'an's exaltedness, which reached MuṣṬafā from the Divine Presence with the attribute of the message by the emissary Gabriel. Give warning that there is no god but I, so be wary of Me: “Report to My servants that I am the One Lord, I am without peer in attributes, I am separate from anything's resemblance to Me, and I am loyal to My assurances. Whenever someone says these words bearing witness and places the seal of tawḤīd on his heart, he has entered into the pavilion of the submission's exaltedness.” But you should know that this pavilion of the submission is set up only on the plain of god- wariness, for He says, “There is no god but I, so be wary of Me.” The reality of godwariness is the heart's purity of everything other than the Real. Just as submission is obligatory for the world's creatures, so also godwariness is obligatory. When the foundation of the religion was put down, it was put down on godwariness, for everyone who be- came a possessor of friendship became so through godwariness. “Surely His friends are only the godwary” [8:34]. Tomorrow the friendship of the next world will be assigned to those who are called godwary: “The outcome belongs to the godwary” [7:128]. The first condition of godwariness is that you be the guardian of your own heart and do three things: You do not give yourself over to wishing, you avoid everything that is not approved, and you not be heedless of the Real for one moment. On the day when Abū Bakr was buying Bilāl, Bilāl said, “O chief of the sincerely truthful! If you are buying Bilāl for the sake of the business of this world, do not buy him. He can perform no service that you will approve, for Bilāl has dedicated himself to the business of the afterworld.” God's mercy be upon those chevaliers who do not turn away from serving the Real to serving the creatures! Every single part of each of them is busy with service, and all their moments are im- mersed in observing the rightful dues of the Real. None of their parts is free to serve the creatures, none of their moments is wasted in antagonism toward the creatures. A great man was asked, “Do you love God?” He said, “I do.” He was asked, “Do you hate his enemy Iblis?” He said, “I am too busy with love for the Real to occupy myself with enmity toward someone else.”

And in them is beauty for you when you bring home to rest and drive forth to pasture. Some people attach beauty to possessions, some to states. The wealthy find beauty when they bring home to rest and drive forth to pasture, and the poor busy themselves with their Patron when they wake in the morning and rest in the evening. The rich consider the perfection of their beauty to lie in possessions, and possessions are one of two: permitted or forbidden. If they are permitted, they are a tribulation, and if they are forbid- den, they are a curse. The poor consider their status and beauty to lie in union with the Patron and see perfect intimacy in companionship with the Patron. It is said that Rābiʿa ʿAdawiyya was cut off from a caravan and was wandering lost in the desert. She sat down under a thorn tree and put her head on the knees of remorse. She heard a call from the air of exaltedness, “You feel terrified when I am with you?” On the night of the miʿrāj all the beauty and wealth of jinn and men were offered as ransom for one footstep of the Master of the Children of Adam, but he did not glance at it. His boast was this: “Replete one day, I praise Thee; hungry one day, I thank Thee.”

It is for God to point out the path; and some [paths] deviate. The straight road and approved path is that which goes toward the Real and passes over the Real. That road can be traveled with three things: first knowledge, second state, and third eye. Knowl- edge cannot be put in place without teacher, state cannot be put straight without conformity, and the eye is alone and does not get along with attachment. In knowledge there is fear, in state there is hope, and in eye there is straightness. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “None of His friends traveled this road without first seeing three things together: release from the ruling power of his soul, a heart joined with the Patron, and a secret core adorned with awareness.”

He it is who sends down water from heaven.... Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect... signs for a people who use intellect... a sign for a people who remember. He is an allusion to the Essence, who is an intimation of the attributes, and sends down reports about the acts. Thus you will know that God has Essence, attributes, and acts. He is eternal in Essence, noble in attributes, wise in acts; without associate in Essence, without ambiguity in attri- butes, and without cause in acts. The servants gazes upon His artisanry, then flee from the artisanry to gaze upon the attributes, then flee from the attributes to gaze upon the Essence. These are the stations of the wayfarers' traveling and the degrees of the recognizers' recognition. One must have reflection in gazing upon the artisanry, knowledge in gazing on the attributes, and remembrance in gazing on the Essence. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect.” Then, after that, He says, “signs for a people who use intel- lect.” Then, after that, He says “a sign for a people who remember.” In other words, recognition will be gained in this order: first reflection, then knowledge, then, at that point, he will remember through the continuity of knowledge. First he reflects, putting his gaze in its place. If no defect falls into his gaze, then inevitably he gains knowledge; and in reality there is no difference between intellect and knowledge. Then, after that, the gaze becomes continuous, and the continuity of the gaze is the remembering of which He speaks. It has been said that He says “signs for a people who use intellect” in the plural only because someone gains many knowledges in order to become a recognizer, and every part of knowledge is gained through a different sign and indicator. The knower has signs and indicators before he becomes a recognizer of his Lord, because the indicator for one question is different from the in- dicator for another question. With one indicator he knows the necessity of gazing on Him, with many indicators he becomes a recognizer of his Lord, and with one indicator he knows that it is necessary to remember the various sorts of his knowledge.

He it is who sends down water from heaven.... Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect... signs for a people who use intellect... a sign for a people who remember. He is an allusion to the Essence, who is an intimation of the attributes, and sends down reports about the acts. Thus you will know that God has Essence, attributes, and acts. He is eternal in Essence, noble in attributes, wise in acts; without associate in Essence, without ambiguity in attri- butes, and without cause in acts. The servants gazes upon His artisanry, then flee from the artisanry to gaze upon the attributes, then flee from the attributes to gaze upon the Essence. These are the stations of the wayfarers' traveling and the degrees of the recognizers' recognition. One must have reflection in gazing upon the artisanry, knowledge in gazing on the attributes, and remembrance in gazing on the Essence. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect.” Then, after that, He says, “signs for a people who use intel- lect.” Then, after that, He says “a sign for a people who remember.” In other words, recognition will be gained in this order: first reflection, then knowledge, then, at that point, he will remember through the continuity of knowledge. First he reflects, putting his gaze in its place. If no defect falls into his gaze, then inevitably he gains knowledge; and in reality there is no difference between intellect and knowledge. Then, after that, the gaze becomes continuous, and the continuity of the gaze is the remembering of which He speaks. It has been said that He says “signs for a people who use intellect” in the plural only because someone gains many knowledges in order to become a recognizer, and every part of knowledge is gained through a different sign and indicator. The knower has signs and indicators before he becomes a recognizer of his Lord, because the indicator for one question is different from the in- dicator for another question. With one indicator he knows the necessity of gazing on Him, with many indicators he becomes a recognizer of his Lord, and with one indicator he knows that it is necessary to remember the various sorts of his knowledge.

He it is who sends down water from heaven.... Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect... signs for a people who use intellect... a sign for a people who remember. He is an allusion to the Essence, who is an intimation of the attributes, and sends down reports about the acts. Thus you will know that God has Essence, attributes, and acts. He is eternal in Essence, noble in attributes, wise in acts; without associate in Essence, without ambiguity in attri- butes, and without cause in acts. The servants gazes upon His artisanry, then flee from the artisanry to gaze upon the attributes, then flee from the attributes to gaze upon the Essence. These are the stations of the wayfarers' traveling and the degrees of the recognizers' recognition. One must have reflection in gazing upon the artisanry, knowledge in gazing on the attributes, and remembrance in gazing on the Essence. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect.” Then, after that, He says, “signs for a people who use intel- lect.” Then, after that, He says “a sign for a people who remember.” In other words, recognition will be gained in this order: first reflection, then knowledge, then, at that point, he will remember through the continuity of knowledge. First he reflects, putting his gaze in its place. If no defect falls into his gaze, then inevitably he gains knowledge; and in reality there is no difference between intellect and knowledge. Then, after that, the gaze becomes continuous, and the continuity of the gaze is the remembering of which He speaks. It has been said that He says “signs for a people who use intellect” in the plural only because someone gains many knowledges in order to become a recognizer, and every part of knowledge is gained through a different sign and indicator. The knower has signs and indicators before he becomes a recognizer of his Lord, because the indicator for one question is different from the in- dicator for another question. With one indicator he knows the necessity of gazing on Him, with many indicators he becomes a recognizer of his Lord, and with one indicator he knows that it is necessary to remember the various sorts of his knowledge.

He it is who sends down water from heaven.... Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect... signs for a people who use intellect... a sign for a people who remember. He is an allusion to the Essence, who is an intimation of the attributes, and sends down reports about the acts. Thus you will know that God has Essence, attributes, and acts. He is eternal in Essence, noble in attributes, wise in acts; without associate in Essence, without ambiguity in attri- butes, and without cause in acts. The servants gazes upon His artisanry, then flee from the artisanry to gaze upon the attributes, then flee from the attributes to gaze upon the Essence. These are the stations of the wayfarers' traveling and the degrees of the recognizers' recognition. One must have reflection in gazing upon the artisanry, knowledge in gazing on the attributes, and remembrance in gazing on the Essence. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect.” Then, after that, He says, “signs for a people who use intel- lect.” Then, after that, He says “a sign for a people who remember.” In other words, recognition will be gained in this order: first reflection, then knowledge, then, at that point, he will remember through the continuity of knowledge. First he reflects, putting his gaze in its place. If no defect falls into his gaze, then inevitably he gains knowledge; and in reality there is no difference between intellect and knowledge. Then, after that, the gaze becomes continuous, and the continuity of the gaze is the remembering of which He speaks. It has been said that He says “signs for a people who use intellect” in the plural only because someone gains many knowledges in order to become a recognizer, and every part of knowledge is gained through a different sign and indicator. The knower has signs and indicators before he becomes a recognizer of his Lord, because the indicator for one question is different from the in- dicator for another question. With one indicator he knows the necessity of gazing on Him, with many indicators he becomes a recognizer of his Lord, and with one indicator he knows that it is necessary to remember the various sorts of his knowledge.

He it is who subjected the sea so that you may eat from it fresh flesh. Outwardly, He subjected the oceans of the earth to the creatures, ships running upon it and ben- efits appearing from it. Inwardly, He created oceans in the Adamic soul in which the Adamite is drowned: First is the ocean of preoccupation, second the ocean of sorrow, third the ocean of avarice, fourth the ocean of heedlessness, and fifth the ocean of dispersion. These oceans have ships. Whoever sits in the ship of trust on the ocean of preoccupation will reach the shore of detachment. Whoever sits in the ship of approval on the ocean of sorrow will reach the shore of security. Whoever sits in the ship of contentment on the ocean of avarice will reach the shore of renunciation. Whoever sits in the ship of remembrance on the ocean of heedlessness will reach the shore of wakefulness. Whoever sits in the ship of tawḤīd on the ocean of dispersion will reach the shore of togetherness.

Is He who creates like him who does not create? Will the created thing ever be like the Creator? Will the enacted thing ever be similar to the Enac- tor? In the seven heavens and seven earths, it is God who is one and unique. In Essence He is without similar, in measure without equal, in attributes without peer. Fancying that the Creator is like the created is an error, and the road of declaring similarity is disloyalty. But affirming at- tributes is not declaring similarity, and to declare holy by negating attributes is nothing but the position of Iblis. Declaring similarity does not come by way of saying that there is, but rather by saying that there is similarity. Whoever declares similarity is an unbeliever, just as whoever says that there is no similarity is an unbeliever. Whenever someone says that God is like himself has said that God has more than a thousand associates. Whoever declares God's attributes ineffectual has abased himself in the two worlds.

Those who emigrate in God after they were wronged-We shall surely build for them something beautiful, and the wage of the next world will be greater. Anyone who emigrates from the homelands of heedlessness will be taken by the majesty of Unity to the witnessing places of union. When someone emigrates from the homelands of heedlessness, the majesty of Unity will con- vey him to the witnessing places of union. When someone emigrates from companionship with the created, the gentle favors of generosity will give him access to His companionship. When some- one emigrates from himself and is displeased with dwelling with himself, his heart will become the place where passion for the Haqiqah puts down its saddlebags. Today he will be delighted in the secluded solace of “I am the sitting companion of him who remembers Me,” and tomorrow he will take his ease on the carpet of the expansiveness of “The patient poor are the sitting companions of God on the Day of Resurrection.” This emigration has a beginning and an end. Its beginning is that his makeup becomes obe- dience itself, not from habit and not from wanting the reward, but rather from being drowned in contemplation itself. Thus it is recounted of the recognizer Sultan MaḤmūd that he never sat in a session of intimacy with any but Ayāz. The boon companions and special friends began to mutter. The sultan became aware of their jealousy, and he commanded that all the boon companions and special friends be present in a session. Then he had a goblet made of ruby-worth the taxes from one of his prov- inces-brought forth, along with an iron anvil, and put before him. He commanded the vizier to smash the goblet on the anvil. The vizier, “Protect me, O Sultan! Though the sultan's command is higher, I do not have the gall to be so bold.” In the same way, he commanded the other boon companions and special friends. All took off their hats, began to tremble, and did not have the gall to break it. Then he pointed at Ayāz. He said, “Slave, strike the goblet on the anvil and break it.” Ayāz struck the goblet on the anvil until it broke into tiny pieces. Then MaḤmūd said, “There are four thousand way stations between obeying the sultan's command and seclusion with him. When someone still avoids obeying MaḤmūd's command, how can he have the gall to talk of seclusion and seek companionship?” As for the end of emigration, it is three things: veneration in seclusion, being ashamed in service, and seeing nothing but shortcoming in oneself despite much obedience.

Ask the folk of remembrance if you do not know. This alludes to the fact that knowledge of the Shariah is to be learned and is not correct without an intermediary and teacher. Anyone who fancies that the intermediary is useless in knowledge of the Shariah has no portion of the religion. In short, know that knowledge is of three sorts: knowledge of the Shariah, knowledge of the Tariqah, and knowledge of the Haqiqah. The Shariah is to be learned, the Tariqah is to be prac- ticed, and the Haqiqah is to be found. Concerning knowledge of the Shariah He says, “Ask the folk of remembrance.” 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. When someone obtains these three knowledges, a light shines in his heart through which he recognizes the essence of prophethood. When he is given this recognition, he finds this eminence and special favor from the threshold of prophethood: “The men of knowledge are the heirs to the prophets.”

And God says, “And take not two gods. Surely He is only one God, so be in awe of Me.” This is an affirmation of tawḤīd. TawḤīd is the basis of the religion and the great pillar of the submission. Without tawḤīd obedience is not accepted, and along with associationism worship is useless. Know that the reality of tawḤīd is of two sorts: saying one and knowing one. Saying one is the beginning of all the sciences, the basis of all the recognitions, the foundation of the religion, and the partition between enemy and friend. It has three descriptions: first, testifying to God's oneness in Essence and His being pure of spouse, child, and peer. Next is testifying to God's oneness in attributes and to the fact that nothing is similar to or like Him. His attributes are not intelligible, nor is their howness understood, encompassed, or defined. They are outside imagination and no one knows how they are. Third is testifying to God's oneness in His true, beginningless names and the fact that for Him these names are realities and for others they are loaned and created. The names He has are His names in reality-eternal and beginningless as is fitting for Him. The names of the creatures are created and newly arrived as is fitting for them. “God” and “All-Merciful” are His names by which no one else is called. Dost thou know any named by His name? [19:65] As for knowing one, that is in service, practice, and aspiration. In service it is abandoning eye-service and observing self-purification. In practice it is to make the secret core limpid and to realize remembrance. In aspiration it is to lose everything other than Him and to be released through freedom of the heart from everything other than Him. Become free of everything in the realm of being- be that Heart-taker's “companion of the cave.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “In all things expression is easy but finding is difficult. In tawḤīd finding is easy but expression is difficult. The expression of tawḤīd is outside of intellect, the es- sence of tawḤīd is safe against imagination, the newly arrived things are lost in the Beginningless. TawḤīd is that there is no more than one. There is the Recognized, but not the recognizer; there is the Intended, but not the intender. The tawḤīd-voicer is he who has only Him to the point that his self is not; all is indeed He.” The tawḤīd of attestation is one thing, the tawḤīd of practice another thing, and the tawḤīd of remembrance and vision still another. Concerning the tawḤīd of attestation He said, “Whoever disbelieves in idols and has faith in God” [2:256]. Concerning the tawḤīd of practice He said, “In whose hands is the dominion of everything” [23:88]. Concerning the tawḤīd of remembrance and vision He said, “Thou didst not throw when thou threwest” [8:17]. Abū Ḥafs Ḥaddād said, “TawḤīd by discernment is to disown everything other than God. The tawḤīd of the elect is to reach oneness. The tawḤīd of the elect of the elect is to be consumed by oneness.” O One whose tawḤīd is achieved by none! You are the Alone, the One, the Unique. Those who aim for His tawḤīd with their aspiration deny His tawḤīd inasmuch as they aim. The tawḤīd of him who confirms His tawḤīd by design is a design without a path to His tawḤīd.

And surely in the cattle there is a lesson for you: We give you to drink of that which is in their bellies, between feces and blood, pure milk, delicious for the drinkers. Two impurities came together, one feces and the other blood. God with His power made pure milk appear between the two. In the same way, two drops came together in the womb. God's determi- nation and form-giving made a form of such beauty appear from the two! He formed you, so He made your forms beautiful [40:64]. He brings together two difficult tasks for the servant, one the burden of disobedience, the other shortcoming in obedience. Then God's bounty makes mercy and forgiveness appear between the two: He will make your deeds wholesome for you and forgive you your sins [33:71]. In what preceded all precedents and began all beginnings, the Pen wrote in the Tablet that the candle of the Shariah and the lamp of faith and certainty would light up in someone's breast. It does not matter if he falls asleep. When he wakes up he will see the lit candle next to his pillow. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “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.” By way of allusion God is saying, “I took milk, which is your nourishment and your share, and passed it over feces and blood, preserving it from both. As for tawḤīd, it is My rightful due, so it is much more deserving of being preserved by Me. It will pass over this world and the afterworld and not receive any trace. Were the trace of this world or the afterworld to sit on tawḤīd, it would not be worthy of Me. TawḤīd is pure of this world and the afterworld. The light of tawḤīd is the destruction of water and dust. Turning the eye of the heart away from self is to perceive the finding of tawḤīd.”

And God has given more bounty in provision to some of you than others. The provision of the soul is one thing, the provision of the heart another, and the provision of the spirit still another. For some the provision of the soul is the success of obedience and for some it is abandonment to disobedience. For some the provision of the heart is the heart's presence with constant remembrance and for some it is the attribute of heedlessness with constant hardness. For some the provision of the spirit is the perfection of recognition and the limpidness of love and for some it is love for this world and occupation with attachments. Fuẓayl said, “The greatest thing provided to man is deeds that will lead him to rectitude and recognition that will bequeath on him contemplation of his Lord.” The Prophet said, “I spend the night at my Lord; He gives me to eat and drink.”

They recognize God's blessings, then they deny them. Some people say that this concerns the Muslims. For a time they occupy themselves with obedi- ence and undertake the path of discipline and struggle according to the Shariah. But in the end, self-admiration comes and ambushes them, destroying their obedience. Their self-admiration is that they consider their obedience and worship as service pleasing to God, and this brings them to exultation and happiness: “This is my attribute and my strength.” They remain heedless that it is God's blessings and bounty toward them. Then they do not fear the disappearance of the blessings and they go forth feeling secure. MuṣṬafā said, “A man's destruction lies in three things: One is niggardliness that he obeys, another is the soul's caprice that he follows, and the third is admiring himself.” One of the great ones of the religion said, “If I sleep all night and in the morning feel broken and fearful, I like that more than spending the night in prayer and admiring myself in the morning.” ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd said, “The destruction of a man's religion lies in two things: self- admiration and despair.” He said this because anyone who loses hope will stop seeking and be overcome by lassitude, so he will not worship. So also, anyone who admires himself will fancy that he does not need to seek, for his work is right and he has been forgiven.

Surely God commands justice and beautiful doing and giving to kinsmen, and He pro- hibits indecency, the improper, and rebelliousness. And He admonishes you, that perhaps you may remember. In this verse the Creator of the world and the world's folk, the lovingly kind Lord, brings together in succession the foundations of service and the guideposts of interaction. He makes the faithful aware of the pleasing character traits and He honors them by letting them recognize the causes of His approval. He instructs them in beautiful worship of Him and in living with His creatures. We have already explained some of this in the tongue of unveiling according to the Shariah. In terms of the Haqiqah and the tongue of allusion, it is that God commands the servant to have justice in interaction with the Real, in interaction with people, and in interaction with the soul. Interaction with the Real is through acknowledgment, interaction with people through justice, and interaction with the soul through opposition. One must have conformity with the Real, sincerity with the people, and opposition to the soul. The meaning of conformity is for the servant to welcome the Real's decree before it appears and to leave aside free choice, such that he recognizes all of it without having perceived it and loves it not having seen it. The meaning of sincerity is that he walk straight with the people in word, deed, aspiration, and resoluteness. He is fair to them, he does not place his burden on them, he conceals their faults, he does not take back his tenderness no matter what states he sees, he does not hold back his good from them, he lives with character, he respects elders, and he is tender toward young people and merciful toward children. This is the meaning of justice in interaction with people. As for the reality of justice in interaction with the soul, it is to hold back the soul from that in which its destruction lies. God says, “As for him who fears the standing place before his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter” [79:40-41]. Ibrāhīm Adham said, “In my whole life in this world, my heart was happy three times, and in those three times I was happy because I acted with severity toward my own soul. I was walking in Antioch, barefoot and bare-headed, and various people were insulting me. In the end one of them said, 'He's a runaway slave.' Those words were pleasing to me, for in reality that is what I was. I said to myself, 'O you who have escaped and fled, when will you come back to the path of peace?' “The second happiness was when I was sitting in a ship. There was a buffoon among the pas- sengers who would come by every hour and slap the back of my head, for he saw that I was the lowliest of all the people. “Third was in the city of Malatya. I was in a mosque, my head placed on the knees of remorse, and I had fallen into the valley of my own insignificance. A shameless man came, undid the belt of his pants, and said, 'Old man, take this rose water!' My soul ceased to be in that lowliness, and my heart became happy at that. I found that happiness to be a gift of felicity for me from the Exalted Threshold.” The great ones of the religion were like this-always acting with severity toward their own souls and striving in the abasement of their own persons. They concealed the faults of the people and saw their own faulty attributes. The people were always at ease and in comfort from them, but their souls were always in suffering and tribulation. Surely God commands justice and beautiful doing. It has been said that justice is the heart's equilibrium with the Real and beautiful doing is interacting with things while seeing the Real. MuṣṬafā said, “Beautiful doing is that you worship God as if you see Him.” This hadith alludes to the heart's encounter with the Real, the secret core's convergence with the Unseen, and the spirit's contemplation and everlasting happiness while the servant is drowned in the light of contemplation and the call of gentleness flows in his spirit. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “When an eye has seen Him, how can it busy itself with seeing 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 Union, how long will he put up with the abasement of the veil? How will the ruler of his own city spend his life in exile?” When You are the soul's food, then You leave it, the soul whose food You are does not linger. It remains like a lizard thrown into water or a fish living in the open desert. How can a lizard live in water or a fish in the desert? Do not take away our spirit's food, O God! Surely God commands justice and beautiful doing. In this verse God commands the servant to three things that save, and He prohibits him from three things that destroy. When he keeps back from the three things that destroy, he will escape from hell, and when he carries out the three that save, he will reach paradise and have listening, drinking, and seeing with the Real. Then, after listing the commands and prohibitions, He says at the end of the verse, And He admonishes you, that perhaps you may remember. God gives you advice so that perhaps you will fear and accept the advice. He calls and offers His generosity so that perhaps you will respond. He shows His gentleness so that perhaps you will place your love in Him. He conceals faults so that perhaps you will incline toward Him. From the clouds of the gentleness of His artisanries He rains down kindness so that perhaps you will stay at His threshold. He brightens hearts so that you may see His gentleness. He shakes with the marks of rebuke so that you will keep on remember- ing Him. He reduces burdens and increases the fruit so that you may perceive His good Godhood.

What is with you runs out, but what is with God subsists. What is with you runs out is the attribute of this world, its annihilation; and what is with God sub- sists is the attribute of the afterworld and everlasting subsistence. Jesus was asked, “Why don't you make a house for yourself?” He said, “I have no stomach for busying myself with something that will not be my companion forever.” The Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī put a dinar in his hand and said, “'O yellow thing, make my face yellow. O white thing, make me white and delude other than me.' O world and O bliss of this world! Go, for you are an adorned bride, and you cannot break the claws of a lion with a bride's fingers. Go, delude someone else, for the son of Abū Ṭālib has no stomach for falling into the snare of your delusion.” The life of this world is nothing but the enjoyment of delusion [3:185]. What is with you runs out, but what is with God subsists. In other words, “What is with you, namely the yearning you have to encounter Me, is susceptible to disappearance and accepts cessa- tion. But My description of Myself subsists, namely in the tradition, 'Surely the yearning of the pi- ous to encounter Me has become protracted, but My yearning to encounter them is more intense.'” Whatever comes from the servant-obedience, service, affection, love-even if it is continu-ous, is susceptible to disappearance, for it is an attribute of newly arrived things, and annihilation has access to them. It is only the welcoming of the divine majesty and exaltation and the Lord's caressing of the servant that never finish and remain untouched by annihilation. Whatever comes from us is suited to us, infected by our own shares and described by dispersion. Whatever comes from God comes with the attribute of infinite exaltedness and majesty, for the reality of together- ness is that it is necessarily subsistent and permanent. These generous, gentle favors, infinite caresses, and lordly welcoming that set forth from the side of All-compellingness lodge only at the core of the friends' hearts. It is they whose life in this world is the goodly life and whose conduct and path are wholesome deeds along with faith; this is their attribute, for the Exalted Lord says,

Whoever does a wholesome deed, male or female, while having faith, We shall surely give him to live a goodly life. The wholesome deed is that which is worthy of acceptance, for it accords with the command. Then He says, while having faith, that is, assenting to the truth that his salvation is by God's bounty, not by his own deeds. He is saying that the goodly life is appropriate for him whose deeds are beautiful, whose conduct is pure, who has the togetherness of aspiration, and who believes that his salvation is by the divine bounty, not by the activity of servanthood. We shall surely give him to live a goodly life. Today there are the sweetness of obedience, the breeze of proximity, and the reminder of the Endless, and tomorrow there will be the Palisades of Holiness in the Presence of At-ness with blessedness, nearness, and the most beautiful.

Then surely thy Lord-toward those who emigrated after they were tormented, then struggled and were patient-surely thy Lord after that is forgiving, ever-merciful. The reality of emigration is that you emigrate from your own makeup, you abandon yourself and your desires, and you place the foot of nonbeing on top of your own attributes. Beginningless love may then lift the curtain and endless passion may show its beauty. How beautifully that chevalier spoke! Endless passion has nothing to do with a heart that stays firm in its own attributes. [DS 209] The paragon of the world and master of Adam's children, who was the goal of existent things and the center point in the circle of newly arrived things, always used to recite this supplication: “'O God, do not entrust us to our own souls for the blink of an eye, or less than that!' Lord God! Re- move from before us this makeup stamped by createdness and the relationships of opposition! Lift the burden of our souls away from us so that we may travel in the world of tawḤīd!” The command came, “O master, before you wanted, My want took care of your work and put aside the burden of you-ness from you. [Did We not] lift from thee thy burden? [94:2]. O MuḤammad! If anyone came by his own selfhood, you did not come by yourself, because I brought you: Who took His servant by night [17:1]. Nor did you come for yourself, because you came as a mercy for the world's folk: We sent thee only as a mercy to the worlds [21:107]. The state of Abraham was the same. Adam was still in the concealment of nonexistence when the Exalted Lord inscribed the stamp of bosom friendship on that paragon. He placed the fire of yearning for Him in his inwardness, and the beauty of beginningless passion toward him. He al- ludes to this with His words, “We gave Abraham his rectitude from before” [21:51]. Then, when he came into existence, on the day when he stood in the desert of bewilderment, his heart was lit up with love for the Eternal and his spirit was drunk with the wine of nonbeing. At the moment of the morning draft of the passionate, the shouting of the drunkards, and the uproar of the heart-lost, he was driven by craving the wine of nonbeing to say with the tongue of helplessness concerning whatever he looked upon, “This is my Lord” [6:76]. He saw himself consumed in witnessing the Real's majesty and beauty and was unaware of creation's being and his own being. Hence the Exalted Lord increased His caressing of him and counted him as one community:

Surely Abraham was a community, devoted to God and unswerving, not among the associaters, grateful for His blessings. He chose him and guided him to a straight path. Abraham said, “O Lord, You were all [that I saw], and You are all.” So God said, “The community is you yourself. You are the togetherness of all, and that's it.” Indeed, “When someone belongs to God, God belongs to him.” Then He says, “grateful for His blessings.” Abraham discharged gratitude for blessings, for he recognized the Patron of Blessings. He accepted the decree without protest and he approved of whatever came forth without unwillingness. He chose him and guided him to a straight path. He saw the road of servanthood and he went straight in servanthood. He knew that he did not see that road by himself, for it was shown to him, nor did he reach it by the effort of servanthood, for he was made to reach it. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, do You know what has made me happy? I did not fall to You by myself. O God, 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.

Surely Abraham was a community, devoted to God and unswerving, not among the associaters, grateful for His blessings. He chose him and guided him to a straight path. Abraham said, “O Lord, You were all [that I saw], and You are all.” So God said, “The community is you yourself. You are the togetherness of all, and that's it.” Indeed, “When someone belongs to God, God belongs to him.” Then He says, “grateful for His blessings.” Abraham discharged gratitude for blessings, for he recognized the Patron of Blessings. He accepted the decree without protest and he approved of whatever came forth without unwillingness. He chose him and guided him to a straight path. He saw the road of servanthood and he went straight in servanthood. He knew that he did not see that road by himself, for it was shown to him, nor did he reach it by the effort of servanthood, for he was made to reach it. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, do You know what has made me happy? I did not fall to You by myself. O God, 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.

Then We revealed to thee, “Follow the creed of Abraham, an unswerving man.” “O MuḤammad, go in the tracks of Abraham's creed.” Abraham's creed was upright character, generosity, largesse, and loyalty. So the Prophet followed him and surpassed him to the point that he gave away the two worlds in exchange for the Real. God says, “Surely thou hast a tremen- dous character” [68:4].

Invite to the path of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful admonition. In another place He says, “Say: 'This is my path. I invite to God upon insight, I and whosoever follows me'” [12:108]. Inviting to God's road is one thing, and inviting to God is something else. The former has an intermediary in the midst, and the latter has the Real as spokesman. The result of what He said with intermediary is obedience and abandoning opposition. The fruit of what He said without intermediary is solitariness and abandoning self-governance. Solitariness is to make the aspiration one-pointed in both remembrance and gazing. In remembrance it is that you want only Him in remembering Him and you fear none but Him in remembering Him. In gazing it is that at whatever you gaze you see Him and you put down your head before no one but Him. The secret of these words is that whenever He brings an intermediary on the path into the midst, of all His names He mentions Lord, for it is the portion of the common people, and its mean- ing is nurturing. Whenever the path has no intermediary, He says God-of Him the creatures have no portion, and in His beginningless majesty He is without need. O chevalier! Were it not for His intimacy with the spirits of the passionate, why did He dis- close the beauty of the name God in the unneediness of His majesty and exaltation to the spirits and hearts of the passionate? If not that it would be a salve for the pain of the burnt and a mercy on the weakness of the helpless, why did He say, “Invite to the path of thy Lord”? Yes, He calls and invites to see who is worthy to accept and answer the Real's call with heart and spirit. The world's folk are two groups: One group came forth and placed their own spirits and hearts like incense on the fire of love in the censer of recognition, and they burned. They are the ones who heard the Real's call, accepted and responded to the Messenger's invitation with spirit and heart, and came back to the loyalty of the day of Yes indeed [7:172]: They are loyal to God's covenant and do not break the compact [13:20]. The spirits of the other group were inscribed by the Beginningless Threshold with the sigil of severity and stamped with the brand of abandonment, so they made their hearts the kingdom of satans. The Real's call did not reach their hearts' ears, nor were they worthy to respond to the Messenger's invitation. About the two groups the Lord of the Worlds says, “Surely thy Lord knows better who is misguided from His path and He knows better who are the guided” [6:117]. He says, “I am aware of the states of both groups and I have given to everyone what is fitting for him. I see the pearl of the recognizer's makeup, and I know the disposition of the denier's attributes. Tomor- row I will convey everyone to the fitting recompense and settle each of them down in their own places and dwellings. I am the Lord who is vast in ability, without guidebook and helper, able to do any work before that work. Nothing is far from Me, nor is any work difficult for Me.”

Surely God is with those who are godwary and those who are beautiful-doers. This is one of the all-comprehensive verses of the Qur'an. All of God's caresses of His servant in the two worlds, the rewards and the generous gifts, are included in what He says: “Surely God is with.” Every sort of service, every type of obedience, and all the roots of worship that the servant performs for God come under godwary. All that is rightfully due to people from each other in the various sorts of interactions come under beautiful-doers. In reality the godwary and the beautiful-doers are such that the scent of love's breeze comes from the dust beneath their feet. If the tears of their eyes were to fall on the ground, the narcissus of desire would bloom. If the disclosure of their present moment were to fall on a stone, it would turn into a carnelian. If it fell on water, it would become wine. If the fire of their yearning were to flame up, the world would burn. If the light of their recognition were to shine, the universe would be radiant. They have no station in the cities, no ease with the people. The common people have two festivals in the year, but they have a festival with every breath. The common people have festivals because of seeing the moon, but they have their festival because of contemplating God. The common people have festivals because of the turning of the year, but they have their festival because of the bounteousness of the Possessor of Majesty. For thousands of years the moon-faced beauties of Firdaws and the houris of paradise have been standing in wait in that busy bazaar: When will they convey the fortunate procession of the godwary and beautiful- doers to High Chambers so that they, as hangers-on, may step into the pageant of good fortune in a seat of truthfulness, at an Omnipotent King [54:55].

Glory be to Him who took His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque. At the beginning of this surah He praised Himself, then He disclosed the nobility of MuṣṬafā and uncovered his eminence over the creatures. First He testified to His own faultlessness and men- tioned His own purity. He Himself praised Himself and showed the creatures His perfect power. He turned over the Messenger's miʿrāj to His own act, not the Messenger's act, so that the faithful will not fall into uncertainty and there would be an argument against the deniers. Thus the faithful will know that the marvels of power have no limit and that this state is not strange given the perfect power of the Powerful. Another meaning is to display the nobility of MuṣṬafā and his eminence over the creatures of the world. Then the world's folk will know that his station is that of those snatched away on the carpet of companionship, not that of the travelers in the way stations of service. He who is snatched away is being pulled by the Real, but the traveler is traveling by himself. When someone is being pulled by the Real, he is in the way station of whispered secrets and joy and is fitting for generous bestowal and exaltation. But when someone is himself traveling, he keeps on wanting to gain access to the thresh- old of service and seeking for a rank to appear for himself. The former is the station of MuḤammad, the Real's beloved, and the latter is the station of Moses, the Real's speaking-companion. Do you not see that He said about Moses, “Moses came to Our appointed time” [7:143], but He said about MuṣṬafā, “who took His servant by night.” Moses was a comer, traveling by himself. MuḤammad was taken, snatched away from himself. He who walks with His feet is not like him who walks toward Him, and he to whose secret core revelation comes is not like him who is called to Him. The one who was traveling was absent through distance, so after separation he found union. The one who was taken was in the elevation of union at the outset, and he received the robe of bounty at the end. Then He says, “His servant by night. ” When He takes His servant to the presence of whis- pered secrets and joy, He takes him by night, because night is the meeting place of the recognizers, the moment of the seclusion of the friends, the resting place of the yearners, and the time of caress- ing the servants. When night comes, the friends find the moment of seclusion, for the watchers are asleep and the enemies far away: the house is empty and the friend waiting: It's night, there's wine, and your servant's alone- get up and come, my dear, for tonight is our night. Among the reports about David is this: “O David, he who claims to love Me is a liar if night comes, and he goes to sleep on Me.” “O MuḤammad! Everyone who puts up with suffering will afterwards find a treasure. I com- manded you, 'And of the night, keep vigil therein as a supererogatory act for thee! [17:79]. Get up at night and pray.' It was I Myself who commanded you to get up at night, to come, and to whisper in secret with Me. Thus you came to know that I do not neglect anyone's suffering and I convey everyone to what is fitting for him.” Another subtle point has also been made: The Lord of the Worlds affirmed for MuṣṬafā an act appropriate to his servanthood, and He spoke of His own act as fitting for His lordhood. The act of MuṣṬafā was ascending: who took His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque. The act of God was descending: “He descends every night to the lowest heaven.” The ascent of MuḤammad was fitting for his mortal nature, and God's descent was fitting for His divin- ity and appropriate for His Essence and attributes. Then He made the time of His descent be night, and He willed that MuḤammad's ascent also be at night, for He called MuḤammad His “beloved,” and the meaning of love is nothing other than conformity. From the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque. He was taken from the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque and from the Farthest Mosque to the Lote Tree of the Final End and the highest way station so that he would see the states and terrors of the Resurrection face-to-face. Thereby the foundations of intercession would be laid down. Tomorrow when the resurrection takes place, the harshness and tremendous of the Compeller will surround the creatures. In fear and fright at the resurrection, the terror, and the harshness of the Exalted Threshold, the creatures will all fall into themselves, bewildered, terrified, and having tasted the horror, for they will be seeing what they had never before seen. They will not turn away from their own business and work to anyone else's work. Everyone will be saying, “My soul! My soul!” But MuṣṬafā had already been shown the Dominion, the Greatest Signs, and the wonders of the Unseen. He will have no fear, and the awesomeness and harshness of that day will have no effect on him. He will give his heart over to intercession for the community. He will be saying, “My community! My community!” If you want an example of this state, consider the work of Moses. It had been predetermined that Moses and the army of the enemy would one day come together, the sorcerers would work a tremendous sorcery, and Moses' staff would become a serpent to swallow down that sorcery. But before that day, in the presence of whispered prayer with the Lord of the Worlds, it was said to him, “Cast thy staff! [7:117]. O Moses! Throw down your staff!” Moses threw the staff and it became a serpent. Moses was afraid of that, and the Exalted Lord said, “Take it and fear not! [20:21]. O Moses, pick it up and do not fear!” Hence on the day when he was face-to-face with Pharaoh and the staff became a serpent, all who saw it were afraid, for they had never seen it before, but Moses was not afraid, because he had seen it once. It has also been said, “The Real sent him so that the folk of the earth would learn worship from him. Then He raised him to heaven so that the angels would learn the courteous acts of worship from him. God says, 'The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass' [53:17]. He did not turn to the right nor to the left. He did not desire any station or any bestowal of honor. He was free of every wish and every joy.” Listen to a wonderful subtlety: It was said to Adam, “Fall down!” [2:36]. It was said to MuṣṬafā, “Ascend!”: “O Adam! Go to the earth so that the world of dust may settle down because of the majestic guise of your sultanate. O MuḤammad! Come up to heaven so that the summit of the spheres may be adorned by the beauty of your contemplation. O MuḤammad! My secret in saying to your father, 'Fall down!,' was so that I could say to you, 'Ascend!' Sit on the steed of aspiration and make the top of the spheres the carpet dust for the soles of your blessed feet. Travel away from the corporeal and the spiritual and then gaze upon Me. Bring to the Presence the pure gift of 'The salutations, the blessed things, the prayers, and the goodly things belong to God!' Then the overflowing goblet of the good fortune of 'The peace be upon thee, O Prophet, and God's mercy!' will be sent to you on the hand of the cupbearer of the Covenant. Take it with the fingers of acceptance and drink it down! And, like the noble, pour a draft on the earth of the hearts of the community, for, as the noble have said, We drank, and we poured on the earth its share, for the earth has a portion from the cup of the noble. * Make everyone's cup the like of his spirit, make everyone's reports equal to his intellect. Jaʿfar ṣādiq said, “When the beloved approached in utmost nearness, the utmost awe overcame him, so his Lord treated him with the utmost gentleness, for the utmost awe is endured only by the utmost gentleness.” On the night of the miʿrāj when the Master reached the Presence, he found the utmost proximity and saw the utmost awe from that utmost proximity. When the Exalted Lord prepared his heart, He brought him near Himself with the utmost gentleness and infinite generos- ity. The gentle favors of honor surrounded him and he reached the way station of Then He drew close [53:8] and found the seclusion of Or closer [53:9]. He heard the mystery, he tasted the wine, he saw the vision of the Real, he fled from the two worlds, he took his ease with the Friend. What happened happened, what he heard he heard, what he saw he saw, and no one is aware of these secrets, for intellects and imaginations are dismissed from perceiving them. A mystery went behind the curtain of jealousy and was conveyed to the prophetic hearing without the intrusion of others-light within light, joy within joy, delight within delight. God reported the story to us so as to honor him, and He concealed the secrets to magnify him. I have a secret with the night, a wonderful secret- the night knows and I know; I know and the night.

And We gave Moses the Book, and We made it a guidance for the Children of Israel. God's many mentions of Moses in the Qur'an are among the signs of His honoring him and the marks of His love for him. When someone loves someone, he often mentions him. MuṣṬafā said, “When someone loves something, he mentions it much”: When someone loves something he is always mentioning its name and remembering it. Do you not see that the Lord of the world, the lovingly kind Enactor, said to Moses, “I cast upon thee love from Me” [20:39]. Hence you should look at how many times He mentioned Moses in the Qur'an: the promised time of Moses, the Mount of Moses, the promise to Moses, the exile of Moses, the whispered prayer of Moses, the brother of Moses, the sister of Moses, the mother of Moses, the traveling companion of Moses, the sea of Moses, the Pharaoh of Moses, the suffering of Moses, the caressing of Moses. He did not leave anything of the states and character traits of Moses without mentioning it in the Qur'an and making the faithful happy by hearing about it. Thus you will know that much mention is the fruit of the tree of friendship and the mark of the road of friendship.

And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: “You will surely work corruption in the earth twice and you will become high with great height.” “We ruled and decreed, bringing the work out from the Unseen, so as to show the creatures that all of that was We, and all are We. In the Beginningless were We, in the Endless are We. Good and bad are by Our desire, profit and loss are by Our predetermination, the engendered beings and the newly arrived things are ruled over by Our prescribing and subjugated by Our determin- ing. From the beginningless to the everlasting Our knowledge goes everywhere and We rule and command everything. The existence and nonexistence of you, who are creatures, are the same for the threshold of Our Majesty. We do not benefit from your existence nor are We harmed by your nonexistence. The perfection of Our exaltedness has no need for your obedience.”

If you do the beautiful, you will have done the beautiful for your own souls, and if you do the ugly, it will be against them. If you do the beautiful, you will earn your reward, and if you do the ugly, you will attract your punishment. The Real is more exalted than that ornament or stain should go back to Him from the acts of the servant. The exalted majesty of the Unity and the perfection of the Self-Sufficiency is more exalted and purer than that it should be adorned by the obedience of the obedient or stained by the disobedience of the disobedient. If you come as a good man, you yourself will profit, and if you come as a bad man, you will bring harm upon yourself. He is saying, “For the majesty of Our Unity, the beauty of Our Self-Sufficiency is enough.” Her own face had itself as a moon, her own eye had itself as collyrium. If you do the beautiful, you will have done the beautiful for your own souls. This is the degree of the generality of the faithful in their deeds. As for the degree of the elect in their deeds and states, it is as was said by Abū Yazīd concerning the allusion of this verse: “He who acts for his own soul does not act for God, and he who acts for God does not act for his own soul, nor does he see it.” Abū Sulaymān Dārānī said, “In this world the doers act in various ways, each of them seeking his own share in his deeds. Thus an ignorant person acts in heedlessness, a doer acts out of habit, a fearful man acts in fear, a trusting person acts while detached, a renunciant acts in seclusion, and a sincerely truthful man acts with love. Those who act in God are fewer than the few.”

Perhaps your Lord will have mercy upon you. And if you return, We will return. This verse is a strong handhold and a beautiful caress for the hopeful. In other words, “Perhaps He who nurtures you and feeds you with His bounty will have mercy upon you. There is hope that the Lord who created you gratis out of His bounty, who nourished you with His blessings, who kept you in His guarding and solicitude with His gentleness, and who preserved you from blights and disliked things will have mercy on you in the end and finish the work that He Himself began with bounty.” And if you return, We will return. Sahl ibn ʿAbdallāh said, “If you return to fleeing from Us, We will return to taking the path against you so that you will return to Us.” This is just like what MuṣṬafā said, recounting from God: “When I know that occupation with Me has overpowered My servant's heart, I put My servant's appetite into asking from Me and whispering to Me. When My servant is like that and he desires to be negligent of Me, I come between him and his negligence of Me.”

Man supplicates for evil just as he supplicates for good. Sahl said, “The safest of supplications is remembrance and the abandonment of choice in supplica- tion and asking, for in remembrance there is sufficiency, and perchance man will supplicate and ask for that within which is his destruction, while he is not aware. Do you not see that God says, 'Man supplicates for evil just as he supplicates for good.'” When someone remembers constantly and abandons choice in supplicating and asking, the best of his wishes will be freely given to him and the blights of asking and choice will fall away from him. The Prophet said, recounting from his Lord, “When someone's remembrance of Me keeps him too busy to ask from Me, I will give him the best of what I give to the askers.”

And every man, We have fastened his omen to his neck. And We shall bring forth for him, on the Day of Resurrection, a book he will meet wide open. What is appropriate for each person was fastened to his neck and written out for him in the Begin- ningless. One had the crown of felicity placed on his head, the tree of his hope filled with fruit, the bounties brought out, the night of separation taken away, the day of union brought forth. By the decree of wretchedness another had the blanket of ill fortune pulled over his head and he was wounded by the sword of deprivation and fastened down with the spikes of rejection. Yes, this ap- portioning happened in the Beginningless; nothing will be increased and nothing decreased. What can be done, for the Greatest Judge wanted it this way. The poor Adamite who has no awareness of his own Beginningless, and who sits heedless of his own Endless! Between what was and what will be, he has been taken by the sleep of heedlessness. He will awake from the sleep of heedless- ness on the day when he is handed the book of his deeds. And We shall bring forth for him, on the Day of Resurrection, a book he will meet wide open, a book whose pen is his tongue, whose ink is his saliva, whose paper is his bodily parts and joints, and which he himself has dictated from beginning to end. The angels are the scribes and the wit-nesses against him, and not one letter will be added or subtracted. It will be said to him,

Read thy book! Thy soul suffices thee today as a reckoner against thee. “Read your book and see your own deeds.” If you deny one letter of it, that very bodily member from which that deed went forth will testify against you, as God says: “On the day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet bear witness against them concerning what they were doing” [24:24]. This is why He says, “Thy soul suffices thee today as a reckoner against thee,” that is, as a witness of what came from you against you. It has been said that the books are two: One is written by the angel against the servant, and that is his words and deeds; the other is written by the Real against Himself, and that is His pardon and mercy toward the servant. If the beginningless solicitude takes the servant by the hand, His reckoning with him will be from the book of His own mercy, not the book of the servant's deeds. This is just like what has come in the traditions: When the servant's book is placed in his hands, it is said, “Read thy book!” The servant looks into the book and sees written on the first page, “In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.” He says, “Lord God, first dis-charge for me the account for this one line and issue its decree for me.” God says, “My servant! I have taken account of it and I have forgiven you through My bounty and mercy. In the Beginningless, I wrote mercy for you and said about Myself, 'Forgiver of sins and Accepter of repentance' [40:3].” Thy soul suffices thee today as a reckoner against thee. ʿUmar KhaṬṬāb said, “Take an account- ing of yourselves before you are brought to account, weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and prepare for the Greatest Exposure.” Anyone who is aware of the Tribunal of Wrongdoing and the calling to account at the resurrection, who has found a whiff of the recognition of the states and terrors of that day, should know that whatever was his companion during his days-little and much, spots and specks-its talk will be asked from him tomorrow and he will be called to account for it. Hence today he should lift the veil of heedlessness away from his road and keep his deeds and words straight in keeping with the yardstick of the Shariah. From his days he should ask for truthfulness in interaction before he is made present at the tribunal of the King of Kings and his ac- tivities and moments of rest are compared with the scale of justice; if there are any deficiencies or losses, one hundred thousand proximate holy ones will open the truthful tongue of bearing witness against him. In shame he will seek the road of flight, but there will be no place to flee. The story is told that a father said to his son, “Whatever you say to people today and whatever you let pass over your tongue, tell it all to me at the time of the night prayer, and expose to me your activities and moments of rest.” That night at prayer, with great effort and suffering and complete self-exertion, the boy told his father about that one day of words and deeds. The next day he asked him to do the same thing. The boy said, “Protect me father! Lay upon me any suffering and toil you want, but do not ask me this one thing, for I am unable to bear it.” His father said, “You poor boy! My goal is for you be awake and aware and for you to fear the standing place of calling to account and the exposure of the resurrection. Today you cannot bear taking account of one day with your own gentle father. How will you be able to bear being called to account for a whole lifetime tomorrow-with severity and contention that do not leave aside even the spots and specks?”

And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and beautiful doing toward your parents. In this verse the wise Lord, the eternal Enactor, the lovingly kind and generous Beautiful-Doer commands the servants to servanthood. Servanthood is three things: seeing favor, striving in service, and fear of the end. Seeing favor belongs to Abraham the bosom friend, who said, “Who created me, so He is guiding me” [26:78]. Striving in service belongs to MuḤammad the beloved, to whom it was said, “We did not send down the Qur'an upon thee for thee to be wretched” [20:2]. Fear of the end belongs to Joseph the sincerely truthful, who said, “Receive me as a submitter” [12:101]. When someone stands in the field of servanthood in the row of service and sets his feet in the clay of what he desires, making the Exalted Presence the Kaabah of his wishes, God will put the folk of the empire into his service and will take care of his work in the two worlds without him. This is why MuṣṬafā said, “When someone belongs to God, God belongs to him.” When- ever someone has no watchfulness in servanthood, he will have no contemplation on the carpet of proximity. Know also that the wayfarers in the road of servanthood are three men: One is the worshiper, whose soul is subjugated by the fear of punishment. One is the recognizer, whose heart is subju- gated by the forcefulness of proximity. One is the lover, whose spirit is subjugated by the unveil- ing of the Haqiqah. Whenever the worshiper wants to lift away the bond of struggle from his days, at once he looks at the title-page of the Real's rebuke and throws down his head in the station of shame. Whenever the recognizer wants to make manifest the banner of happiness and expansiveness by virtue of proximity, at once the ruling power of the Real's awesomeness appears and he falls into the lowland of confoundedness. Whenever the lover gazes at majesty, at once he melts in awe, seeing only bewilderment in bewilderment. Whenever he gazes at beauty, he delights in happiness and revelry, seeing only light and joy. In the tongue of his state he says, “Your beauty is my pleasure, Your approval my delight, and among all the religions Your love is my religion. * Along with Your face the world has no night, along with Your good fortune the universe has no grief! When an eye sees You, it is relieved of pain. When a spirit finds You, it is exempt from death.” This is the state of the Adamite: sometimes in the garden of yearning, sometimes in the pit of separation, sometimes imprisoned by himself in the claws of contraction, sometimes caressed by the Real's gentleness in the grasp of expansion. One of the pirs of the Tariqah said, “I was traveling with Khawāṣṣ and we stopped in a way station. A lion came near us and slept. Out of fear I got up and climbed a tree. I was on the tree's branch until dawn. Khawāṣṣ slept without thinking about the lion. The next day we stopped at another way station. A gnat sat on him and until morning he complained about the gnat's torment. I said, 'O shaykh! Last night you had no fear of a lion with all that tremendousness and thought nothing of it. Why are you complaining tonight about such a frail gnat?' “He answered, 'Last night I was taken away from myself. I was snatched from myself, the in- scription of nonbeing written over me. I was selfless of self and standing through the Real. Today I have been given back to myself, so this frail gnat has made me captive to its days.'” That you worship none but Him, and beautiful doing toward your parents. The Real com- mands the servant to observe all that is rightfully due to his parents, and they are of the same kind as he. It the servant is incapable before what is rightfully due to his own kind, how will he under- take what is rightfully due to his Lord? Abū ʿUthmān was asked about kindness toward parents. He said, “You should not raise your voice toward them and you should not look at them angrily. They should not see any opposition from you outwardly or inwardly. You must respect them as long as they live and pray for them after they die. You should stand in service of their friends after them, for the Prophet said, 'One of the kindest of kind deeds is that a man take care of those his father loved.' When the Prophet slaughtered a sheep, he would take some of it to the friends of Khadīja. ” Concerning what is rightfully due to father and mother, it has been said that this is nine things, five during their lives and four after their death. The five things during their lives are loving them with the whole heart, speaking beautifully to them with the tongue, serving them extensively with the body, helping them with property, and obeying them in that of which God approves. The four that are after death are satisfying their plaintiffs, appointing for them a portion of your own good works, making supplications for them, and avoiding everything that would torment their spirits.

And say to My servants that they should say what is more beautiful. “O MuḤammad, say to My servants that the words they speak should be more beautiful, more true, and more pleasing. That is remembering and lauding God, mentioning Him on the tongue, and keeping His remembrance in the heart.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O You who open the tongues of those who whisper in prayer, who increase the intimacy of the seclusions of the rememberers, and who are present in the souls of the keepers of the mystery! I have no traveling companion but the mention of You, no supplies but keeping Your remembrance, no guidepost and no one to show the road to You but You. O God, look upon the need of someone who has nothing other than one need!” It has also been said, “The most beautiful word of sinners is attesting to offenses, and the most beautiful word of recognizers is attesting to the incapacity to recognize. The Prophet said, 'I do not number Thy laudations: Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself.'” The most beautiful words that a sinful man may say is to attest to his own offense and ac- knowledge his own sin so that the Exalted Lord may bestow on him the success of repentance and complete the work of his repentance for him by forgiving his sins, for that is the promise He has given: “And others who have acknowledged their sins. They mixed a wholesome deed with another, an ugly deed. Perhaps God will turn toward them” [9:102]. And the most beautiful word that a recognizing man may say is to attest to his own incapacity to recognize the Real. He knows that no one recognizes Him, nor can anyone do so, as is worthy of Him in the reality of His rightful due and the limits of His exaltedness. This is why Abū Bakr ṣiddīq said, “Glory be to Him who made no path for the creatures to recognize Him save the incapacity to recognize Him!” Pure and faultless is the Lord, who considers the servant's incapacity to recognize Him as recognition! Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said, “O God, he who recognizes You has not recognized You. What then about the state of him who in fact has not recognized You?!” Naṣrābādī and Shāh [Kirmānī] disagreed with each other. One said that He can be recognized and the other said that He cannot be recognized. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “Both spoke the truth. When the one said that He cannot be recognized, that is the reality of the Real, which no one reaches but He, for He knows Himself and recognizes Himself in His reality. When the other said that He can be recognized, that is the general recognition that there is no god other than He, that He has no associate or partner, that He has no equal or need, and that there is no assertion of similarity or ineffectuality.” This is the same as was said by Abu'l-ʿAbbās ʿAṬāÌ: “There are two recognitions, the recogni- tion of the Real, and the recognition of the reality of the Real. The recognition of the Real is the recognition of His oneness and uniqueness, which people recognize from His names and attributes. The recognition of the reality of the Real is not within the capacity of creatures. No one perceives the bounds of His magnificence and qualities, and there is no access to encompassing Him. He says, 'They encompass Him not in knowledge' [20:110]. 'They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure' [22:74].”

And We made some of the prophets more excellent than others. The prophets have the generous gifts of states and the specific characteristics of proximity. One of them has chosenness [Adam], another bosom friendship [Abraham], another speaking with God [Moses], and still another the miʿrāj, intercession, and vision. Then He made some of them su- perior to others in specific characteristics. He made the prophets superior to the world's folk, He made the messengers superior to the prophets, He made the Possessors of Resoluteness superior to the messengers, and He made MuṣṬafā superior to the Possessors of Resoluteness. The furthest limits of the stations of all of them are the beginning of the station of MuṣṬafā; the furthest limits of their stations is apparent, but the end of his station is not apparent. He is aware of the secret core of all of them, but no one other than the Real is aware of his secret core. That is why he said, “'I am the master of the children of Adam, without boasting.' How should I boast of that? For I am separate from them in my state and I stand with the Real in beautiful courtesy. Were I to boast, I would boast of the Real, proximity, and closeness, for He says, 'Then He drew close, so He came down' [53:8]. If I do not boast about the place of closeness and proximity, how could I boast about being the master of all the races?” That paragon of the world was a sun whose eastern horizon was Mecca and whose western horizon was Yathrib. Its eclipse was in the cave, but that was an eclipse within which a hundred thousand deposits of gentle favor were unveiled. On his forehead was the splendor of By thy life [15:72], on the sleeve of his covenant the exalted embroidery of MuḤammad is God's mes- senger [48:29], on the door of the pavilion of his secret core this flag of rulership: Surely We have opened up for thee a clear opening [48:1]. The rug of that paragon's messengerhood was thrown from the east of the world to the west of the world, the carpet of his prophethood was spread from Qāf to Qāf, the shadowy banners of unbelief were overthrown with his appearance, the seat of his secret core's joy was set up higher than the throne of Ursa Major. The long and short of it is that first of all was his aspiration, in the middle his honor, and at the end his burning for his community. Adam was exalted and ennobled, but the devil instilled him with disquiet until he slipped. But the luster and greatness of MuḤammad the Arab leapt at the devil and brought him into the work. Thus he said, “There is no one who has not been entrusted a comrade from among the jinn.” They said, “Not even you, O Messenger of God?” He said, “Not even I, but God has helped me against him, so he has submitted.” Adam was brought in by the door of severity. The shadow of His severity fell on an angel, who became a heretic. MuḤammad the Arab was brought in by the door of gentleness. The shad- ow of His gentleness fell on a devil, who became one of the sincerely truthful.

We indeed honored the children of Adam, and We carried them on land and sea, and We provided them with goodly things, and We made them much more excellent than many of those We created. It was a great felicitation, a complete bestowal of eminence, and a tremendous honor that God gave to the faithful children of Adam. On the Day of the Compact, at the outset of the work and the com- mencement of existence, He gave them a place in the grasp of His attributes and addressed them with the quality of gentleness, binding them to the covenant and compact of friendship. Then, when they came into this world, He gave them a beautiful form, a lovely shape, and a complete robe of honor, adorning them with knowledge, intellect, speech, understanding, and ex- cellence. He did not hold them back from the outward success of struggle or the inner realization of contemplation and recognition. He opened the door of His mercy and generosity to them, and He kept them on the carpet of whispered prayer. Whenever they want, they call upon Him, ask from Him, and tell Him their secrets. It has been transmitted in one of the traditions that God said, “My servants, confide your secrets in Me. If you will not, then whisper and speak to Me. If you will not, then listen to Me. If you will not, then gaze upon Me. If you will not, then be at My door and lift up your needs before Me, for I am the most generous of the generous.” Part of the honor is that He bestowed before they asked and He forgave before they begged forgiveness, as has come in the report: “I bestowed upon you before you asked from Me, and I forgave you before you asked Me to forgive you.” Part of the honor is that among all the created things, He specified them for affection and love. That which He did not bestow on the angels and did not say about the cherubim and the spirituals of heaven, He said about them: “He loves them, and they love Him [5:54]. God approves of them and they approve of Him [9:100]. Those who have faith are more intense in love for God [2:165]. So remember Me; I will remember you [2:152]. ” Remember Me is the rivulet of your remembrance, and I will remember you is the ocean of the Real's remembrance. When the rivulet of the servant's remembrance reaches the ocean of the Real's remembrance, the water of the ocean of I will remember you enters the rivulet of Remember Me and all of it becomes the ocean's water. Nothing remains of the rivulet. This is exactly what the Pir of the Tariqah said: “When someone falls into the Real's grasp, he burns, and then the Real is his successor.” O God, You are the meaning of the call of the truthful, You light up the souls of the friends, You are the repose of the hearts of the exiles! You are present in the midst of the spirit, so it is with my lost heart that I say, “Where are You?” You are the life of the spirit and the mirror of the tongue. You Yourself are the spokesman for Yourself. By Your rightful due against Yourself, do not seat us in the shadow of delusion! Convey us to union with You! He said, “We indeed honored the children of Adam.” He did not say “the faithful,” or “the worshipers,” or “the strugglers.” Thus He declared this honoring pure of being the counterpart of activity, or being caused by a conformity with something, or being the result of a worthiness in some respect. The reason He did not tie His generosity and gentleness toward the servants to their deeds or struggle is so that you would know that His caressing has no cause and His honoring is not a com- pensation. He caresses because He wants to, not because of the servants' obedience. He bestows because of His bounty, not because of their effort. The servant who finds the Real's generosity does not find it because of his obedience. Rather, he has obedience because he has found the Real's generosity. It is not the servant's supplication that led to the response of the Real; rather, it is the Real's response that has led the servant to supplicate. The servant who finds the Real does not find from seeking; rather, he finds seeking from finding. Being carried is the act of him who was not; carrying is the bounty of Him who always was. And We carried them on land and sea. The mounts of the common people on land and sea are one thing, and the mounts of the elect something else. Concerning the mounts of the common people He says, “He appointed for you, from ships and cattle, what you mount upon so that you may sit on their backs” [43:12-13]. In these friend and enemy, familiar and stranger, are all the same. Concerning the mounts of the elect on the sea He says, “And the wind was Solomon's, its morning course a month and its evening course a month” [34:12]. About MuṣṬafā He said, “Who took His servant by night” [17:1]. Solomon had the wind and MuṣṬafā had Burāq. In the afterworld, the mounts of the friends and the near ones will be what He says: “We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves” [19:85]. Concerning this verse God's Mes- senger said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul! When they emerge from their graves, they will be welcomed by white she-camels with wings, upon which are saddles of gold and each of whose strides is the length of eyesight. They will take them as far as the gate of the Garden.” He also said, “Make your sacrificial animals large and fat, for they will be your mounts on the Narrow Path.” Among them is he who says, “Everyone will mount upon the deeds he did in this world and upon which he died.” And among them is he who says, “No one will pass over the Narrow Path except with the light of recognition.” And We provided them with goodly things. Goodly provision is that which is in remembrance of the Provider. When someone is not absent in his heart or heedless of his Lord, his every provi- sion is goodly, for when encountering the Beloved colocynth is honey, and when the Beloved is absent honey is colocynth. YaḤyā ibn Muʿādh said, “Goodly provision is what is opened to a man without his asking or looking for it.” And We made them much more excellent than many of those We created: With knowledge of God and His rulings We made the knowers more excellent than the ignorant, and with recognition We made the friends more excellent than all creatures.

Say: “Each acts according to his own manner.” What comes from the Adamite other than disloyalty? What comes from water and clay other than error? What will be seen from the Lord's generosity other than loyalty? In the whole Qur'an, no verse offers more hope than this. He is saying, “Everyone does what comes from him, and from everyone comes what is worthy of him. The servant returns to sin and the Lord returns to forgiveness.” One of revealed books tells us that God said, “O child of Adam! You keep on returning to sins, and I keep on returning to forgiveness.” It was said to the abandoned one of the empire, the despairing Iblis, “Prostrate yourself before Adam!” He said, “I will not, for Adam is from dust, and I am from fire.” It was said to him, “O unlucky one! No doubt everyone does what is worthy of him, and from everyone comes what is inside him. When fire dies down, it becomes ashes, which can never be renewed. Dust, even if it is old, is renewed by sprinkling water on it. O Iblis, O you who are of fire, you left aside one command, so you will die and never come to life! O Adam, O you who are of dust, you let one tear of remorse fall from your eyes, so I have forgiven your sins and will caress you. O Iblis, what you did comes from fire. O Adam, what you saw is born of dust. Say: 'Each acts according to his own manner.'”

They ask thee about the spirit. Man is body, heart, and spirit. The body is the place of the Trust, the heart is the threshold of be- ing addressed, and the spirit is the center point of contemplation. All blessings are largesse for the body; its nourishment is food and drink. All favors are gifts for the heart; its nutriment is remem- bering and mentioning the Friend. All vision and contemplation are the portion of the spirit; its nourishment is seeing the Friend. The body is under the severity of power, the heart in the grasp of the attributes, and the spirit in the embrace of exaltedness-the carpet of intimacy spread, the candle of compassion lit, the beginningless Friend having lifted the veil.

Say: “Have faith in it, or do not have faith.” Surely those who were given knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in prostration. The side of Unity, the exalted Majesty, is alluding to the fact that He has never had and will never have any need for an obedience that was not and then came into being. He is saying, “You have no worth, for nothing is worthy of Me. If you want, have faith, and if you do not want, do not. I have no need for your faith. Beginningless majesty and beauty gain no adornment from the obedi- ence of newly arrived things. I had still not written out existence for any existent thing when My majesty was contemplating My beauty and I was pleased with Myself in Myself. Today that I have created the creatures, I am what I was. I have no need in Myself for any causes and no need in My perfection for any seeking.”

They fall down on their faces weeping. Weeping is the state of the beginners and the attribute of the travelers-everyone according to his own state and every traveler in the measure of his own deeds. The repenter looks upon his own sin and weeps in fear of punishment. The obedient person looks upon his own lax obedience and weeps in fear of shortcoming. The worshiper weeps in fear of the outcome: “What will be done with me tomorrow?” The recognizer looks at the beginningless precedent and weeps: “What was done to me and decreed for me in the Beginningless?” All this happens to travelers on the path and is a mark of the weakness of their state. As for those who have been snatched away from themselves, the folk of stability, for them weeping is an imperfection and defect in their road. Thus it is related that Junayd was sitting with his wife and Shiblī entered. The wife wanted to cover herself, but Junayd said to her, “Shiblī is not aware of you, so sit.” Junayd kept speaking to her, and then Shiblī wept. When Shiblī began to weep, Junayd said to his wife, “Cover yourself, for Shiblī has come back from absence to awareness.”

Praise belongs to God who sent down the Book to His servant and placed no crookedness therein. Praise belongs to God. He praised Himself by Himself since He knew the incapacity of creatures to reach His praise. The majestic Lord, the perfectly powerful, the fount of bounteous bestowal, the one worthy of His own laudation, the one who gives thanks for His own giving-He Himself praises Himself and He Himself lauds Himself, for He Himself recognizes His exaltedness and He Himself knows His tremendousness and all-compellingness. He is exalted through His own majesty, holy through His own perfection, magnificent through His own magnificence. How will water and dust ever reach His description? How can that which was not, then came to be, know His measure? How can the attributes of newly arrived things match His attributes? That which was not, then came to be, is not. How can the recognition of that which is come from that which is not? The Exalted Lord brought the creatures into existence with His bounty and generosity. He clothed them in the garment of creation, nurtured them and preserved them from trials, accepted their obedience with all its shortcoming, and concealed their iniquity and disloyalty in the curtain of bounty. He gave them the success of obedience and adorned their hearts with faith and recogni- tion. Since He knew that the servants were incapable of discharging gratitude for these blessings, He uncovered His bounty and generosity, made the tongue of gentleness a deputy for the indigent and incapable, and praised Himself. He said “Praise belongs to God.” In the road of love it is a stipulation of friendship to act as deputy for friends. He said, “All those blessings that I gave I gave without you and I apportioned without you. Just as I apportioned without you, so also I praised without you. By virtue of friendship I acted as your deputy so as to complete My beautiful doing and beneficence toward you.” Who sent down the Book to His servant. Who is an allusion. Sent down the Book to His servant is an expression. Allusions are the portion of the spirits, and expressions are the portion of the [bodily] semblances. The spirits, on hearing who, were elated and came into revelry. The semblances, on hearing sent down the Book to His servant, began to struggle and took to the road of seeking. This verse is both a singling out of MuṣṬafā, the Seal of the Prophets, and a declaration of the greatness of the Qur'an, the speech of the All-Merciful. As for MuṣṬafā, he is the security of the earth and the adornment of heaven; as for the Qur'an, it is a reminder for the hearts of the faithful and an intimacy for the spirits of the recognizers. MuṣṬafā is the guard of the Shariah's road and the title-page of the Haqiqah. The Qur'an is provision for the hearts and clarification for the spir- its. MuṣṬafā is the whole of perfection and the totality of beauty. The Qur'an is a book from the Majestic Presence to the servants, a book in which there are both good news and warning. It gives this good news to the friends:

They shall have a beautiful wage, remaining therein endlessly. It gives this warning to the strangers:

They shall have a beautiful wage, remaining therein endlessly. It gives this warning to the strangers:

They say nothing but a lie.

Perhaps thou art consuming thyself with grief in their tracks that they do not have faith in this talk. “O MuḤammad! Do not busy your secret core with their opposition. It is only for you to deliver the message; guidance comes from Us to whomsoever We will.”

Surely We have made all that is on the earth an adornment for it. The folk who recognize God, love Him, and yearn for Him are the adornment of the earth: its stars, moons, and suns. When the lights of tawḤīd shine in the secret cores of the tawḤīd-voicers, all of the horizons become radiant with their brightness. The adornment of the earth is the friends of God. The cosmos is decorated with them and the world painted with them. Their hearts are lit by the light of recognition, their secret cores are given access to the presence of proximity by the mediation of wisdom, their faces are turned toward the presence of proximity by the well-trodden path of rectitude, and the avenue of the Tariqah and the Sunnah has been placed before them. They are the signposts of the religion and the Pegs of the earth, the lamps of the world and the keys to the Gardens. They lay down the foundations of friendship and prop up the portico of truthfulness. God's gentleness toward the creatures comes through them and the goal in the creation of the realm of being is they. In name and mark they are the poor, and in reality they are the kings of the earth-kings in tatters. Anyone who wants to know their conduct and adornment should recite the story of the Companions of the Cave, for God displays them in the Qur'an:

When the chevaliers took refuge in the cave and said, “Our Lord, give us mercy from Thee and furnish us with right conduct in our affair.” It was said to them, “Go into this cave and sleep sweetly. Put down your heads on the pillow of security, for We will take sleep from you in place of the worship of the world's folk.” Listen to a beautiful, subtle point: The Exalted Lord made a cave appear to them in that moun- tain, and when the faithful servants leave this world He makes the four walls of the grave their cave. Just as He gave them security from enemies in that cave, so also He will give the faithful servants security from Satan in the grave, saying, “Fear not and grieve not” [41:30]. In that cave He showed mercy to them: Your Lord will unfold for you of His mercy [18:16]. In the same way, He will show mercy to the faithful in this cave of the grave: Repose and ease and a garden of bliss [56:89]. Just as He made that cave vast for them, for He says, “while they were in a broad space in it” [18:17], so also He will make this grave vast for the faithful servant with wholesome deeds. He says, “Whoever does wholesome deeds-for their own souls they are making provision” [30:44]. And a sound report has come, “His grave will be made spacious for him.” Just as He opened up the top of the cave for them so that fresh air and the breeze of the morning wind would not be cut off from them, so also He will open up a door from paradise to the faithful servants' garden-plots so that a sweet-smelling breeze will pass over them from the direction of the Gardens of Eden and keep their beds sweet.

We recount to thee their story in truth. Surely they were chevaliers who had faith in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. Here we have great eminence, complete honor, and infinite caresses placed on these Companions of the Cave by the Lord of the Worlds, for He called them “chevaliers.” He said, “Surely they were chevaliers.” He bestowed on them the same honor that He gave to His bosom friend Abra- ham, whom He called a chevalier: “They said, 'We heard a chevalier mention them; he is called Abraham'” [21:60]. And concerning Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn He said, “When Moses said to his chevalier” [18:60]. About Joseph the sincerely truthful He said, “The governor's wife has been trying to se- duce her chevalier” [12:30]. The conduct and Tariqah of the chevaliers is what MuṣṬafā said to ʿAlī: “O ʿAlī, the chevalier is straight-speaking, loyal, discharger of trusts, ever-merciful in the heart, protector of the poor, full of bestowal, caresser of guests, beautiful-doer, and possessor of shame.” It has been said that the chief of all the chevaliers was Joseph the sincerely truthful, who saw from his brothers the various trials that he saw, but, when he had them in his own hand, he said to them, “No reproof is upon you today” [12:92]. It has been reported that the Messenger was seated when someone got up and asked for help. The Messenger turned toward his companions and said, “Be a chevalier toward him.” ʿAlī got up and went. When he returned, he had one dinar, five dirhams, and a loaf of bread. The Messenger said, “O ʿAlī, what is this state?” He said, “O Messenger of God! When the questioner asked, it occurred to my heart to give him a loaf. Then it came into my heart that I should give him five dirhams. Then it passed through my mind that I should give him one dinar. Now I do not consider it permissible not to do what has come into my mind and passed into my heart.” The Messenger said, “There is no chevalier but ʿAlī!” And We increased them in guidance. When there is a robe of honor built on the perfect good fortune of love, within which is the explication of beginningless solicitude, it should not be less than what was said about those chevaliers: “And We increased them in guidance.”

And We placed a tie on their hearts when they stood up and said, “Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth.” “We bound them with the tie of sinlessness, kept them on the carpet of recognition, and firmed them up with the cord of love. We lit the candle of kind favor for them in the streambed of solicitude. We taught them the courtesy of companionship in the grammar school of the Beginningless and they set forth in holiness itself, busying themselves in the cave with the mystery of the Haqiqah.” Whenever something has an exaltedness, it is masked by the veils of exaltedness so that not just any non-privy may gaze upon it and not just any drudge may reach it. Those chevaliers were precious in the Threshold of Unity, for they were lit up by the light of faith and the limpidness of tawḤīd, but the eyes of the folk of those days were tainted with the ooze of unbelief and associa- tionism. The jealousy of the religion took them into the veil of the cave so that those eyes tainted by ooze would not see them. The command came from the side of all-compellingness,

Take refuge in the cave. Your Lord will unfold for you of His mercy and furnish you with kindliness in your affair. “Go into this cave of jealousy in the shade of solicitude, the embrace of friendship, and the world of protection. Your Lord will unfold for you of His mercy and keep you in the curtain of sinlessness, clothing you in the garment of mercy, giving you a place in the embrace of exaltedness.” What a lovely day when someone is walking on a road and all at once the one entrusted with this talk comes down and throws the lasso of seeking around his neck and pulls! He fastened to them the word of godwariness [48:26]. “You are Mine and I am yours: 'Be for Me as you always were, and I will be for you as I always have been.'”

Thou wouldst have seen the sun, when it rose, turning aside from their cave to the right. When the lights of the beginningless secrets show their faces to someone's inwardness, how can the light of the sun of form have the gall to throw its rays upon him or exercise its ruling authority over him? The sun of form is for brightening creation, and the lights of the secret cores are for rec- ognizing the Real. The former is the light of form and the latter is the light of the secret core. The former is the world-brightening sun and the latter the heart-brightening light. The former keeps the world bright so that the creatures may gaze upon it, and the latter keeps the hearts of the friends bright so that the Real may gaze upon them. The lights of the secret cores of those chevaliers in the cave gave out the glittering rays of the lights of the secrets, and the shining sun rolled up its skirt, for it was turning aside from their cave to the right [18:17]. When someone's breast is made the place of the lights of the unseen secrets, his attribute is what the Exalted Lord said concerning these chevaliers:

Thou wouldst have thought them awake, but they were sleeping. And We turned them now to the right, now to the left. And their dog was stretching its paws at the doorstep. Hadst thou looked down upon them, surely thou wouldst have turned away from them fleeing, and thou wouldst have been filled with terror from them. When you look at their outwardness, you see them busy in the playing field of deeds. When you look at their secret cores, you see them detached in the garden of the gentleness of the Possessor of Majesty. Outwardly active, inwardly they gaze on the gentleness of the Beginningless. With Thee alone we worship [1:5] they have bound the belt of struggle, and with And Thee alone we ask for help [1:5] they have placed the crown of contemplation on their heads. On the inside they wear the undershirt of surrender, and on the outside they have covered themselves with the caftan of deeds. Their activity conforms to the command, and their vision conforms to the decree. A pir was asked, “Faith without deeds is incomplete, but the Companions of the Cave had no deeds, for when they began to travel, they immediately slept.” The pir answered, “Which deed is greater than what the Exalted Lord said about them-when they stood up [18:14]?” In the tongue of the folk of allusion the meaning is that they stood back from themselves. The outcome of the servants from their deeds comes down to their standing back from themselves. When they stand back from themselves, they reach the Real. The intermediary disappears and He exercises His determination over them, doing their work Himself, as He said concerning the cheva- liers, “And We turned them now to the right, now to the left.” In other words, “We turned them be- tween the states of annihilation and subsistence, unveiling and veiling, disclosure and curtaining.” The Pir of the Tariqah spoke a few words alluding to the levels of these states and the intima-tions of these realities: “O God, how much will You be hidden, how much apparent? For my heart is bewildered, the spirit distracted. How long this curtaining and self-disclosing? When at last will there be the everlasting self-disclosure? O God, how long will You call and drive away? I have melted in wanting the day in which You stay. How long will You throw down and pick up? What is this promise so drawn out and late? Glory be to God! At this threshold, I have nothing but need. What a day it will be when You pour a drop of happiness on my heart! How long will You mix water and fire in me? Oh, my good fortune from the Friend is a resurrection!” And their dog was stretching its paws at the doorstep. When they set out on the road, that little dog began to follow them: “You are exalted guests, and exalted guests put up with hangers-on.” The little dog lifted a few steps in conformity, and until the resurrection the faithful will be reading its story in the Qur'an and displaying it: “And their dog was stretching its paws at the doorstep.” What then do you say about someone who spends his whole life in the company of God's friends and, in conformity with them, takes no step backwards? Do you say that at the resurrection, God will separate him from them? No, of course not! He called Balaam, who knew the greatest name and saw from the Throne to the bottom of the earth, a “dog” and drove him from His threshold. And He showed the same generosity to the dog of the Companions of the Cave that He showed to His friends, keeping it in His road. Thus He shows the world's folk that proximity is because of His caressing, not because of service. Distance is because of His degrading, not because of disobedience. Hadst thou looked down upon them, surely thou wouldst have turned away from them flee- ing. “Looking down” is said for someone who looks from above and has a higher station. He is saying, “O MuḤammad, if you had looked at them, you would have fled from them and your heart would have been upset.” Here there is room for obscurity. What do you say? Was the state of the Companions of the Cave such that the Seal of the Prophets, the title-page of whose glory and majesty was “I was aided by their terror,” should fear them? No, never. These words are addressed to MuṣṬafā, but others are meant. There are many similar instances, such as, “O Prophet, be wary of God!” [33:1], “If thou associatest [others with God], thy deeds shall surely fail” [39:65], and so on. You can also say that what is desired by these words is not instilling fear into MuṣṬafā, but declaring the greatness of their state. It is common usage to say, “So-and-so underwent such a trial that, had you seen it, you would have fainted.” By saying this, one wants to declare the greatness of that work, not the verification of the words. An example of this is that MuṣṬafā said: “Do not consider me more excellent than my brother Jonah.” He also said, “Anyone who says that I am better than he has uttered a lie.” But there is no disagreement in the community that MuṣṬafā was more excellent than Jonah. Nonetheless, the prophetic wisdom in these words is that the Real men- tioned certain things in the story of Jonah in the Glorious Scripture such that there is fear that the servants would have a bad opinion of him. For example, He says, “And Dhu'l-Nūn, when he went forth wrathful” [21:87]. The Messenger said, “When my community hears this verse, they must not have a bad opinion of him and look upon him with the eyes of contempt.” That bad opinion would harm their religion. Even though MuṣṬafā was more excellent than he and all the prophets, he said, “Do not consider me more excellent.” His desire was not to declare a truth but rather to declare the greatness of Jonah, so that everyone would look upon him with the eyes of reverence and not the eyes of contempt. In the same way, when the Real wanted to declare His friends great so that people would look upon them with the eyes of reverence, He addressed His prophet with the words, “Hadst thou looked down upon them, surely thou wouldst have turned away from them fleeing.” Thus the people will look upon them with the eyes of reverence and not harm their own religion. The ulama of the Tariqah and the lords of recognition have said that the work of Sufism is founded on the traveling and conduct of the Companions of the Cave and that the acts of cour- tesy and the ornament of the Tariqah are very similar to their states and conduct. These include realization of intention, disengagement of desire, aspiration, retirement from people, dropping at- tachments, self-purification in the invitation, penitence, disowning self, freedom from the world, happiness with the Real, release from taking control of oneself and approving of oneself, lifting the hands of need to God's kindness, at times burning and melting from the onslaught of awe, and at times happy and joyful in the breeze of intimacy. It has also been said the Lord of the Worlds did with the Companions of the Cave what a lov- ingly kind mother does with her child: First she makes him a cradle, then she puts him to sleep, then she rocks him, then she chases away flies, then she gives him milk so that he will be at ease. God did the same for them. First He took care of their work and made the cave like a cradle for them: He will furnish you with kindliness in your affair [18:16]. Then He put them to sleep: He sealed their ears in the cave [18:11]. Then He rocked them: And We turned them now to the right, now to the left [18:18]. Then He kept the torment of the sun away from them: Thou wouldst have seen the sun, when it rose, turning aside from their cave to the right [18:17]. Then He sent them the drink of mercy so that they would be at ease: Your Lord will unfold for you of His mercy [18:16].

Now send one of you forth with this silver of yours to the city, and let him see which of them has the purest food. Here there are two allusions: One is that every faithful servant, though he may have reached the furthest limit in the Haqiqah, will be held to guarding the rulings of the Shariah, for any reality in which the outward Shariah is not witnessed is the deception and delusion of Satan. The root in this is that the chevaliers sent one of themselves to buy some food for them, and they commanded him to investigate and scrutinize its situation so that heedlessness would not make him fall into something forbidden. The second is what was said by Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥusayn to one of his companions when he took something to the poor or to the folk of recognition, or when he bought food for them: “Let it be the most goodly and the most subtle of things, for when someone reaches recognition, only subtle things conform with him and only delicate things become his intimate. The root here is His words, 'and let him see which of them has the purest food.'” Then he said, “When you buy for the renun- ciants and the worshipers, buy whatever you find, for they are still busy with abasing their own souls and holding them back from appetites.”

Say not of anything, “I will do it tomorrow,” but only, “If God wills.” And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest. When someone recognizes God, his free choice drops away before His will, and his decrees are enveloped by the witnessing of his Lord's decree. When someone sets foot in the street of recognizing God and comes to know that the creatures are all captive to His power in the prison of the Will on the passageway of the decree and the mea- suring out, he will no longer choose and will not prepare his own work, nor will he make his own rulings. He will throw his own work entirely over to God's will and not mix his own self-exertion with what God has taken care of. With the tongue of the state he will say, “O God, O He who was, is, and will be! I know not Your measure and am incapable of what is worthy of You. I wander in my misery, day by day in loss. How then is someone like me?! But such am I. I lament at gaz- ing into the darkness-will anything remain of me? I do not know. My eyes look to a day when You remain and I am not. Who will be like me if I see that day? And if I see it, I will sacrifice my spirit to it.” And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest. It has been said, “When you forget yourself, remember your Lord, and when you forget the creatures, remember the Creator.” He is saying, “Once you have brought your soul's caprice underfoot and removed your status with people from your heart, remember Me and make your spirit happy with this pure remem- brance.” The caprice of the soul is an idol and status with people is a sash of unbelief. As long as you have not disowned the idol, you will not become a tawḤīd-voicer, and as long as you have not undone the sash, you will not be a Muslim. There was a worshiper by the name of Abū Bakr Ishtanjī who had a great status. He feared that he would destroy the status. He got up and set off on a journey during the month of Ramadan and broke the fast in keeping with the ruling of the Shariah. Then he returned from the journey not fasting, and the people were unaware of his excuse. He kept on eating food in the middle of the city until the people gathered around him and began slapping him, saying “He has no religion!” One of the realizers of the road said, “At the time when they were slapping him, I went near to see what he would say. To himself he kept on saying, 'O soul, you are not a people-worshiper, and you must not be deluded by status with the people! Look how I have brought you back to worshiping God, not the people!'” And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest. Junayd said, “The reality of remembrance is to be annihilated from remembrance in the Remembered. That is why God says, 'And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest.' In other words, when you forget the remembrance, the Remembered will be your attribute.” Remembrance is not only that you take it upon yourself to move your lips by your own voli- tion. That in fact is recollection, and recollection is an affectation. True remembrance is that the tongue becomes all heart, the heart becomes all secret core, and the secret core becomes nothing but contemplation. Then the roots of dispersion are cut off. It is from this station that the per- fection of togetherness appears in the World of With-ness. “When self-disclosure is sound, the tongue, the heart, and the secret core are one.” The remembrance is lost in the Remembered, and the spirit is lost in the Light. Reports become face-to-face vision, and face-to-face vision is far from explication. O You whose remembrance is the argument and whose intimacy is the reminder! You are present-of what use to me is this remembrance? O Gentle One! Give permission that I come out of Your remembrance for a moment! Those who call You friends are a crowd, but the most ancient is to be preferred. O You who bring pure milk out from the midst of feces and blood [16:66], by Thy bounty take my hand! Leave me not with the mark of Eve and Adam!

Say not of anything, “I will do it tomorrow,” but only, “If God wills.” And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest. When someone recognizes God, his free choice drops away before His will, and his decrees are enveloped by the witnessing of his Lord's decree. When someone sets foot in the street of recognizing God and comes to know that the creatures are all captive to His power in the prison of the Will on the passageway of the decree and the mea- suring out, he will no longer choose and will not prepare his own work, nor will he make his own rulings. He will throw his own work entirely over to God's will and not mix his own self-exertion with what God has taken care of. With the tongue of the state he will say, “O God, O He who was, is, and will be! I know not Your measure and am incapable of what is worthy of You. I wander in my misery, day by day in loss. How then is someone like me?! But such am I. I lament at gaz- ing into the darkness-will anything remain of me? I do not know. My eyes look to a day when You remain and I am not. Who will be like me if I see that day? And if I see it, I will sacrifice my spirit to it.” And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest. It has been said, “When you forget yourself, remember your Lord, and when you forget the creatures, remember the Creator.” He is saying, “Once you have brought your soul's caprice underfoot and removed your status with people from your heart, remember Me and make your spirit happy with this pure remem- brance.” The caprice of the soul is an idol and status with people is a sash of unbelief. As long as you have not disowned the idol, you will not become a tawḤīd-voicer, and as long as you have not undone the sash, you will not be a Muslim. There was a worshiper by the name of Abū Bakr Ishtanjī who had a great status. He feared that he would destroy the status. He got up and set off on a journey during the month of Ramadan and broke the fast in keeping with the ruling of the Shariah. Then he returned from the journey not fasting, and the people were unaware of his excuse. He kept on eating food in the middle of the city until the people gathered around him and began slapping him, saying “He has no religion!” One of the realizers of the road said, “At the time when they were slapping him, I went near to see what he would say. To himself he kept on saying, 'O soul, you are not a people-worshiper, and you must not be deluded by status with the people! Look how I have brought you back to worshiping God, not the people!'” And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest. Junayd said, “The reality of remembrance is to be annihilated from remembrance in the Remembered. That is why God says, 'And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest.' In other words, when you forget the remembrance, the Remembered will be your attribute.” Remembrance is not only that you take it upon yourself to move your lips by your own voli- tion. That in fact is recollection, and recollection is an affectation. True remembrance is that the tongue becomes all heart, the heart becomes all secret core, and the secret core becomes nothing but contemplation. Then the roots of dispersion are cut off. It is from this station that the per- fection of togetherness appears in the World of With-ness. “When self-disclosure is sound, the tongue, the heart, and the secret core are one.” The remembrance is lost in the Remembered, and the spirit is lost in the Light. Reports become face-to-face vision, and face-to-face vision is far from explication. O You whose remembrance is the argument and whose intimacy is the reminder! You are present-of what use to me is this remembrance? O Gentle One! Give permission that I come out of Your remembrance for a moment! Those who call You friends are a crowd, but the most ancient is to be preferred. O You who bring pure milk out from the midst of feces and blood [16:66], by Thy bounty take my hand! Leave me not with the mark of Eve and Adam!

When Moses said to his chevalier, “I will continue on until I reach the meeting place of the two seas.” Moses had four journeys: One was the journey of flight, as God says recounting from Moses, “So I fled from you when I was afraid of you” [26:21]. The second was the journey of seeking on the night of the fire. That is His words, “He was called from the right bank of the watercourse” [28:30]. Third was the journey of revelry: “When Moses came to Our appointed time” [7:143]. Fourth was the journey of toil: “We have certainly met with weariness on this journey of ours” [18:62]. His journey of flight was at the beginning of the work. He fled from the enemy and turned his face toward Midian, having killed the Egyptian man, as the Exalted Lord says: “So Moses struck him and gave him the decree” [28:15]. When there is solicitude, how can prosperity and victory be ended? Since God had solicitude toward Moses' work, He excused him for that killing. He said, “Moses struck him and My decree reached him.” Then He said, “Moses had no sin in that. The sin belonged to the devil and the act was from the devil: He said, 'This is the work of Satan' [28:15].” In the same way, He will excuse the faithful servant with His bounty and convey His pardon to him. He says, “Satan made them slip for something they had earned, but God has surely pardoned them” [3:155]. God overlooked their sin. It was Satanic disquiet and the devil's work. The second was the journey of seeking on the night of the fire. Moses set out seeking fire. What sort of fire was it, for it placed the whole world on fire! Wherever talk of Moses' fire goes, the whole world takes on the scent of passion because of its turmoil. Moses set off in search of fire and found light. These chevaliers set off in search of light and find fire. If the sweetness of listen- ing to the Real's speech without intermediary reached Moses, what wonder is it that His friends catch a scent of that? If the fire of Moses was apparent, the fire of these chevaliers is hidden. If the fire of Moses was in a tree, the fire of these chevaliers is in the spirit. He who has it knows that this is so: All fires burn the body, but the fire of friendship burns the spirit. There is no patience with the spirit-burning fire. The journey of revelry was mentioned [in the commentary] under His words, “When Moses came to Our appointed time” [7:143]. The fourth journey of Moses was the journey of toil. This is an allusion to the journey of the desirers at the beginning of desire, the journey of discipline and of tolerating the hardship of the rectification of three things: the soul, the disposition, and the heart. The rectification of the soul is three things: bringing it from complaint to gratitude, from heed- lessness to wakefulness, and from foolishness to awareness. The rectification of the disposition is three things: You come forth from annoyance to patience, from niggardliness to free giving, and from retribution to pardon. The rectification of the heart is three things: You come forth from the ruins of feeling secure to fear, from the calamity of despair to the blessing of hope, and from the tribulation of the heart's scatteredness to the heart's freedom. The material of this rectification is three things: following knowledge, permitted food, and constant devotions. Its fruit is three things: a secret core adorned with awareness of the Patron, a spirit lit up with the love of eternity, and knowledge from God found without intermediary. This is why the Lord of the Worlds honors Khiẓr and says about him,

And We taught him knowledge from Us. “When someone is able to sacrifice his attributes to the holy Shariah, We will engrave the secrets of the knowledges of the Haqiqah on his heart: And We taught him knowledge from Us.” The one who speaks of this knowledge is the realizer, who speaks from finding. Light is apparent from his words, familiarity on his face, and servanthood in his conduct. A lightning flash of the Greatest Light has shone in his heart, the lamp of his recognition has been lit, and the unseen secrets have been unveiled to him. Such was Khiẓr in the work of the ship, the boy, and the wall. Take care not to have the opinion that Khiẓr was greater than Moses the Speaking Companion, even if Moses was sent to Khiẓr's grammar school. No, of course not, for in the Court of Inac- cessibility, after MuṣṬafā no prophet has the same joyful expansiveness and proximity as Moses. Nonetheless, He made Khiẓr the furnace of Moses' discipline. Thus, when someone wants to take silver to pureness, he puts it in a fiery furnace. This is because of the superiority of silver over the fiery furnace, not because of the superiority of fire and furnace over silver. Then there are Khiẓr's words,

“Surely thou wilt not be able to bear patiently with me.” The meaning according to true understanding is this allusion: “O Moses, the secret core of your disposition has so much expansiveness from the marks giving witness to the Divinity that you say, 'Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee!' [7:143]. I who am Khiẓr do not have the power and strength to pass these words over my heart or to busy my thoughts with them. Your ruling author- ity will not be able to put up with the grief of my deprivation. Surely thou wilt not be able to bear patiently with me.” As for the breaking the ship in the sea, killing the boy, and repairing the wall, each of these, in keeping with the understanding of the Folk of Findings, alludes to a great principle. It is said that the sea is the sea of recognition. Each of the one hundred twenty-some thousand center points of sinlessness dove into that sea with his community and people in the hope that from that sea they would gather the pearls of tawḤīd in the skirt of seeking, for “He who recognizes himself has rec- ognized his Lord.” The ship is the ship of human nature. Khiẓr wanted to ruin and break that ship with the hand of tenderness, for the owners of the ship were “indigent” [miskīn], and their attribute was “tranquil- ity” [sakīna]. The Court of Eternity had addressed them with these words: “He it is who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful” [48:4]. When MuṣṬafā saw the Real's self-disclosure of Majesty to the hearts of the indigent, he said, “O God, give me life as an indigent, give me death as an indigent, and muster me among the indigent!” When Khiẓr ruined the ship of mortal nature with the hand of tenderness, Moses saw that outwardly it was adorned and flourishing with the ornament of the Shariah and the Tariqah. He said, “Have you made a hole in it to drown its folk?” [18:71]. Khiẓr responded, “And behind them was a king [18:79]: Behind its flourishing was a king, a Satan who had prepared the ambush of severity in the neighborhood of the ship so that he might take the ship with his severity and deception and travel in it by night and day, for 'Satan runs in the children of Adam like blood. ' We took away this adornment and flourishing with the hand of tenderness so that, when Satan comes like a king, he will see it ruined outwardly, and he will not come near it.” As for the boy whom Khiẓr killed and Moses' disavowal of the act, this is an allusion to the wishes and fancies that stick up their heads from a man's makeup in the playing field of discipline and the crucible of struggle. He said, “I have been commanded to strike off the head of every- thing not related to faith with the sword of jealousy. Once fancies mature, the result is that a man becomes a disbeliever in the Tariqah. In the world I ambush them at the beginning of the road of disbelief so that they will return to their own measure.” As for the wall that he repaired, that is an allusion to the serene soul. When he saw that it had become pure and cleansed in the crucible of struggle and was about to become nothing, he said, “O Moses, do not let it become nothing, for it is the rightful due of that Threshold to receive its service. Repairing its outwardness and taking into consideration its inwardness are obligatory for everyone. 'Surely your soul has a rightful due against you.' Beneath it have been placed the treasuries of the secrets of Eternity. If this wall of the soul is laid low, the lordly secrets will fall onto the plain, and every worthless nobody will crave to have them.” The secret in these words is that the treasure of the Haqiqah has been placed in the attributes of mortal nature, and the stages of the clay of the poor were made its curtain. This is exactly what that chevalier said: “Seek the religion from the poor, for reigning kings have the custom of keeping treasures in ruined places.” [DS 466] It has also been said that when Khiẓr said about the ship, “I desired to damage it” [18:79], he was reporting that he alone desired that; he said, “I desired to damage it,” observing courtesy by ascribing to himself the desire for damage. When he reached the talk of the slain boy, he said, “We desired” [18:81], because within it was killing, and killing is something earned by the created thing, whereas creation is God's bounty. When he reached the talk of the two orphans, he said, “So thy Lord desired that they should reach their maturity” [18:82], for there was none of his own acquisition in that. Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, “When Khiẓr said, 'I desired,' it was revealed to him in his secret core, 'Who are you that you should have desire?' So the second time he said, 'We desired,' and it was revealed to him in his secret core, 'Who are you and Moses that you two should have desires?' So he re- turned and said, 'Your Lord desired.'”

Whoever hopes for the encounter with his Lord, let him do wholesome deeds. Sahl said, “The wholesome deed is a deed delimited by the Sunnah.” It has also been said, “The wholesome deed is the one toward which the soul has no regard and within which there is no seeking of reward or recompense.” It has also been said, “Here the wholesome deed is believing in the permissibility of vision and waiting for its time.” Whenever someone hopes for the vision of God, let him believe in his heart that God is seeable in face-to-face vision as a hidden mystery and an everlasting love. Whenever someone seeks the vision of God, he is promised that one day he will reach it: Whoever hopes for the encounter with his Lord, God's term is coming [29:5]. He is expecting a great thing and has a tremendous hope. His aspiration has reached such a high place that he hopes for the vision of God. Were there not this hope, what would be the worth of paradise with all its sweetness? Were there not this promise of vision, why would service rise up from the servant's heart? Everyone has a desire after which he runs, and the recognizer is waiting for the time of vision. People are all passionate for life, so death for them is difficult. The recognizer hurries to death in hope of vision. What harm if you suffer for a year so long as you see the Friend one day in vision.

Kāf HāÌ YāÌ ʿAyn ṣād Hearing these letters is a wine that the Real pours into the hearts of His friends. When they drink it, they seek; when they seek, they rejoice; when they rejoice, they fly; when they fly, they arrive; when they arrive, they depart; when they depart, they join; when they join, they acquire. Then their intellects are drowned in His gentleness, and their hearts absorbed by His unveiling. Listening to the disconnected letters at the beginning of the surahs and verses is a wine poured into the cup of joy and placed in the goblet of intimacy that is given by the majesty of the unity with the attribute of self-sufficiency to His friends. When the friends of the Real drink this wine of intimacy from the cup of holiness in the garden of gentleness, they rejoice. When they rejoice, they seek. They break the cage of being and fly on the wings of passion to the horizon of the Unseen, reaching the Kaabah of union. When they reach it, they reach themselves, their intellects drowned in gentleness, their hearts consumed by unveiling. The breeze of the Beginningless blows from the side of proximity. They lose themselves and find Him. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “For a long time I was seeking Him and finding myself. Now I seek myself and find Him. O Remembered in the proofs, O Reminder of intimacy! Since You are present, of what use is this seeking? 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 You who are before each day and separate from everyone! In this celebration a thousand minstrels are not enough for me.” Kāf HāÌ YāÌ ʿAyn ṣād. This is the Real's laudation of Himself. With these letters He reminds His creatures of His names and attributes and He praises Himself. Kāf: He is saying, “I am the Great [kabīr], I am the Generous [karīm].” The Great is an allu- sion to the majesty and greatness of the Unity, the Generous is an allusion to the beauty and gener- osity of self-sufficiency. The recognizers are in the unveiling of majesty, the lovers in the contem- plation of beauty. When you look at His majesty, you see livers in the midst of blood. When you look at His beauty, you see the comfort of sorrowful hearts. The first is a universe-burning fire, the second a world-brightening light. The first plunders the hearts, the second comforts the spirits. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “His name is my provision, speech the adornment of the tongue, reports the plundering of the heart, face-to-face vision the repose of the spirit. When the founda- tion of love was laid, it was laid on this basis: at first the spirit's peril, at last everlasting joy. At first wailing, lament, and weeping, at last solace, seclusion, and happiness.” Wait, O chevalier, until this flood reaches the ocean and the goods reach the buyer. The cloud of kindness will begin to weep, and the rose will start to smile. The call of generosity will come from the exalted presence of the Possessor of Majesty: “My servants, My bondsmen, My travelers, My friends, 'I pay attention to the burdens carried for My sake': I saw the suffering that reached you, I heard those laments of yours.” The Prophet said, “Eyes will be filled with gazing on His face, and He will speak to them as a man speaks with his sitting companion.” HāÌ: “I am God, the Guide [hādī]: I am God, the road-shower, the heart-opener, the truth- adorner. It is I who made the tree of guidance and recognition grow in the garden of your heart, it is I who made the breeze of purity and limpidness blow in the meadow of your breast, it is I who made the sun of felicity shine from the sphere of your desire, it is I who made the long road simple and easy for you, it is I who caressed you in the Beginningless before the rushing and running of deeds, it is I who took care of your work without you, it is I who released your heart from the two realms of being for Me.” We would not have been guided had God not guided us [7:43]. Kharaqānī said, “He clings to you-you do not cling to Him.” He has set up the pavilion of generosity, spread the carpet of blessings, and given the call: “Respond to God's caller! [46:31]. O beggars, come to Me! I have no need of you; rather, I have secrets to whisper with you. ” That great man said, “I was walking in the desert and saw someone with one leg, hopping because of the overpowering force of his ecstasy. I said, 'Where to?' He said, 'The people's duty to God is to visit the House' [3:97]. I said, 'That fervor will bring suffering.' “When I reached Mecca, I saw that he had reached it before me. I said, 'How did you arrive before me?' He said, 'Don't you know that you came with the self-exertion of acquisition, and I came by the attractions of the Unseen? How can what comes by acquisition ever reach what comes from the Unseen?' YāÌ. According to Rabīʿ Anas, the meaning is “O [yā] He who protects and is not protected against [23:88].” O Lord, You protect all, but none protects You! You have proof against all, but none has proof against You. All are under Your security, but You are under no one's security. All are subjugated and You are the subjugator. All are compelled and You are the compeller. All are acted upon and You are the enactor. Exalted is the one You protect, majestic is Your laudation, and there is no god other than You! ʿAyn: He is saying, “'I am the Exalted [ʿazīz], I am the High [ʿalī].' It is I who am potent against every contender, not resembling any being, standing through My own attributes. I am great beyond all that intelligence shows, I am pure beyond all on which fancy falls.” He is soli- tary, and thoughts are misguided in describing Him; He is unique, and eyesights are dulled by His Essence. All things have traces bearing witness that He is the exalted, the compeller. He is enduring without disappearance, solitary without companion, knower of all that is in minds and secret cores, turner of the turning wheel, creator of night and day, subjugator, strong, exalted, and compeller. ṣād: He is saying, “I am the Truthful [ṣādiq], I am the Form-giver [muṣawwir]. I am the Lord who is true in speech, true in decree, true in work. I am the painter of faces, the adorner of beauties.” God says, “And He formed you, so He made your forms beautiful” [40:64]. He brought the one hundred thousand marvels, wonders, and artifacts into the realm of being-from the con- cealment of nonexistence into the world of existence-but He did not deliver this address to any existent thing or bestow this eminence on any created thing, only this handful of dust: “So He made your forms beautiful. ” This is so you may know that the dust-dwellers are those caressed by gentleness and pulled up by compassion. They are the narcissus of the meadow of munificence, the cypress of the garden of existence, the jewel-box of the pearls of wisdom, the light in the pupil of the world of power, the blossoms of the garden of creativity. They are the peerless creation, and He is the peerless Creator. About Himself He said, “the most beautiful of creators” [23:14], and concerning them He said, “in the most beautiful stature” [95:4]. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, Your beginningless solicitude planted the seed of guid- ance, You watered it with the messages of the prophets, You cultivated it with help and success- giving, and You brought it to fruit with Your own gaze. O Lord, now it would be fitting if You keep the poisons of severity away from it and You help with endless kind favor what You planted with beginningless solicitude.”

The mention of thy Lord's mercy to His servant Zachariah. Here you have the largesse of the Lord's mercy toward His servant. You have the utmost gentle- ness, perfection, and generosity that He shows through His loving kindness-a mercy that doubt does not reach, a gentleness that thought does not touch. This mercy is bestowed because of the divine bounty and lordly solicitude, not because of worship and the acquisitions of servanthood. As much as the servant strives in disobedience, God conceals it with His covering. As much as he strives for disgrace, He pours down His blessings upon him. This is why that pir of the Tariqah said, “I reached the point where I do not count God's blessings upon me when I have so many acts of disobedience. I do not know for what I should thank Him: for the beauty of that to which He eases me or the ugliness of what He conceals.” It has been reported that the followed verse was recited before the Messenger: “Say, 'O My servants who have been immoderate against yourselves, despair not of God's mercy. Surely God forgives the sins altogether'” [39:53]. The Messenger said, “Indeed He does, and He does not care.” Then he said three times, “May God curse those who make people flee,” that is, those who make people despair of God's mercy. It is told that in former times a renunciant worshiped in a monastery for one hundred years, but then caprice overcame him and he acted with disobedience. He regretted that, and he wanted to go back to his devotions in the niche of worship. When he stepped into the niche, Satan came and said to him, “Are you not ashamed that you did something like that and you now come before the Majestic Presence of the Real?” He wanted to make him despair of the Real, so that his despair would add to his sins. In that state he heard a call, “My servant, you have Me, and I have you. Say to this meddler, 'What do you have?'”

When he supplicated his Lord secretly. The mark of response to supplication is firm fixity in the supplication. If you are firmly fixed in supplication and you remain deprived of the response that is your portion, you will be given the eminence of the worship that is God's rightful due, and the latter step is beyond the former step. This station is greater than that station. The Prophet said, “Supplication is worship.” Know also that in supplication there must be distress, for the Real says, “He who responds to the distressed when he supplicates Him” [27:62]. There must be seeking aid, for He says, “When you sought the aid of your Lord” [8:9]. There must be pleading, for He says, “Supplicate your Lord in pleading and secret” [7:55]. There must be eagerness and dread, for He says “They were supplicating Us in eagerness and dread” [21:90]. It must be continuous, not cut off, for He says, “Those who sup- plicate their Lord morning and evening” [18:28]. There must be self-purification, for He says, “And supplicate Him, purifying the religion for Him” [7:29]. In a report has come, “God does not respond to the supplication of an inattentive heart.” There must be permitted morsels, for the Prophet said, “And his clothing is forbidden, his food is forbidden-so how should he receive a response?” The servant who has put the preconditions of supplication in place is like a caged bird whose voice is loved by the Lord of the Worlds. People have the custom of catching birds, making cages for them, and keeping them supplied with water and food so that in the morning they will sing. In the same way the Lord of the Worlds brought the worshipers and recognizers into existence, made this world their cage, and prepared benefits and wholesome things for them in this world. He set up their work and then said in the firm text of the Book, “And in the dawns they would ask for forgiveness” [51:18]. The servants lament and wail at their own incapacity at the time of dawn, and in His gentleness the Real hears and listens.

Warn them of the day of remorse. The Day of Remorse is the Day of Resurrection. Wretchedness preceded for one group without their having committing disobedience, and felicity for another group without their having done beautiful deeds. The Day of Remorse is the first day in the era of the Beginningless, when it was ruled and decreed that everyone would be given what was suited for him: One would be driven away without any offense, and the other caressed but not because of obedience. For one a robe of elevation was woven without bias, and the other was burned in the fire of severance without iniquity. One was full of joy on the carpet of gentleness and heard the address, “So rejoice in your sale!” [9:111]. The other was in the pit of abandonment with the attribute of deprivation and tasted the venom of “Die in your rage!” [3:119]. Yes, He put into effect the precedent as He knew it, and He laid down the outcome as He wanted it. He brought into existence a frail arrow compounded of mortal nature and put that arrow into the bow of the beginningless knowledge, firing it at the target of the decree. If it goes straight, the laudation and bravo belong to the shooter; if it goes crooked, the criticism and curse belong to the arrow. Bewilderment upon bewilderment, thirst upon thirst- sometimes supposition becomes certainty, sometimes certainty supposition. His presence is exaltation and majesty, His carpet unneediness- a hundred thousand caravans have been waylaid in this road.

The Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between the two. So worship Him, and be patient in His worship. The keeper of heaven and earth, of Throne and Carpet, of land and sea, is He. His command dominates over all, His will penetrates all. The world and the world's folk are all His servants and servitors. The seven heavens and the seven earths and everything within them are all His posses- sion and kingdom. This is a king whose kingship has no removal, whose exaltedness has no abasement, whose seriousness has no levity, whose decree has no rejection, and from whom there is no escape. He revealed to Moses, “'I am the remedy that clings to you, so cling to the remedy.' O Moses, I am unavoidable to you. Everything can be avoided, but there is no avoiding Me. Everything can be escaped, but there is no escaping Me. Be a servant, for a servant has no artifice better than servanthood.” This is why the Lord of the Worlds says in this verse, “So worship Him, and be patient in His worship.” The burden of servanthood is a heavy burden, and the road of the Law's prescription is difficult. Since you know who placed this burden and how to take care of the burden in this road, be patient and do not complain. Whenever someone recognizes the Real's majesty and knows the destination of this road, the hands of his self-determination will fall short of the two realms of be- ing and the feet of his passion will always be in the road. For him the bottom of a well will be like chieftainship and status. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, sometimes I say I'm in the devil's grasp, so much cover- ing do I see. Then at times a light shines next to which all mortal nature disappears. “O God, since the eyes are still waiting for face-to-face vision, what is this trial of the heart? Since this path is all trial, why is there so much pleasure? “O God, sometimes I spoke to You and sometimes I listened. In the midst of my offenses I thought of Your gentleness. I suffered what I suffered. All became sweet when I heard the voice of acceptance.”

The day We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves. He did not say, “to the Gardens in droves,” so as to mollify the hearts of the elect among the lovers, for they do not worship Him in hope of the Garden or fear of the Fire. Rather, they worship Him for His sake, for He has promised them that He will muster them to Him. The paradise-seekers are one thing, the God-seekers something else. He ascribed the paradise-seekers to paradise: “Surely the companions of the Garden today are in an occupation, rejoicing” [36:55]. Concerning the God-seekers He said, “The day We shall muster the godwary to the All- Merciful in droves.” Mamshād Dīnawarī was in the throes of death. A dervish was standing before him and sup- plicating: “Lord God, have mercy on him and grant him paradise.” Mamshād looked at him and shouted out, “O heedless man! It has been thirty years that paradise with its marvels and chambers, its houris and palaces, has been disclosing itself, but I have never glanced at it. Now that I am ar- riving at the drinking place of the Haqiqah, you intrude and want paradise and mercy for me!” O chevalier, this talk will not fit into just anyone's craw. It happens that in the pavilions of observation and the stations of generosity these chevaliers become seeking itself-sometimes in the robe of struggle, sometimes in the shirt of contemplation; sometimes in the intoxication of gratitude, sometimes in the sobriety of effacement; they both are and are not, they are both sober and drunk; their hearts are burnt by the fire of jealousy, their spirits drowned in the ocean of bewil- derment. They are runners standing still, silent speakers. When tomorrow people are mustered to the Presence of the Possessor of Majesty, everyone will have a mount. One will have the noble horse of obedience, another the Burāq of aspiration, but they will be in the grasp of Unity's exalt- edness. According to a report, “The spirits of the martyrs are in the craws of green birds.” When the spirits of the martyrs are commanded to depart from this world, they will be put into the craws of green birds and in lamps of light; or, it is said, in the meadows of paradise. As for these chevaliers, the craw of their love is vaster than that they could enter into the craw of a bird. What is their station? “The spirits of the lovers are in the grasp of Exaltedness. He unveils His Essence to them and is gentle toward them with His attributes.” What is their conduct? They keep themselves totally occupied with the Beloved; they expend their spirits, hearts, and bodies in His path; they seek conformity with Him silently and aloud, openly and secretly; and they give priority to His portion over their portion. They also recognize themselves as thrown down by incapacity and broken by shortcomings. What caress do they receive from the Presence of the Possessor of Majesty? Surely those who have faith and do wholesome deeds, to them the All-Merciful will assign love [19:96]. We are your friends in this world's life and in the next world [41:31]. He loves them, and they love Him [5:54]. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “This love is not attached to dust. His love is attached to His own beginningless gaze. If the cause of love were dust, there is plenty of dust in the world.” It is not everywhere that there is love. Rather, He drew lots from His power, and we came out. He took an omen from wisdom, and there we were. When He looks at you, He looks at the property of the Beginningless, not the property of the present moment. Abū Sulaymān Dārānī wrote to Abū Yazīd, “If someone is heedless of Him and sleeps at night, is it possible that he may reach the way station?” Abū Yazīd wrote in response, “When the wind of solicitude blows, he will reach the way sta- tion without trouble.” If the wind of the beginningless gentleness should blow into his heart from the air of solitariness, he will reach the way station without trouble. He sees His servants in disobedience and knows that they will repent. His decree for them derives from this repentance, not from that disobedience. He sees that the servant is sinning right now, but he knows that he will become good. He counts him among the wholesome, not the cor- rupt. In wrath Moses threw the tablets of the Torah on the ground, but God did not rebuke him. Solomon hamstrung the innocent horses, but God said nothing to him about that, for He did not look at the outward act; He looked at the beginningless precedent. Sometimes He takes to task for a straw, sometimes He pardons for a mountain. He takes to task for a straw because of power; He pardons for a mountain because of mercy: “When I affirmed friendship for you in the Beginningless, I drew a line around you. If you had had to be without sin, I would have created you without sin. I created you as you had to be. Have no confidence in the friendship of someone who loves you only as sinless. If I had given you sinlessness and there had been nothing but purity from you, you would have been a partner with the majesty of Unity. But I am a Lord without partner, without peer, without equal, and without need. Whenever I have written out friendship for someone, I indeed take care of his work and I suffice for his adversaries. Whenever anyone comes forth as an adversary to one of My friends, I am his adversary. 'When someone torments a friend of Mine, he is competing with Me in a battle.' You saw that Iblis said one word about you and became accursed forever. Nimrod, with all his height and breadth, I destroyed with half a gnat as retribution for the pain in Abraham's heart. In the era of Noah I drowned a world of creatures as recompense for the pain in Noah's heart because of the cruelties that had reached him from them. Yes, whenever someone is chosen by Me as the locus of My secrets and the springhead of My lights, his heart is adorned with My remembrance, and My work is to make his work wholesome.”

The All-Merciful sat on the Throne. In the Qur'an He mentioned seven times that He is sitting on the Throne. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “The sitting of the Lord on the Throne is in the Qur'an, and I have faith in it. I do not seek interpretation, for interpretation in such topics is rebellion. I accept the outward meaning and surrender to the inner meaning. This is the belief of the Sunnis, whose path is to accept with the spirit what is not perceived. “My faith comes by hearing, my Shariah comes by reports, my recognition comes by find- ing. I assent to the reports, I realize the found, and I follow the heard with the tool of intellect, the witnessing of His artisanry, the evidence of light, the allusions of the revelation, the message of the Messenger, and the condition of surrender. “Nonetheless, I know for sure that He is not one who takes up place out of need, for He shows places for argument. The Throne does not elevate God, for God elevates and preserves the Throne. He made the Throne for seekers of God, not recognizers of God. The God-seeker is one thing, the God-recognizer something else. He says to the God-seekers, 'The All-Merciful sat on the Throne.' He says to the God recognizers, 'And He is with you' [57:4] on the Throne by Essence, in knowl- edge everywhere, through companionship with the spirit, and through nearness with the soul.” O chevalier, do not put down your bags in the seclusion of He is with you, for High indeed is God, the King, the Real [20:114] applies to Him. Do not relax on the carpet of We are nearer [50:16], for beneath it is They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure [22:74]. Do not be bold because of Faces that day will be radiant, gazing upon their Lord [75:22-23], for above it is Eyesights perceive Him not [6:103]. Whatever He is the First gives, He is the Last snatches away; whatever He is the Outward shows, He is the Inward [57:3] effaces. What is all this? This is so that the person of faith will circle around between fear and hope, and the recognizer between contraction and expansion. You cannot say that you cannot find, for the Shariah disputes that. Nor can you say that you can find, for the Exaltedness does not approve. He is exalted and tremendous, one whose measure is not recognized and whose rightful due is not perceived. He is gentle and loving, one who loves them, and they love Him [5:54].

Even if thou speakest aloud, yet surely He knows the secret and the most hidden. The soul is not informed of what is in the heart, the heart is not informed of the secrets of the spirit, and the spirit has no access to the realities of the secret. As for that which is most hidden, no one is aware of it but the Real. What does the soul know of what is placed in the treasure-house of the heart? What does the heart know of the subtleties inside the sanctuary of the spirit? What does the spirit know of the deposits in the pavilion of the secret core? What does the secret core know of the realities in the most hidden? The soul is the locus of the Trust, the heart the house of recognition, the spirit the target of contemplation, and the secret core the place where passion puts down its saddlebags. As for the most hidden, the Real knows what it is-people's imaginations and understandings are empty of knowing it.

God, there is no god but He. To Him belong the most beautiful names. Whenever a sultan is about to dismount at a house, a chamberlain must go beforehand and sweep the house. He cleans it of rubbish and refuse and puts down the sultan's royal seat. Then, when the sultan enters, the work will be finished and the house ready. When the exalted sultan of but God descends into the breast of the servant, the chamberlain of no god comes beforehand. It sweeps the courtyard of the breast with the broom of disengagement and solitariness and destroys the rubbish and refuse of mortal nature and satanity and throws them out. It sprinkles the water of approval and spreads the carpet of loyalty. It lights up the sandalwood of limpidness in the incense-burner of friendship. It puts down the royal seat of felicity and the cushion of mastery. When the sultan of but God arrives, it leans on the sofa of the secret core in the cradle of the Covenant. Depend upon My spirit-may it be your sacrifice!- Why do you depend on your corner of the world's house?

Hast thou received the story of Moses when he saw a fire? Fire is a mark of munificence and a proof of generosity. The Arabs would light up a fire to bring guests. But no one has ever found a banquet through a fire like Moses, and no one has seen a host from a fire like God. Moses was seeking a fire to light up a tent. He found a fire that burns spirit and heart. All fires burn the body, but the fire of friendship burns the spirit. No one can be patient with a spirit-burning fire. Fires are of different sorts: the fire of shame, the fire of yearning, the fire of love. The fire of shame burns away dispersion, the fire of yearning burns away patience, and the fire of love burns away the two worlds such that nothing remains but the Real. The evidence of having found friend- ship is that the two worlds are burned away. The mark of the realizer is that he does not attend to anything other than the Real. The mark of nonbeing is to reach oneself. When rain reaches the ocean, it has reached it. He who reaches the Patron reaches himself.

Hast thou received the story of Moses when he saw a fire? Fire is a mark of munificence and a proof of generosity. The Arabs would light up a fire to bring guests. But no one has ever found a banquet through a fire like Moses, and no one has seen a host from a fire like God. Moses was seeking a fire to light up a tent. He found a fire that burns spirit and heart. All fires burn the body, but the fire of friendship burns the spirit. No one can be patient with a spirit-burning fire. Fires are of different sorts: the fire of shame, the fire of yearning, the fire of love. The fire of shame burns away dispersion, the fire of yearning burns away patience, and the fire of love burns away the two worlds such that nothing remains but the Real. The evidence of having found friend- ship is that the two worlds are burned away. The mark of the realizer is that he does not attend to anything other than the Real. The mark of nonbeing is to reach oneself. When rain reaches the ocean, it has reached it. He who reaches the Patron reaches himself.

Surely I am thy Lord. Take off thy shoes! Moses had reached the head of tawḤīd's drinking place when he heard the words, “Surely I am thy Lord.” He was commanded to step into the world of solitariness. He placed his feet on the two worlds and made his aspiration one for the Patron. Take off thy shoes! That is, empty your heart of talk of the two worlds and become disengaged for the Real with the attribute of solitariness. O Moses, be one for the One, first in the disengagement of the intention, and second in the breeze of intimacy. Disown the two worlds so that the breeze of intimacy may begin to blow from the desert of the Endless. The veil of division has been lifted, and the call of gentleness has reached the spirit.

What is that in thy right hand, O Moses? When Moses heard the address, “Surely I am thy Lord,” the ruling power of awe began to attack and he fell into bewilderment and confoundedness. Because of the force of that awe, ease did not remain in its place. His body was not able to bear it with patience, and his heart was not able to busy itself with intellect. The Lord of the Worlds attended to his heart with the call of gentleness; He began speaking about his staff. He said, “What is that in thy right hand, O Moses?” He said, “It is my staff” [20:18]. The command came, “Throw it down, O Moses! [20:19]. Throw down this staff concerning which you say that it is your staff.” Moses threw it down and it became a snake. When he saw that the snake aimed to come after him, he was frightened and fled. The call came, “Take it, and fear not! [20:21]. O Moses, pick up the snake and do not fear. This is that very staff of which you spoke, claiming it was your staff. O Moses, what do you have to do with making claims? The men of the road make no claims and ascribe nothing to themselves.” It was the attribute of Moses' own being and the traces of his claim that turned toward him in that Presence, for the claims of mortal nature were still staining his innate disposition. The stain appeared with the claim my staff, so it was said to him, “O Moses, there is still something of ego- ism in you.” It was a mercy from the Real to Moses that He said, “What is that in thy right hand, O Moses?,” for the claim appeared from his makeup, and when he was made aware of it, he left the claim behind and shook the dust from the cloak of his sinlessness.

Clasp thy hand to thy side. It will come forth white without ugliness, as another sign. Moses had two miracles. One was outside of himself, namely the staff, and the other was within himself, namely the white hand. The staff was a sample of the signs of the horizons, and the white hand was a sample of the signs of the souls. The Lord of the Worlds built the road of tawḤīd on the recognition of these two. He says, “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].

That We may show thee some of Our greatest signs. The greatest sign was the witnessing and finding that came to him, the varieties of states perceived by the servant's tasting that do not derive from self-exertion and self-determination. In reality the greatest sign is that which is hidden from the eyes of the creatures and free of the servant's self-exertion and self-determination. Unasked for, a wine comes from the Unseen and reaches the servant's secret core, so he finds its taste in his spirit-a spiritual delight with a hundred thousand hidden drums, an everlasting resurrection. The soul is mixed with companionship, the spirit clinging to its desire, the heart drowned in the light of finding. Because of the drowning the servant does not discern the seeking from the finding. Because of the radiance of finding, it cannot be expressed. He burns in the fire of love and does not turn back from joy. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, when that which cannot be asked for comes to be found, who asked for it? When something is beyond reward, what is asking next to it? Everything that comes from the rain of favor is the springtime of that very moment, and everything that comes from undertaking and asking is aid sought by the servant. O God, knowledge and striving are the Adamite's tribulation, but everyone's portion from You is worthy of Your beginningless deed.”

And We tried thee with trials. In other words, “We cooked you well with trial until you became limpid and immaculate, then We took you totally to Ourselves, so that you would not belong to any other.” “O Moses, We took you to the oven of trial and put you into self-purification so that nothing would remain in your heart but My love and nothing on your tongue but My remembrance.” What were those trials and troubles that sat on his head? When he was first born he was born in secrecy, in a house without lamp, poor, without pleasures. His mother could not have a son be- cause of fear of Pharaoh, who was killing sons. She put him into the casket and threw it in the river. His first home was the river. His second home was the sword, the execution ground, and seeing the enemy. His third home was fear of the Egyptians, because he had killed one of them. Then he fled looking back at them, his heart upset, his spirit bewildered, his feet bare, and his stomach hungry. He did not know where to go, and then he reached Midian and became a wage-earner and a shepherd with Shuʿayb. In burning and remorse because of constant tribulation he said, “How long will You drive me to every street? How long will You make me taste every poison? First You toss me in the river, then You show me to the enemy. Then You throw me into exile working for Shuʿayb as a shepherd. How could a shepherd have the worth for You to call him without intermediary? Then You bring him to Mount Sinai, You speak with him countless words. And if he says, 'I want vision from You,' You say to him, 'Moses, thou shalt not see Me' [7:143].” Thus He threw him into trial mixed with gentleness, He adorned him with wounds mixed with tenderness, and He washed him with many sorts of trial. What was all this for? It was so that he would belong to Him, just as He says:

“I chose thee for Myself.” “O Moses! You were not worthy-you had little worthiness-for Me to choose you. That was not for you, but rather for Me.” This is why, when he seized his brother by the head and pulled him severely, He did not say, “Why did you do that?” When he punched out the eye of Azrael with his fist, He did not say, “Why did you do that?” When he threw the tablets of the Torah on the ground, He did not say, “Why did you throw them?” Yes, within the curtain of friendship things go on that outside the curtain of friendship would all be faults, but inside the curtain of friendship are tolerated. When the beloved comes with one sin, his beautiful traits come with a thousand interceders.

From it We created you and to it We shall return you. Know that the Adamite is two things: spirit and body. The spirit is from light, and light is celestial. The body is from dust, and dust is terrestrial. The spirit wants to go up because it is celestial. The body wants to go down because it is terrestrial. In the perfection of His power, the King bound the two together. The spirit was bound to the body, and the body was bound to the spirit, so both are in bonds. The spirit and the body settled down together. On the day of death, when the life of the servant comes to an end and the moment of death arrives, the bonds are loosened, as when a bird comes out of its cage. The spirit rises up from the body and goes skyward to its nest. The body takes the road of the earth to its center. The spirit is put into a lantern of light, which is hung from the tree of blessedness. The body is wrapped in a shroud and entrusted to the earth. This is why the Lord of the worlds says, “From it We created you and to it We shall return you.” After a few days pass, the spirit comes to gaze on the body. It sees the state of the body changed and it laments. It says, “O heed-taking eyesight, O narcissus-like eyes, where is your seeing? O wisdom-speaking tongue, where is your sweet talking? O painted, lovely face, where is your adornment and beauty? O you who came from dust, were supported by dust, were provided for by dust, were put back into dust, and became nothing in dust!” O father of dust, is not our creation from dust, and our return to dust? So what is the meaning of regret when we bury dust in dust, O father of dust! It is as if the King is saying, “Once I make dust the cause of being, and then again I make it the cause of nonbeing. Thus the world's folk will know that I am perfectly powerful, and I give being to all that is.” O chevalier! If you ever pass through a graveyard, be careful to look at that encampment with an eye to taking heed. It is not dust that you see, it is the bodies of the dear ones, the flesh and skin of the young, the elegant stature of those nurtured in joy, the hair and beards of the old folk. We have decayed, but the rising stars have not. The mountains remain after us, and the artifacts. Thābit Bunānī said, “I went to the graveyard with the intention a making a visit. A caller called out, 'O Thābit! Do not be deluded by the silence of its folk, for there is many a grief-stricken soul within!'” Mujāhid said, “When the servant is put into the dust, the dust speaks to him, saying, 'I am the house of worms, the house of loneliness, the house of exile, and the house of darkness. This is what I have prepared for you. What then have you prepared for me?' “If the servant had been a rememberer in this world, the Exalted Lord will say, 'My angels! There is an exile whose folk have turned away from him, a lonely man whose relatives have be- come disloyal toward him. He was remembering Me in the world. O helpless and hapless servant! O you whose hope's army has taken the road of flight! O you whose life's furnishings have been plundered! O you whose means and work have been disabled! O you whose spirit reached the edge in the agonies of death! O you whose talking tongue has been silenced! O you whose know- ing heart has turned to blood in terror of the Hour! All have gone, and I remain. All have turned back, and I am still loyal. All have left you, and I have picked you up. My servant, they have abandoned you. By My exaltedness and majesty, I will cover you with My mercy!” From it We created you and to it We shall return you. The Adamites are frames and deposits. The bodies are the frames, and the spirits are the deposits. The frames are related to dust, and the deposits are described by proximity. He nurtures the frames with His bounteousness, and He nur- tures the deposits with the unveiling of His majesty and the gentleness of His beauty. Today the frames cling to the carpet of worshiping Him, and the deposits are qualified by constantly recognizing Him. The deeds of the frames are fasting and prayer, and the gifts of the deposits are whispered secrets and delight. He says to the frames, “When thou art idle, labor” [94:7]. He says to the deposits, “And be eager for thy Lord” [94:8]. He gives the caressing of the frames on credit, for He says, “As for him who fears the standing place before his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter” [79:40-41]. The deposits give themselves over only to the hard cash of the present moment, for He says, “I am the sitting companion of him who remembers Me,” “I am with My servant's opinion of Me,” and “He is with you wherever you are” [57:4]. In the beginningless Covenant, He said to the frames in the manner of the powerful, “I am God.” He said to the deposits in the manner of friends, “I am the friend.” The former was to make manifest lordhood and power, the latter was to make manifest love and affection. To the frames He said, “You belong to Me.” To the deposits He said, “I belong to you.”

Whoever comes to his Lord as an offender will have Gehenna, wherein he will neither die nor live, and whoever comes to Him faithful, having done wholesome deeds-they will have the highest degrees. In the tasting of the lords of recognition and the chevaliers of the Tariqah, these two verses allude to two groups: The exalted threshold of the Possessor of Majesty will show its face to one group in the attribute of vengeance. It will lift away the curtain of splendor from their work by the de- cree of severity, pull back the mask of respect from the face of their status, write the inscription of abandonment on the hem of their present moment, and make them the kiblah of the whole world's rejection. Sometimes they will be bewildered in the claws of contraction, and sometimes they will be terrified by the fear of severity. There will be no caressing of the heart and no poison with which to kill the soul: wherein he will neither die nor live. He will not be bold enough to return, nor will he have the gall to go forward. With the tongue of misery he will say in his helplessness, “I am not drunk from the cup of my existence, neither am I not. I am not low beneath the kicks of the spheres, neither am I not. Neither the spirit's ease nor the heart's pain-woe is me! O Lord, who am I that I am not in being, neither am I not?” The self-disclosure of the beautiful gaze of the Real's gentleness will join with the other group. They receive one caress today, another tomorrow. Today they are on the carpet of expansiveness, taking their ease in the garden of intimacy and delight. At every moment and instant, overflowing cups are poured for them from the wine-house of love. Tomorrow in the Gardens of Refuge and the highest degrees, they will be wearing the waistcoat of endless subsistence and the robe of the everlasting kingdom, seated on the couch of prosperity in contemplation of the King, the Possessor of Majesty, the cups of union continuous, the robes of bounteousness successive, at each moment a caress and an acceptance, at each instant an opening and an arrival, for the Lord of the Worlds says,

Whoever comes to his Lord as an offender will have Gehenna, wherein he will neither die nor live, and whoever comes to Him faithful, having done wholesome deeds-they will have the highest degrees. In the tasting of the lords of recognition and the chevaliers of the Tariqah, these two verses allude to two groups: The exalted threshold of the Possessor of Majesty will show its face to one group in the attribute of vengeance. It will lift away the curtain of splendor from their work by the de- cree of severity, pull back the mask of respect from the face of their status, write the inscription of abandonment on the hem of their present moment, and make them the kiblah of the whole world's rejection. Sometimes they will be bewildered in the claws of contraction, and sometimes they will be terrified by the fear of severity. There will be no caressing of the heart and no poison with which to kill the soul: wherein he will neither die nor live. He will not be bold enough to return, nor will he have the gall to go forward. With the tongue of misery he will say in his helplessness, “I am not drunk from the cup of my existence, neither am I not. I am not low beneath the kicks of the spheres, neither am I not. Neither the spirit's ease nor the heart's pain-woe is me! O Lord, who am I that I am not in being, neither am I not?” The self-disclosure of the beautiful gaze of the Real's gentleness will join with the other group. They receive one caress today, another tomorrow. Today they are on the carpet of expansiveness, taking their ease in the garden of intimacy and delight. At every moment and instant, overflowing cups are poured for them from the wine-house of love. Tomorrow in the Gardens of Refuge and the highest degrees, they will be wearing the waistcoat of endless subsistence and the robe of the everlasting kingdom, seated on the couch of prosperity in contemplation of the King, the Possessor of Majesty, the cups of union continuous, the robes of bounteousness successive, at each moment a caress and an acceptance, at each instant an opening and an arrival, for the Lord of the Worlds says,

Therein dwelling forever; that is the recompense of those who purify themselves. As for the marks of the coming of this good fortune and the traces of finding this rank and way sta- tion, these are that the servant lifts the veil of heedlessness from his road and pulls back his cloak from the legs of seriousness. He disciplines his soul with the courteous acts of the Shariah and takes the rightful due of the religion from the days of intelligence. He strives to straighten out his deeds and words according to the yardstick of the Shariah and the requisites of the Haqiqah. He makes the decree of the following verse requisite on himself. He knows that the Exalted Lord says,

Surely I am all-forgiving toward the one who repents and has faith and does wholesome deeds, and then is guided. All-forgiving is an intensive form and requires manyness. In other words, God is vast in forgive- ness. Toward the one who repents is the act of the servant, and the act does not require manyness. The allusion of the verse is that if the servant should turn back to the Real once in regret, the Exalted Lord will turn to him many times in gentleness and mercy. From the servant there will be one step in the road of struggle, and from God a thousand generosities by virtue of solicitude. “My servant, from you a little obedience, from Me great mercy; from you a bit of service, from Me much blessing.” This is the same as what MuṣṬafā said, narrating from the Eternal Enactor: “When someone comes near to Me by a span, I come near to him by a cubit, and when someone comes near to Me by a cubit, I come near to him by a fathom.” Surely I am all-forgiving toward the one who repents and has faith. It is known that repen- tance without faith is not sound. So what is the profit here of and has faith? It means and has faith that his salvation does not come through his own repentance and obedience. His salvation comes only through His mercy. Ghaffār [all-forgiving] comes from ghafr, and the meaning of ghafr is to cover. It is to keep the servant concealed and to hold the curtain of pardon and mercy over his words and deeds, both obedience and disobedience. Not only do the servant's acts of disobedience need concealing, but also his obedience needs concealing. If the blights of the servant's obedience were brought for- ward, he would fear obedience more than he fears disobedience. ʿāÌisha narrated as follows: “I asked MuṣṬafā the meaning of the verse, Those who give what they give, their hearts quaking [23:60]. 'Are they the ones who fornicate, steal, and drink wine' “He replied, 'No, they are the ones who pray, fast, give alms, and then fear that these will not be accepted.'” Rābiʿa ʿAdawiyya often used to say, “I ask forgiveness from God for my lack of truthfulness in saying, 'I ask forgiveness from God. '” Know, O chevalier, that the curtains are two: One has been lifted, and may it never be let down! The other has been let down, and may it never be lifted! The curtain that has been lifted is the veil of reflective thought before the hearts of the tawḤīd-voicers and the breasts of the faithful. The curtain that has been let down is the covering of generosity before the words and deeds of the disobedient, the obedient, the sincerely truthful, and the godwary. By the decree of eternity the curtain of generosity was lifted from the obedience of Iblis, so all of it became disobedience. When someone is not worthy for union, all of his beautiful doing is sin. By the decree of gentleness and generosity, the curtain of pardon was let down over the slip of Adam. The beginningless solicitude loosened its tongue and said, “But he forgot, and We found in him no resoluteness” [20:115]. When someone is not worthy for separation, all of his bodily members are hearts.

“And what has made thee hurry from thy people, O Moses!” This is a rebuke of Moses, for he left his people behind and went on ahead of them. He hurried to the promised meeting with the Real, who said: “O Moses, do you not know that I love the weak and I caress the broken more than others? I am always looking into their hearts, and I love all those in whose hearts I look.” Then Moses offered an excuse:

He said, “They are close upon my footsteps, and I hurried to Thee, my Lord, that Thou mayest approve.” “They are close upon my footsteps. I did not leave them behind out of neglect, and I hurried to Thee, my Lord, that Thou mayest approve. O Lord, You Yourself know and You are aware of my secret core. With this hurry I did not want to neglect them, nor was I aiming to abandon attending to the rightful due of companionship with them. Rather, I wanted Your approval and I was seeking an increase in Your satisfaction.” He said, “O Moses, My approval lies in taking care of their hearts. 'I am with those whose hearts are broken for My sake.' 'I am the sitting-companion of him who remembers Me.' O Mo- ses, when you seek Me, seek Me in their hearts, for I sit with the rememberers in the solitariness of And He is with you [57:4]. I am the intimate of the hearts of the poor, the remembrance of the spir- its of the recognizers, present with the mystery of the lovers, the light of the eyes of the familiar, the resource of the frightened, the traveling supplies of the distressed, and the refuge of the weak. O Moses, wherever you see a poor man, thrown down by the iniquity of the days, wounded by the times, be his servitor. As long as you can, do not seek to be apart from him. Be the purchaser of his companionship, for his makeup is the storehouse of the secrets of the Beginningless and prepa- ration for the bazaar of the Endless.” He gave MuṣṬafā the same advice: “And let not thine eyes turn away from them [18:28]. O MuḤammad, be careful not to turn your eyes away from them. Do not sell them to others, for they are the ones pulled up by My remembrance, named by My bounty, adorned by My gentleness, lifted up by My will. They have come forth from knowledge, are displayed by predetermination, have found the mark of the desire, and were pulled up by the signet of the decree. “In the Beginningless they were made apparent by My knowledge, today they are existent by My command, tomorrow they will be kept by My decree. Knowledge has the rulership of the Beginningless, the command has the rulership of the present moment, the decree has the rulership of the Endless. “When a sultan has special friends, he gives each of them a rulership. The rulerships are three: the rulership of the Beginningless, the rulership of the present moment, the rulership of the End- less. O knowledge, you take the side of the Beginningless! O command, you take the road of the present moment! O decree, you seize the skirt of the Endless! “O child of Adam! I gave you three attributes, and in the end I conveyed you to Myself. First I entrusted you to the sultan of knowledge, then I gave you to the king of the command, then I sur- rendered you to the emperor of the decree. Then I gave this call in the world: 'Surely the final end is unto thy Lord' [53:42]. O knowledge, you give to the command. O command, you give to the decree. O decree, you give to Me.” Knowledge is all limpidness, the command is all trial, the decree is all subsistence. Who knows what is made ready inside these secrets?

They ask thee about the mountains. Say, “My Lord will scatter them as ashes.” In the outwardness He is showing His awesomeness, forcefulness, and exaltation to the creatures. In the inwardness He is bestowing eminence on His servants and friends: “We turned this earth into your bedspread and made it your carpet. If you are not there, of what use is the carpet? We made the heaven your roof, the stars your indications, the sun your cook, the moon your burning candle. When you go, of what use is the candle, what will be done by the indications? When a carpet is prepared for a friend and he goes, it must be taken up. When you go, We will take up this carpet, for We will not create anyone else. He it is who created for you all that is in the earth [2:29]. Heaven and earth, moon and sun, unshakeable mountains and surging oceans-these are the go-betweens of your road. Each has a torch in its hand and holds it over your road. “Tomorrow at the time of gazing, We will lift away everything from before you. We will say, 'The reports have gone, the gaze has come.'” Proofs are needed when there is no face-to-face vision. When face-to-face vision comes, what good are proofs? Go-betweens are useful as long as the friend has not reached the friend. When the friend reaches the friend, what use are go-betweens? Since the days were the days of reports, the hoopoe was needed to give the reports [to Solomon]. But when the era of the gaze arrives, the hoopoe is of no use. As long as MuṣṬafā was in Mecca, Gabriel used to come and go. When he reached the Lote Tree of the Final End, Gabriel stood still. He said, “Now I have become a veil. The friend has reached the friend, and the intermediary is of no use, the go-between is nothing more than a veil.”

They ask thee about the mountains. Say, “My Lord will scatter them as ashes.” In the outwardness He is showing His awesomeness, forcefulness, and exaltation to the creatures. In the inwardness He is bestowing eminence on His servants and friends: “We turned this earth into your bedspread and made it your carpet. If you are not there, of what use is the carpet? We made the heaven your roof, the stars your indications, the sun your cook, the moon your burning candle. When you go, of what use is the candle, what will be done by the indications? When a carpet is prepared for a friend and he goes, it must be taken up. When you go, We will take up this carpet, for We will not create anyone else. He it is who created for you all that is in the earth [2:29]. Heaven and earth, moon and sun, unshakeable mountains and surging oceans-these are the go-betweens of your road. Each has a torch in its hand and holds it over your road. “Tomorrow at the time of gazing, We will lift away everything from before you. We will say, 'The reports have gone, the gaze has come.'” Proofs are needed when there is no face-to-face vision. When face-to-face vision comes, what good are proofs? Go-betweens are useful as long as the friend has not reached the friend. When the friend reaches the friend, what use are go-betweens? Since the days were the days of reports, the hoopoe was needed to give the reports [to Solomon]. But when the era of the gaze arrives, the hoopoe is of no use. As long as MuṣṬafā was in Mecca, Gabriel used to come and go. When he reached the Lote Tree of the Final End, Gabriel stood still. He said, “Now I have become a veil. The friend has reached the friend, and the intermediary is of no use, the go-between is nothing more than a veil.”

And We made covenant with Adam before, but he forgot, and We found in him no resoluteness. Until the end of this section is the story of Adam and the compact of his vicegerency. First he was addressed by awesomeness. He saw the whip of rebuke, and he stepped into the street of fear and wept. Then he was sat down on gentleness. The beginningless solicitude arrived, he saw the crown of chosenness, and he was happy on the carpet of hope. Yes, it was a work already done, a decree made ready in the Beginningless. Adam had not yet slipped when the tailor of gentleness sewed the waistcoat of his repentance, and Iblis had not yet stepped into disobedience when the druggist of severity mixed the draft of the poison of his curse. The beginning of the traces of the beginningless solicitude for Adam was that the exalted majesty of the Unity Itself in Its perfect self-sufficiency took a handful of dust from the earth: “Surely God created Adam from a handful taken from the entire surface of the earth.” Then He placed it in the mold of the stature, as He said: “Surely We created man in the most beautiful stature” [95:4]. Then He brought him into the ferment of bringing to be: “He fermented the clay of Adam in His hand for forty days.” Then He sat the spirit-king on the royal seat of his makeup: “I have blown into him of My spirit” [15:29]. Then He read out the edict of his vicegerency and sultanate in the kingdom of the beginningless: “Surely I am setting in the earth a vicegerent” [2:30]. He recorded the names of all existent things with the pen of the gentleness of Eternity on the tablet of his heart: “And He taught Adam the names, all of them” [2:31]. He commanded the glorifiers and hallowers of the Holy Pali-sades and the Gardens of Intimacy to prostrate themselves before the throne of his good fortune: “And when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate yourselves before Adam'” [2:34]. Know that this level, distinction, and rank was not for the clay. Rather, it belonged to the sultan of the heart. In the core of Adam's heart He deposited one of the divine subtleties, royal secrets, and unseen meanings, a secret concealed by the curtain of Say: “The spirit is of the command of my Lord” [17:85]. God gave back a mark of this hidden secret on MuṣṬafā's tongue made pure: “He created Adam in His form.” When the Higher Plenum saw his greatness and elevation, they threw their spirits on the holy doorstep of dust. O chevalier! Adam was dust. He had not yet seen the mold of Power and had not come out from behind the curtain of subtle artisanry. The light of the secret of Knowledge had not yet shone on him and the secret of union and the reality of the with-ness of love had not yet shown their faces. Once these meanings became manifest and these pearls of the realities were placed in the drawer of his heart, do not call him “dust” [khāk], call him “pure” [pāk]. Do not call him “fetid mud” [15:26], call him “hidden pearl” [52:24]. If the alchemy that is made by creatures is worthy of turning cop- per into gold, why should the love that is the attribute of the Real not be worthy of purifying dust of its opacity and making it the crown on the head of the spheres? If a rose comes from the clay that you mold, what wonder if a heart comes from the clay that He molds?

And Adam disobeyed his Lord, so went astray. Then his Lord chose him, so He turned toward him and guided. One of the pirs of the Tariqah was asked, “Given all the good fortune, rank, standing, and proxim- ity that Adam the chosen had with the Real, what wisdom is there in the call that went out concern- ing him, 'And Adam disobeyed'?” The Pir answered with the tongue of wisdom and the tasting of recognition: “The seed of love had been thrown into the earth of Adam's heart. Then the canal of his eyes was opened for the water of remorse, and the sun of And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord [39:69] shone forth on that good clay, receptive to the seed of pain. The tree of love grew up, and the air of But he forgot [20:115] nurtured it in the field of paradise. The sun of We found in him no resoluteness [20:115] dried it. Then He cut it down with the scythe of Then his Lord chose him. Then, with the wind of So He turned toward him and guided, He made it pure. Then He wanted to cook it with fire, so He heated an oven with the harshness of And Adam disobeyed and cooked that food of pas- sion in the oven. The flavor of that food had still not reached Adam's taste buds when he let loose the tongue of need and said, 'Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves' [7:23].” It has also been said that Adam had two existences. The first existence was in this world, not paradise, and the second was in paradise. The command came, “O Adam, come out of paradise and go into this world. Gamble away your crown, belt, and cap in the road of passion! Put up with pain and trial. Then tomorrow We will bring you back to this precious homeland and this domicile of subsistence with a hundred thousand robes of gentleness and every sort of honor, as the leader of the witnesses and in the presence of the one-hundred-twenty some thousand center points of prophecy, the possessors of purity and the sources of limpidness.” Tomorrow, you will see Adam go into paradise with his children. The angels of the Dominion will look with wonder and say, “This is that solitary man who moved out of paradise a few days ago in poverty and indigence!” “O Adam, bringing you out of paradise was a curtain over this business and a covering over the mysteries, for your loins were the ocean of the one-hundred-twenty some thousand center points of prophethood's pearls. Suffer a bit of trouble, then in a few days, take the treasure!” “O MuḤammad! When We put the Meccans up to throwing you out of Mecca, We also com- manded you-'Make the hijrah, go to Medina, put on the clothing of exile, and go to the corner of remorse with Abū Ayyūb Anṣārī.' All this was making ready. The goal was to bring you back to Mecca on the Day of the Conquest along with ten thousand sword-wielding, spear-throwing war- riors so that the nobles of Quraysh and the leaders of the unbelievers would be in wonder: 'This is that man who fled all alone. Now look at what his work has reached!' “In the same way We said to the pure, holy spirit, 'You are the quarry of subtleness and the source of repose and comfort! It is We who sent you to the homeland of exile, kept you in the com- pany of the turmoil-inducing soul, and imprisoned you in this dustbin. The goal was to call you back at the end of this business to Our own Presence with a hundred thousand robes of gentleness, kindly gifts, and secret bestowals: O serene soul, return to thy Lord, approving, approved! [89:27-28].' “O Adam, though We sent you to this world in the companionship of the serpent and Iblis, We brought you back in the companionship of mercy and forgiveness with the escort of prosperity and good fortune. O MuḤammad, though We brought you out of Mecca with the attribute of abase- ment, We brought you back with conquest, victory, and triumph in the attribute of exaltedness. O exalted spirit, though We afflicted you for a few days in this dustbin, this domicile of grief, this house full of the sorrows of separation, and We kept you for a time in the company of the com- manding soul, in the end We brought you back in the company of approval and with the escort of the address, 'Return to thy Lord' to the neighborhood of generosity.”

And Adam disobeyed his Lord, so went astray. Then his Lord chose him, so He turned toward him and guided. One of the pirs of the Tariqah was asked, “Given all the good fortune, rank, standing, and proxim- ity that Adam the chosen had with the Real, what wisdom is there in the call that went out concern- ing him, 'And Adam disobeyed'?” The Pir answered with the tongue of wisdom and the tasting of recognition: “The seed of love had been thrown into the earth of Adam's heart. Then the canal of his eyes was opened for the water of remorse, and the sun of And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord [39:69] shone forth on that good clay, receptive to the seed of pain. The tree of love grew up, and the air of But he forgot [20:115] nurtured it in the field of paradise. The sun of We found in him no resoluteness [20:115] dried it. Then He cut it down with the scythe of Then his Lord chose him. Then, with the wind of So He turned toward him and guided, He made it pure. Then He wanted to cook it with fire, so He heated an oven with the harshness of And Adam disobeyed and cooked that food of pas- sion in the oven. The flavor of that food had still not reached Adam's taste buds when he let loose the tongue of need and said, 'Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves' [7:23].” It has also been said that Adam had two existences. The first existence was in this world, not paradise, and the second was in paradise. The command came, “O Adam, come out of paradise and go into this world. Gamble away your crown, belt, and cap in the road of passion! Put up with pain and trial. Then tomorrow We will bring you back to this precious homeland and this domicile of subsistence with a hundred thousand robes of gentleness and every sort of honor, as the leader of the witnesses and in the presence of the one-hundred-twenty some thousand center points of prophecy, the possessors of purity and the sources of limpidness.” Tomorrow, you will see Adam go into paradise with his children. The angels of the Dominion will look with wonder and say, “This is that solitary man who moved out of paradise a few days ago in poverty and indigence!” “O Adam, bringing you out of paradise was a curtain over this business and a covering over the mysteries, for your loins were the ocean of the one-hundred-twenty some thousand center points of prophethood's pearls. Suffer a bit of trouble, then in a few days, take the treasure!” “O MuḤammad! When We put the Meccans up to throwing you out of Mecca, We also com- manded you-'Make the hijrah, go to Medina, put on the clothing of exile, and go to the corner of remorse with Abū Ayyūb Anṣārī.' All this was making ready. The goal was to bring you back to Mecca on the Day of the Conquest along with ten thousand sword-wielding, spear-throwing war- riors so that the nobles of Quraysh and the leaders of the unbelievers would be in wonder: 'This is that man who fled all alone. Now look at what his work has reached!' “In the same way We said to the pure, holy spirit, 'You are the quarry of subtleness and the source of repose and comfort! It is We who sent you to the homeland of exile, kept you in the com- pany of the turmoil-inducing soul, and imprisoned you in this dustbin. The goal was to call you back at the end of this business to Our own Presence with a hundred thousand robes of gentleness, kindly gifts, and secret bestowals: O serene soul, return to thy Lord, approving, approved! [89:27-28].' “O Adam, though We sent you to this world in the companionship of the serpent and Iblis, We brought you back in the companionship of mercy and forgiveness with the escort of prosperity and good fortune. O MuḤammad, though We brought you out of Mecca with the attribute of abase- ment, We brought you back with conquest, victory, and triumph in the attribute of exaltedness. O exalted spirit, though We afflicted you for a few days in this dustbin, this domicile of grief, this house full of the sorrows of separation, and We kept you for a time in the company of the com- manding soul, in the end We brought you back in the company of approval and with the escort of the address, 'Return to thy Lord' to the neighborhood of generosity.”

And whosoever turns away from My remembrance, he shall have a life of narrowness, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall muster him blind. Concerning this verse Jaʿfar ṣādiq said, “Had they recognized Me, they would not have turned away from Me. When someone turns away from Me, I will restore him to turning toward the kinds and colors appropriate for him.” Whoever recognizes Him remembers Him in every state and turns away from remembering everything except Him. Whoever knows Him will always be remembering Him and persevere in performing the obligatory and supererogatory acts, putting aside his own steps and seeking every- thing rightfully due to Him. Whenever someone turns aside from remembering the Real for one instant in his life and turns to remembering the creatures, the veiled virgin of recognition will con- ceal her face from him and he will never have a portion of her beauty. This is the case of someone who turns away from His remembrance for one instant in his whole life. How about someone who does not turn toward the remembrance of the Real for one instant in his whole life? The paragon of the world, the center point of the circle of newly arrived things, was addressed by the Compeller of the engendered beings, “O master! It does not please Me that in the two worlds you should rely on any but Me, that on your tongue should be the remembrance of any but Me, that in your heart should be love for any but Me. I will bring everyone out against you and make them all your antagonists so that you will remember none but Me in the two worlds.” The first He brought out against him were his family, tribe, and relatives so that, when he saw disloyalty from his near ones, he would not place his heart in his far ones. The Real wanted to turn his heart away from the creatures and unbind his secret core from the whole world and join it with Himself, “for conjunction with the Real is in the measure of disjunction from the creatures.” WāsiṬī said, “Whoever looks at Him does not look at himself. Whoever remembers Him for- gets to remember himself.” Remembrance of self and remembrance of creatures are the seeds of sorrows. Remembrance is remembrance of the Real-the rest is nothing but loss. If He had not remembered you in the Beginningless, how would you have the gall to remember Him? If this lofty signet had not come forth from the Presence of Exaltation-“So remember Me; I will remember you” [2:152]-how would you have dared to dream of His remembrance or to pass His name through your mind? There were people in the deserts of bewilderment and the darknesses of reflective thought. The lordly gentleness and divine assistance traveled into the world of dust and turned the orphan of Abū Ṭālib into the unique pearl of every seeker. When that master of the two realms of being came, he spread the tablecloth and called out an invitation. The chieftains of the Quraysh like Abū Jahl and Abū Lahab did not respond. They said that chieftains and paragons disdain to be present at the beck and call of beggars. That invitation of the paragon of the two realms of being traveled around the regions of the world looking for someone burnt who would respond. Bilāl Ḥabashī heard the paragon's invitation and set out on the road. ṣuhayb heard it in Byzantium-head spin- ning, he hurried off. Salmān set off from Persia like one of the passionate. When they arrived, they sat down at the tablecloth. Good fortune clapped its hands, and the sun of felicity reached perfection in the heaven of desire. The stalwarts and the proud looked at them and saw their own ill-fortune next to their good fortune. They became envious and wanted to chase them away from the tablecloth. They said, “O MuḤammad, drive them away so that we may be neighborly with you. It is beneath our dignity to sit with beggars.” The paragon had such an eager desire for their submission that he wanted to do that. This address came from the Exalted Presence: “Do not set out to torment the hearts of the burnt, for it is not the habit of the generous to drive away beggars from the tablecloth. And drive not away those who supplicate their Lord [6:52]. O MuḤammad, do not drive these poor men away, for their life lies in remembering Me. And do not obey him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance [18:28]. Do not obey those chieftains, for their hearts are empty of remembering Me.” The attribute of the poor was this: who remember God, standing and sitting [3:191]. Their habit was this: who call upon their Lord morning and evening [18:28]. Their conduct was this: preferring others over themselves [59:9]. Their outcome was this: He loves them, and they love Him [5:54]. But the attribute of the chieftains of the Quraysh was this: who wage war against God and His Messenger, striving for corruption in the earth [5:33]. Their aspiration was this: to confine thee, or kill thee, or expel thee [8:30]. Their habit was this: whosoever turns away from My remembrance. This is why on the Day of Resurrection We shall muster him blind.

Extend not thine eyes to what We have given pairs of them to enjoy, the flower of this world's life so that We may entrance them thereby; and thy Lord's provision is better and more subsisting. This is another balm that He lays on the hearts of the poor. He is showing the insignificance and feebleness of this world to people, exposing its defects and blemishes, and holding His friends back from seeing and loving it. He is saying, “the flower of this world's life so that We may entrance them thereby”: This world is a blossom whose moisture, freshness, and comeliness will last a few days. Then it will wither and become nothing, but its entrancement will remain in the heart. Why are you in love with the loveless one who took Alexander's life? Why are you passionate for the friend to whom Darius lost his kingdom? [DS 53] “The rich turn back to this world and the poor turn back to the Patron. How far apart are these and those!” Whatever happens to the rich, they come back to this world. In every state the heart of the poor is with the Patron. From here is known the eminence of the poor over the rich. Junayd considered poverty more excellent than wealth. In contrast, Ibn ʿAṬāÌ considered wealth more eminent than poverty. One day there was a debate between the two. Junayd argued that God's Messenger said, “The poor of my community will enter the Garden one-half day before the rich, and that is five hundred years.” He said that someone who goes into paradise is more excellent than someone who remains five hundred years in the reckoning. Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, “No, it is more excellent to remain in the reckoning, for the person in paradise has the pleasure of blessing, but the person in the reckoning has the pleasure of the Real's rebuke. Talking with the Friend, even in the station of rebuke, is beyond being occupied with other than the Friend, even if that is in the station of blessing. This is because being tried by the Friend is sweeter than being in the Friend's blessing without the Friend.” Junayd answered, “Even if the rich man has the pleasure of rebuke, the poor man will have the pleasure of apology. ” This is in Anas ibn Mālik's narration from the Prophet: “On the Day of Resurrection God will come to the poor servant and conceal him from the people under His wing. Then He will apologize to him just as a man apologizes to a man in this world. He will say, 'My servant, by My exaltation and majesty, I did not hold back this world from you to scorn you, but because of the generosity and excellence I had prepared for you. Go out into those ranks and gaze upon him who fed you and gave you to drink for My sake or who clothed you, desiring nothing from that except My face. Then take his hand, for that belongs to you.' “On that day the people will be drowning in sweat. He will come out, pass through the ranks, and examine the faces of the people. When he sees someone who did something of that, he will take him by the hand and tell him that the Garden has been given to him.” Junayd mentioned this report as evidence and then said, “Although He rebukes the rich man, He apologizes to the poor man. The pleasure of apology is beyond the pleasure of rebuke, for both friend and enemy are rebuked, but apology is only for friends.” He holds the poor back from this world not because they are being deprived of this world, but because this world is being deprived of them. Their aspiration is better than this world, their desire better than the afterworld, and their goal is seeing the Patron. Once Luqmān Sarakhsī's hair had become long. It passed into his mind to wish that he had a dirham so that he could go to the bath and have his hair cut. He still had not brought this com- pletely to mind when he saw a desert full of gold. He lifted his eyes and said to himself, “I did say some words in drunkenness, but why did You attach that camel to my train?”

And command thy family to the prayer, and have patience therein. We ask thee for no provision. We shall provide for thee. And command thy family to the prayer, and have patience therein. He is commanding the servant to teach and telling him to manifest servanthood and constancy in obedience. So long as the ser- vant is not worthy and approved, He will not accept him in service at His threshold and will not give him access in the prayer to the presence of secret whispering. There is no good fortune beyond the fact that five times a day, by the decree of bounty, He sends the baggage-steed of the court of union at the hand of the stirrup-holder of gentleness to the hut of the servant's incapacity and records this exalted sigil on the edict of his good fortune: “I have divided the prayer between Me and My servant into two halves. When the servant says, 'Praise belongs to God,' God says, 'My servant is praising Me,'” and so on. He kept Moses the speaking companion waiting for forty days at the promise of whispered prayer. When the turn of this community arrived, He took away the tablecloth of waiting and, five times a day, again and again, He placed the goblet of whispered prayer in the hand of the cupbearer of gentleness: “Prostrate thyself and draw near” [96:19]. This is not a bestowal of eminence on the communities over the prophets, but rather, “The weaker someone is, the gentler the Lord is to him.” The Lord of the Worlds takes care of the work of the weak such that all the strong are in wonder. A hundred thousand proximate angels dove into the ocean of bowing and prostrating, and no one talks about them. But this penniless beggar wakes up from sleep and says, “Oh, it's late.” In the splendorous scripture the Lord of the Worlds wrote this inscription of exaltation on the cape of his secret whispers: “Their sides shun their couches as they supplicate their Lord in fear and want” [32:16]. We ask no provision of thee, and it is We who shall provide thee. Whenever someone believes that the provider in reality is the Lord and that all provision comes from Him and that the second- ary causes are by His predetermination, his mark is that his heart trusts totally in Him and he cuts himself off from others. Then the Exalted Lord, in His gentleness, takes care of his work and at every moment caresses him with various sorts of generosity. A man came before Ḥātim Aṣamm and asked him, “How are you able to pass your days, for you have no belongings and no estates.” He said, “From His storehouse.” He said, “Does He throw bread to you from heaven?” He said, “Did He not have the earth, He would cast bread to me from heaven.” Then the man said, “You are just talking words.” He said, “Because nothing descends from heaven but words.” He said, “I am not able to argue with you.” He said, “Because falsehood has no ability before truth.” O poor man! There is no illness more difficult than weak certainty. Fix your certainty on the Real, and the hand is yours. There is the name of certainty, the knowledge of certainty, the eye of certainty, the truth of certainty, and the reality of the truth of certainty. The name of certainty belongs to the common people, the knowledge of certainty to the elect, the eye of certainty to the elect of the elect, the truth of certainty to the prophets, and the reality of the truth of certainty to MuṣṬafā. A man who becomes a man becomes so through certainty. Certainty must reach the tongue for him to be a speaker, the eye for him to be as seer, the ear for him to be a hearer, the hand for him to be taker, the foot for him to be a goer. MuṣṬafā said, “Jesus walked on water. Had his certainty increased, he would have walked on air.” The master Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said, “He alluded to himself, meaning, 'When I was walking on air on the night of the miʿrāj, that was because of the perfection of certainty.'”

To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth. Those who are with Him are not too proud to worship Him, nor do they become weary. The newly arrived things belong to Him as a possession, and the engendered beings belong to Him by decree. He is too transcendent to be beautified by conformity or to be diminished by op- position. In earth and the heavens all the engendered beings and newly arrived things, the existent things and things coming to nothing, are His kingdom and possession, His servants, slaves, and serving boys. In the view of the lords of the meanings, the reality of kingship is power to originate and devise. This reality is His attribute, and worthy kingship is His kingship-without horse and ser- vants, without drums and flags, without army and retinue. When the kings of the world display their armies, they mount up their servants and retinue, they display their horse and chattel, and then they lift up the head of boasting of their kingship and possessions, blessings and self-indulgences, cavalry and infantry, royal court and audience hall. As for the Real, He strikes the fire of unneedi- ness in the vestiges and traces of the realm of being, He turns the world into scattered dust [25:23] and He shakes the dust of the others off the skirt of power. He puts the halter of destruction on the steed of existence and lets out this call in the world: “Whose is the kingdom today?” Then He Himself answers with His own exalted majesty: “God's, the One, the All-Subjugating” [40:16]. When a person of faith believes that everything is His rightful due and kingdom and that all exaltedness is His exaltedness, it is fitting for him to break the tablet of making claims, roll up the carpet of folly, put the delusion of egoism out of his head, and pull his skirt back from the two realms of being and the two worlds. He will be ashamed to bow his head before a created thing like himself, or to bind his heart to anyone. “He who aims for the ocean has no need for rivulets.” When a diver has a high aspiration and uses his own life for give-and-take with the ocean in order to gain the night-brightening pearl, why would he give himself over to a black bead? He said beautiful words, that exalted man of the era: “He who recognizes the Real will not put up with the abasement of the creatures.”

He will not be questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned. This is a rejection of the free-willers and a right guidance for the Sunnis. The free-willers say, “If we turn over all the newly arrived things to God, He would be defective.” They say, “Evil is from us and good from Him.” In the same way, the Zoroastrians say that good is from Yazdān and evil from Ahrīman. “The free-willers are the Magi of this community.” A free-willer said to a Zoroastrian, “Become a Muslim.” He said, “As long as He does not want it, how can I become a Muslim?” The free-willer said, “He wants it, but Iblis does not.” The Zoroastrian said, “Then I will stay with the stronger antagonist. What will I do with the weak one?” As for the right guidance of the Sunnis, it is that the Real is the absolute owner and is able to act upon His possession as He wants. MuṣṬafā said, “Were He to chastise me and the son of Mary, He would chastise us without wronging us.” Fear a God who does whatever He wants while no one has the gall to protest! “Have shame before God because of His proximity to you, and fear God because of His power over you.” Know also that this a work that is over and done with. He has taken each to his own domicile and made his place apparent, and then He has brought him back to the beginning of the road of interaction. When the prophets came, they did not bring any new work into this world, nor did they place any new report in your breast. Rather, they put into motion what was in your breast and they called you to what had been deposited for you. We would not have been guided had God not guided us [7:43]. ʿAlī was asked about the measuring out. He said, “It is God's secret, so do not disclose it; it is a tremendous ocean, so do not importune it.” Human knowledge does not have the capacity to carry it. Man's understanding and imagination will never reach it. He does not know that the more he goes forward, the more he becomes bewildered. The more he exercises self-determination, the more he falls. What is the spirit next to Your face other than a meddler? What is intellect next to Your lips other than a fool? [DS 902]

Or have they taken gods apart from Him? Say, “Bring your proof.” This alludes to true tawḤīd and the Lord's solitariness in the description of aloneness and the at- tribute of unity. The root of tawḤīd is to fly in the field of disengagement, to take up residence at His rulings through solitariness, to cut off fear and hope from both the near and the far, and to surrender the affair to God so that He may decree however He desires. Shiblī said, “The One suffices you against all, but all will not suffice you against the One.” He is saying, “The Real is One. If you have a thousand enemies and the Real is with you, He will suffice against all. And supposing you have a thousand friends and helpers but the Real is not with you, then nothing will be in your hand but wind.” God's Messenger said to Abū Bakr al-ṣiddīq in the cave, “Grieve not; surely God is with us” [9:40]. It was said to a spider, “We have concealed the paragon of the prophets and the head of the sincerely truthful in a cave. Go, prepare the corner of your incapacity and poverty in the door of that cave so that it may be their escort.” Nothing in the world is more incapable than a spider, and no house is weaker than its house. And surely the frailest of houses is the house of the spider [29:41]. When He wants to destroy an enemy like Nimrod, He destroys him with a gnat. He is a Lord who does whatever He wants and who shows His power however He wants. Take a look at His perfect power in the creation of heaven and earth, as He says:

Have not those who disbelieve seen that the heavens and the earth were all sewn up, then We unstitched them, and from water We made every living thing? And We made…, and We made…, and We made… [21:30-32]. Everything to the end of these verses is allusions to the perfection of His power and explanations of His wisdom. When you look at power, all nonexistent things take on the color of existence. When you look at exaltedness, all existent things take on the color of nonexistence. You should not have the opinion that whatever He knew, He said; whatever He could do, He did; and whatever He had, He showed. The existent things and the created things are a sample of His power. Revelations and inspirations are an iota of His knowledge. Just as He sent a few rul- ings of His knowledge to the creatures and the knowledge did not reach the bottom, so also He put together a few clods of earth and His power did not reach its end. If He were to create thousands of Thrones, Footstools, heavens, and earths, He still would not have made apparent an iota of His power. Your power is incapable and finite, but His power is transcendent and infinite. Whatever is impossible in the intellect, God is perfectly powerful over that. In power He uses no contriv- ances, in self-standing His state does not change, in Essence and attributes He is everlasting and transcendent.

And He it is who created night and day, and the sun and the moon, each swimming in a sphere. In the tasting of the folk of recognition, night and day are a mark of the contraction and expansion of the recognizers. Contraction and expansion are the divine decree and royal predetermination. Sometimes He puts them in the grasp of His contraction so that the ruling power of His majesty [wreaks havoc on them, and sometimes He gives them a place on the carpet of His expansion such that the ruling power of beauty] may caress them in virtue of bestowal. It is the stipulation of the man with pain that in the grasp of contraction he be rectified and not protest, and on the carpet of expansion he be courteous and not turn away, for the great ones of the religion have said, “The servant will not find the sweetness of faith until trial comes to him from everywhere.” And the sun and the moon, each swimming in a sphere. He created the sun and the moon in the constellations of heaven, and they travel on the peak of the spheres. He created the sun neither to increase nor to decrease and the moon to increase and decrease; sometimes it wanes, and some- times it shines forth. The sun is the mark of the possessor of tawḤīd, who says with the attribute of stability in the presence of stability, “Were the covering to be lifted, I would not increase in certainty.” The moon is the mark of the possessor of knowledge, who walks in the playing field of exertion. He comes by way of gazing and inference and keeps his eyes on obedience and good works, that they might add faith to their faith [48:4]. The possessor of tawḤīd is the lord of pain, and the possessor of knowledge is the lord of deeds. The possessor of deeds gazes on the secondary causes, and the possessor of pain gazes on the Causer and is detached from the secondary causes. The great ones of the religion have said, “Not seeing the secondary cause is ignorance, but remaining with the secondary cause is associationism.” A recognizer was seen on the shore of the Tigris, saying, “My Master, I am thirsty,” but he passed by without drinking. That exalted man was contemplating the Real and saw neither the Tigris nor its water. When someone is busy with a work, even if the houris of paradise pass by, he will not be aware. God only knows, sweetheart, if I know night from day- night and day passion has confounded and perplexed me.

We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death. When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? “The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.” O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of “There is no god but God.” Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city. Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: “O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.” One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, “O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?” What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you? Dāwūd said, “My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease. This soul of mine has never had the upper hand over me, and in this state it is even more appropriate that it not have it.” It was in this state, lying in the dust, that he emptied his frame. Junayd said, “Whoever lives through his Lord will be transferred from the life of his nature to the life of the root, and that is life in reality. God says, 'We shall surely give him to live a goodly life' [16:97].”

We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death. When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? “The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.” O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of “There is no god but God.” Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city. Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: “O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.” One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, “O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?” What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you? Dāwūd said, “My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease. This soul of mine has never had the upper hand over me, and in this state it is even more appropriate that it not have it.” It was in this state, lying in the dust, that he emptied his frame. Junayd said, “Whoever lives through his Lord will be transferred from the life of his nature to the life of the root, and that is life in reality. God says, 'We shall surely give him to live a goodly life' [16:97].”

Man was created of haste. I shall show you My signs, so seek not to hasten Me. Man was created of haste. Haste is one thing, hurry is something else. Haste is unapproved and blamed, and a prohibition has come concerning it: “so seek not to hasten Me.” Hurry is approved and praised, and a command has come in it: “Hurry!” [3:133]. Haste is to go forth to a work before its moment, and hurry is to rush to a work that is commanded at the beginning of its moment. Haste is the result of Satan's disquieting, and hurry is a requisite of success-giving and reverence for the command. From haste come regret and the heart's turmoil, and from hurry the joining of spirit and heart with tranquility: He it is who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful [48:4]. God sends down repose on the hearts of the faithful so that they will recognize Him without having found Him and love Him without having seen Him. They turn away from their own work to His work, they come from remembering themselves to remembering Him, and they go from love for themselves to love for Him. All rememberings save remembering Him are negligence, all objects of desire save His object of desire are diversions, and all loves save love for Him are idle talk.

We said, “O fire, be coolness and safety!” For the companions of recognitions and the lords of realities, there is another intimation in this verse. They have said that this was a call to a fire that was made ready in the fireplace of Abra- ham's spirit. When Nimrod placed him in the mangonel, Abraham placed his own secret core in the mangonel of contemplation. As soon as he came near the fire of Nimrod, the burn of witnessing the Real made him want to sigh so as to extinguish Nimrod's fire. The call came, “O fire,” that is, “O fire of witnessing, be coolness. Be cold toward Nimrod's fire and do not exercise your ruling authority over it, for We have decreed that We will bring forth from the midst of the fire a scented garden full of flowers and blossoms to honor Our bosom friend and make manifest a miracle for him. If you extinguish it, it will not become a garden and the miracle will not appear. Be cold toward Nimrod's fire so that the garden may appear, and be safety for Abraham so that the miracle may appear.” Listen to another subtle point, more wonderful than that: Your soul is like Nimrod, the soul's caprice is fire, and your burnt heart is Abraham. The soul has lit up the fire of caprice, placed the heart in the mangonel of disobedient acts with the chains of deception and the fetters of appetite, and thrown it into the fire of caprice. Before it takes one step, intellect comes like someone dis- tracted, a servant-boy to the heart, and says, “Have you any need?” The heart responds, “'Of you, no.' O intellect, do you remember when it was said to you, 'Come!', and you came? It was said, 'Go!,' and you went? It was said, 'Who are you?', and you were at a loss? On that day you did not know your own road. How do you know what is right for me today?” When the heart enters the fire of caprice, the command arrives, “O fire, be coolness! O fire of caprice, be cold for the heart, for it is already burned by love for Me.” For in the lover's heart is the fire of love. The burnt one will not be burned again. When this command comes to the fire of caprice, at once it dies down, and a wondrous garden appears in the midst of the recognizer's heart, a hundred thou- sand marvels with all sorts of flowers and trees full of fruit. On the garden's caprice, the clouds of bounteousness pour down the rain of welcome; on the soul, the rain of sufficiency so that obedi- ence and loyalty grow from it; on the heart, the rain of guidance so that yearning and limpidness grow from it; on the tongue, the rain of subtlety so that praise and laudation grow from it; on the eye, the rain of generosity, so that vision and encounter grow from it.

And David and Solomon, when they gave judgment about the tillage. David and Solomon shared with each other in terms of prophecy, but they were disparate in degree and excellence. Do you not see that in one question He gave Solomon superiority in knowledge? He singled out his understanding, for He said,

So We made Solomon understand this, and to both We gave judgment and knowledge. He gave Solomon such a tremendous kingdom, but He did not count it as a favor. Rather, He showed him its insignificance when He said, “This is Our gift, so bestow” [38:39], that is, “Give it to whomsoever you want because of its insignificance and meanness.” When He reached knowl- edge and understanding, He declared its eminence and counted it a favor toward him: “So We made Solomon understand this.” The knowledge of understanding is beyond the knowledge of commentary and interpretation. Commentary comes through teaching and instruction, interpretation comes through right guidance and success-giving, and understanding without intermediary comes through Lordly inspiration. Commentary without a master is useless, interpretation without exertion is incorrect, and the pos- sessor of understanding has no teacher other than the Real. Commentary and interpretation come through knowledge and striving, and understanding comes through finding and being pulled. Ḥasan Baṣrī said, “I asked Ḥudhayfa Yamān about knowledge of inwardness,” that is, under- standing. “Ḥudhayfa said that he asked God's Messenger, who said, 'a knowledge between God and His friends, of which no proximate angel or any of His creatures is aware.'” The understanding of these Men concerning the secrets of the Book and the Sunnah reached an inviolable sanctuary around which the imaginations of the lords of outwardness do not have the gall to circle. From each letter they have a station, from each word a message, from each verse a realm, from each chapter a burning and a celebration. In their road threats are promises, and in their case promises are hard cash. Paradise and hell are way stations on their road, and everything less than the Real is for them unreal. In the desert of their present moment this world and the next world are two miles. By day they are in the lodging of secret whispering, by night in the litter of joy. By day they gaze upon the artifacts, by night they contemplate the beauty of the Artisan. By day they are with the people in good character and by night with the Real in the footing of truthful- ness [10:2]. By day they are in the work, by night in drunkenness. By day they seek the road, by night they speak of the mysteries. My night is the forenoon sun from Your face- the darkness is only in the sky. The people are in the darkness from their night, but we are in brightness from Your face.

And Dhu'l-Nūn, when he went forth wrathful and thought that We would not have power over him. Then he called out in the darknesses, “There is no god but Thou, glory be to Thee! Surely I am one of the wrongdoers.” So We responded to him and delivered him from sorrow. God has friends who would begin to lament from the lack of trial if for the blink of an eye the as- sistance of the army of trial were cut off from their days-just as the folk of the world grieve at the lack of blessings, they begin to wail from the lack of trial. The more they see the blows of the times and of trial, the more they are passionate for their trial. The hotter the flames of their passion, then, like moths, the more they are entranced by their trouble. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, may the pain I have never get better! This pain is right for me. When someone is in pain and content with pain, what is the reckoning? O God, my story is this that I recount. What is the answer to this poor wretch stricken by pain?” The tale they tell about the days and the state of that exalted one of the road, that chosen one of the King, Jonah the prophet, has exactly this attribute. He was a man cleansed by the crucible of trial, ground down by the millstone of tribulation, his head struck by the whip of rebuke without special favor. The more his liver was turned into kabob in the incense-burner of trial, the more he became passionate for his trial, for when he was shown the moon-like beauty of passion for the Haqiqah, he was shown it in the street of trial and the room of tribulation. The traditions narrate that “When God loves a servant, trial is poured down all over him.” Riẓwān and all the slave-boys are servants of the dust under the feet of the folk of trial. The beginningless welcome and the unseen request are prepared in the name of the folk of trial. The divine love is the food of the secret cores of the folk of trial. The lordly gentleness and mercy are trustees specific to the folk of trial. The eternal attributes are the supplies and provisions of the folk of trial. The pure, incomparable Essence is witnessed by the hearts of the folk of trial. He loves them, and they love Him [5:54] is the pavilion of the Unseen's gift and bestowal for the folk of trial. Their Lord will pour for them [76:21] is the end and outcome of the folk of trial. “There is no god but Thou, glory be to Thee! Surely I am one of the wrongdoers.” So We respond- ed to him. In terms of allusion He is reporting that whenever any servant supplicates with a supplication within which are found three things, that supplication will be linked to response. First is tawḤīd, sec- ond is the declaration of incomparability, and third is acknowledgement of one's sins. Thus Jonah the prophet began with tawḤīd, saying, “There is no god but Thou.” Then he joined it to the declaration of incomparability, saying, “Glory be to Thee!” Then he acknowledged his own sin, saying “Surely I am one of the wrongdoers.” Once these three traits were gathered together in his supplication, the response came from the Divine Presence: “So We responded to him and delivered him from sorrow.” TawḤīd is that you say with the tongue that God is one and you know with the heart that He is one-one in Essence, one in attributes, exempt from attachments, hallowed beyond blights, and incomparable with intermixings. None but He is worthy of gratitude and being owed for favors, no one but He has power and strength, from no one else come granting and bestowal. Know also that tawḤīd becomes sound when someone has a limpid heart, a high aspiration, and an empty breast; he has not become prey of this world, nor is he shackled to the afterworld. Nothing hangs on to him, nor is he mixed with anything. Then the beauty of tawḤīd is unveiled to him and he is described as perceiving its secret. Dhu'l-Nūn Miṣrī was seen in a dream, with an approved state and praiseworthy days. It was said to him, “O Dhu'l-Nūn, what is your state and where have your days taken you? Where is your spirit, and what have you found in the Friend's dealings with you?” He answered, “I asked for three wishes from the Friend. He gave two of them and therein fulfilled my hope. I am waiting for the third. One is that I said, 'O King, before the angel of death becomes aware of my work, take up my spirit and do not leave me with him.' He fulfilled my hope. Another is that I said, 'O King, place me in the garden of approval without any obligation toward Riẓwān, and do not turn me over to anyone.' He did that and He completed His blessings toward me with His bounty. My third wish, for which I am waiting, is that I said, 'O King, give me permission to say Your name in the field of Your majesty in the row of the sincerely truthful and the tawḤīd-voicers, to run in the majestic house of all those in union with You, to keep on shouting in the assembly of Your recognizers, and to keep on circumambulating the Kaabah of union with You.' I hope that He will also respond to this.”

And Dhu'l-Nūn, when he went forth wrathful and thought that We would not have power over him. Then he called out in the darknesses, “There is no god but Thou, glory be to Thee! Surely I am one of the wrongdoers.” So We responded to him and delivered him from sorrow. God has friends who would begin to lament from the lack of trial if for the blink of an eye the as- sistance of the army of trial were cut off from their days-just as the folk of the world grieve at the lack of blessings, they begin to wail from the lack of trial. The more they see the blows of the times and of trial, the more they are passionate for their trial. The hotter the flames of their passion, then, like moths, the more they are entranced by their trouble. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, may the pain I have never get better! This pain is right for me. When someone is in pain and content with pain, what is the reckoning? O God, my story is this that I recount. What is the answer to this poor wretch stricken by pain?” The tale they tell about the days and the state of that exalted one of the road, that chosen one of the King, Jonah the prophet, has exactly this attribute. He was a man cleansed by the crucible of trial, ground down by the millstone of tribulation, his head struck by the whip of rebuke without special favor. The more his liver was turned into kabob in the incense-burner of trial, the more he became passionate for his trial, for when he was shown the moon-like beauty of passion for the Haqiqah, he was shown it in the street of trial and the room of tribulation. The traditions narrate that “When God loves a servant, trial is poured down all over him.” Riẓwān and all the slave-boys are servants of the dust under the feet of the folk of trial. The beginningless welcome and the unseen request are prepared in the name of the folk of trial. The divine love is the food of the secret cores of the folk of trial. The lordly gentleness and mercy are trustees specific to the folk of trial. The eternal attributes are the supplies and provisions of the folk of trial. The pure, incomparable Essence is witnessed by the hearts of the folk of trial. He loves them, and they love Him [5:54] is the pavilion of the Unseen's gift and bestowal for the folk of trial. Their Lord will pour for them [76:21] is the end and outcome of the folk of trial. “There is no god but Thou, glory be to Thee! Surely I am one of the wrongdoers.” So We respond- ed to him. In terms of allusion He is reporting that whenever any servant supplicates with a supplication within which are found three things, that supplication will be linked to response. First is tawḤīd, sec- ond is the declaration of incomparability, and third is acknowledgement of one's sins. Thus Jonah the prophet began with tawḤīd, saying, “There is no god but Thou.” Then he joined it to the declaration of incomparability, saying, “Glory be to Thee!” Then he acknowledged his own sin, saying “Surely I am one of the wrongdoers.” Once these three traits were gathered together in his supplication, the response came from the Divine Presence: “So We responded to him and delivered him from sorrow.” TawḤīd is that you say with the tongue that God is one and you know with the heart that He is one-one in Essence, one in attributes, exempt from attachments, hallowed beyond blights, and incomparable with intermixings. None but He is worthy of gratitude and being owed for favors, no one but He has power and strength, from no one else come granting and bestowal. Know also that tawḤīd becomes sound when someone has a limpid heart, a high aspiration, and an empty breast; he has not become prey of this world, nor is he shackled to the afterworld. Nothing hangs on to him, nor is he mixed with anything. Then the beauty of tawḤīd is unveiled to him and he is described as perceiving its secret. Dhu'l-Nūn Miṣrī was seen in a dream, with an approved state and praiseworthy days. It was said to him, “O Dhu'l-Nūn, what is your state and where have your days taken you? Where is your spirit, and what have you found in the Friend's dealings with you?” He answered, “I asked for three wishes from the Friend. He gave two of them and therein fulfilled my hope. I am waiting for the third. One is that I said, 'O King, before the angel of death becomes aware of my work, take up my spirit and do not leave me with him.' He fulfilled my hope. Another is that I said, 'O King, place me in the garden of approval without any obligation toward Riẓwān, and do not turn me over to anyone.' He did that and He completed His blessings toward me with His bounty. My third wish, for which I am waiting, is that I said, 'O King, give me permission to say Your name in the field of Your majesty in the row of the sincerely truthful and the tawḤīd-voicers, to run in the majestic house of all those in union with You, to keep on shouting in the assembly of Your recognizers, and to keep on circumambulating the Kaabah of union with You.' I hope that He will also respond to this.”

And Zachariah, when he supplicated his Lord, “My Lord, leave me not solitary.” In the tasting of the recognizers and the allusion of the realizers, the meaning is “Leave me not empty of Your protection from sin or turning away from Your remembrance or occupying myself with anything but You.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “God has no use for treasuries and no need for anything. Whatever He has, He has it for the servants. Tomorrow He will give the treasury of mercy to the disobedient and the treasury of bounty to the helpless so that they may discharge what is rightfully due to Him from His treasuries, for the servants cannot discharge His rightful due with what they have of their own. When a sultan gives his daughter to a beggar, the beggar does not have a dower worthy of the sultan's daughter. From his own treasury the sultan sends the dower to the beggar so that the beggar may give the dower to the princess from his treasury.” When the servant obeys Him, he does so with His success-giving and protection from sin. He discharges what is rightfully due to Him with His confirmation and bestowal of strength. Then through His bounty He praises the servant for the excellence of his obedience and through His generosity He approves of him. What He shows to the world's folk is this:

They were vying in good works and they were supplicating Us in eagerness and dread, and they were reverent toward Us. “My servants are striving to obey Me and they call upon Me with eagerness and dread. They know only Me and they circle only around My door. They are the burned ones of My Presence, the ones lifted up by My gentleness.” “He guided them so that they would recognize them, He gave them success so that they would worship Him, He instructed them so that they would ask of Him, He illuminated their hearts so that they would love Him. He loves without bribery, He bestows without obligation, and He honors without a means of approach.” He scatters a hundred blessings on your head and counts it as a dust mote. He considers a straw of yours to be a mountain. Do you not see that He will give you a paradise with all that tremendousness and vastness, but He calls it an “upper chamber”? “It is they who will be recompensed with the upper chamber” [25:75]. Abraham the Bosom Friend placed a calf before his guests. The Exalted Lord approved of him, honored him, and displayed him to the world's folk: “He brought a roasted calf” [11:69]. He is a Lord who makes wealthy anyone who presents a need to Him, who exalts anyone who delights in Him. Supposing that the servant disobeys for a hundred years and then says, “I repent,” He will say, “I accept.” He it is who accepts repentance from His servants [42:25]. A bedouin was supplicating, and it was a marvelous supplication. He said, “O God, you will find someone other than me to chastise, but I will find no one other than You to have mercy on me.”

As for those to whom the most beautiful has preceded from Us. To them solicitude preceded at the beginning, so friendship became manifest at the end. One must have solicitude at the beginning for there to be friendship at the end. One iota of the beginningless solicitude is better than the bliss of the two worlds. He who is caressed was caressed in the Beginningless, and he who is called was called in the Beginningless. In the Beginningless His friends drank the cup of gentleness and put on the clothing of bounty. He did the work in the Beginningless, but He made it appear to be done today. He spoke the words in the Beginningless, but He makes what was spoken heard today. He sewed and made ready the robes of honor for the friends in the Beginningless, but today He hands them over. Each day He is upon some task [55:29]. He drives the predetermined things to their appointed times. For some time the mysteries have been spoken to you, but you hear them now. The majesty of His Exaltedness is eternal, but you know today. In the Beginningless the beginningless knowledge was your deputy in knowing the beginningless attributes. In the Beginningless the eternal hearing was your deputy in listening to the beginningless speech. When a guardian has a child's property in hand, he has it as his deputy. When the child reaches maturity, he gives it back to him. In terms of allusion, He is saying that you were the infants of nonexistence when the eternal gentleness took care of your work and acted as your deputy. What bounty and generosity is left that He did not do for you? With the eternal gentleness He conveyed the prescription of the Law to your hearing, He sent the decree to your heart, He spoke of mysteries to your spirit, and He inscribed obe- dience on your limbs. He made you anticipate arrivals from the Unseen: “O you who anticipate the arrival of Our gentleness! O you who look for the marks bearing witness to Our Unseen! Nothing drives friendship into your heart other than the ruling power of Our curtaining. No one strikes the knocker on the door of your heart other than the messenger of Our kindness.” This is the reality of the beginningless beauty, which preceded to the friends and with which the Exalted Lord favored them: those to whom the most beautiful has preceded from Us. The fruit of the most beautiful is endless, for the Exalted Lord has promised, saying, “Those who do the beautiful shall have the most beautiful and an increase” [10:26]. Then He explained the outcome and final end of the folk of felicity and He joined the beginningless precedent with the endless subsequent:

The greatest terror shall not make them sorrow, and the angels will receive them: “This is the day that you were promised.” On the Day of Resurrection in the greatest gathering place and most tremendous courtyard, they will not hear from the angels the call “no good news” [25:22], nor the address, “Stand apart today, O offenders!” [36:59], nor the harsh call, “Slink into it, and do not talk to Me!” [23:108]. They will not hear the call of separation's pain, nor will they despair of mercy. Rather the angels will keep on coming, company after company, and they will give the good news: “This is the day that you were promised,” that is, “This is the day in which you have the promised reward.” Among them are those who will be received by the angels, and among them are those who will be addressed and made known by the King. God will say, “My servants, have you been yearning for Me?” He will say “Peace” to a group by the intermediary of the angels, saying, “Peace be upon you! Enter the Garden for what you were doing” [16:32]. He will make another group hear without the intermediary and spokesmanship of the angels: Their greeting on the day they encounter Him will be “Peace” [33:44]. He will say, “'My servants, have you been yearning for Me?' My servants, have you been wishing for Me?” This is a generosity and caress that will reach the faithful servants tomorrow at the resurrection. As for today, their hearts are as that exalted man of the road said: “The hearts of the yearners are illuminated by God's light. When their yearning moves, the light brightens every- thing between heaven and earth. God presents them to the angels and says, 'These are those who yearn for Me. I bear witness to you that I yearn even more for them.'” He is saying, “The hearts of the yearners are illuminated by the divine light. When the fire of their yearning brightens heaven and earth and the Throne and Footstool, the Real will declare, 'O proximate ones of the Presence! These are the yearners for My beauty and majesty. I testify to you that My yearning for them is more than their yearning for Me.'”

We sent thee only as a mercy to the worlds. In the days of the interval between prophets, before MuṣṬafā the Arab was given his mission, the beauty of the submission had pulled its face behind the mask of exaltedness. They considered nature the effec- tor and originator. They had taken up a road whose end was nothing but blindness and misguidance. They considered intellect as God, they made nature its messenger, and they called the spheres the de- terminer. They made what intellect deemed beautiful their Shariah and they called what nature disliked “prohibited things.” They were busy with the celestial figures and guises and wasted their days with epicycles and falsifications. Suddenly the sun of the Muhammadan Shariah's good fortune appeared from the horizon of the unitary welcome: We sent thee only as a mercy to the worlds. Tubbaʿ, the king of Himyar, said to his diviner, “Do you find any kingdom whose kingdom is greater than mine?” The diviner said, “Yes, there is a prophet on the way whose kingdom will be greater than the kingdom of the world's folk. He will be a master, a paragon, a leader; on his forehead will be the light of prostration, on his eyebrows the light of humility, on his hair the light of beauty, in his eyes the light of heedfulness, in his face the light of mercy, between his shoulders the light of prophecy, in his heart the light of recognition, in his secret core the light of love, in his speech the light of wisdom, in his wisdom the light of jealousy, in his jealousy the light of the Presence. He will be pious and blessed, and aided by triumph. He is described in the Psalms, and his community is considered most excellent in the scriptures. He will dispel the darknesses with light. He is AḤmad the prophet. Blessed will be his community when he comes!” It has been sung, Surely the Messenger is a sword that brightens, Indian steel, a drawn sword of God. I have been told that God's Messenger threatened me, but pardon from God's Messenger is to be hoped. He was a man who came out from under the cloak of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-MuṬṬalib. He passed by mortal loins, but he received help from the Unseen. God transformed his states and words: Surely thou hast a tremendous character [68:4]. The character of mortal nature was removed, and the character of the Qur'an put in its place. The speech of mortal nature was taken, and pure revelation was given: He does not speak out of caprice. It is naught but a revelation revealed [53:3-4]. Hence he came speaking of the Shariah, traveling to the Real, and moving in accordance with the command. On the night of the miʿrāj the paradises were presented to him, the marvels and the chambers were shown to him, and he did not pay one speck of attention to any of them. This embroidery of loyalty was sewn on his limpid cape: “The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass” [53:17]. Again, when he stepped on to the carpet of secret whispering in the prayer, he said, “The de- light of my eyes was placed in the prayer,” for it is the station of “The praying person is whispering with his Lord.” We sent thee only as a mercy to the world. Part of his mercy is that he did not forget you in any station, whether he was in Mecca or Medina, whether he was in the mosque or in his room. In the same way, he did not forget you at the summit of the Throne and at Two-Bows' Length. In Mecca he was saying, “And pardon us” [2:286]. In the cave he was saying, “Surely God is with us” [9:40]. At the top of the Two-Bows' Length he was saying, “Peace be upon us and upon God's wholesome servants.” And at the moment of death he was saying, “God is my vicegerent over you.” Tomorrow at the praiseworthy station [17:79], when the carpet of intercession is spread, he will be saying, “My community! My community!”

O people, be wary of your Lord-surely the quaking of the Hour is a tremendous thing. O people is a vocative, and O you have faith is a call of generosity. The vocative is for the common people, and the call of generosity is for the elect. The vocative is for striking fear and warning, and the call of generosity is for bestowing eminence and giving good news. Be wary of your Lord is two words, one severity, the other gentleness. Be wary is severity, which He drives home with His justice. Your Lord is gentleness, which He shows through His bounty. He keeps the servant between severity and gentleness so that he will live in fear and hope. When he is in fear, he looks at his own activity and weeps. When he is in hope, he looks at God's gentleness and is delighted. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, when I look at myself, I ask who is more miserable than I. When I look at You, I ask who is greater than I.” When the servant looks at his own activity, he says with the tongue of contempt and in beaten- ness and brokenness, “My two eyes full of water, my liver full of fire, my hands full of wind, my head full of dust!” When he looks at the divine gentleness and the lordly bounty, he says with the tongue of happiness and the blessing of gratitude, “What does the Throne do that it does not carry my saddlecloth? In my heart I carry the saddlecloth of Your ruling and decree. The scent of the spirit comes to my lips when I speak of You, the branch of exaltedness grows from my heart when I suffer Your trial.” Surely the quaking of the Hour is a tremendous thing. The quaking of the resurrection and the harshness of the resurrection-how can this be explained and what mark can be given of it? For the Exalted Lord says it is “a tremendous thing.” It is a day, and what a day! It is a work, and what a work! It is a day of the bazaar, and what a day of the bazaar! The pavilion of exaltedness will be raised in the desert of power, the carpet of tremendousness spread, the balance of justice hung, the path of straightness drawn out. All the eloquent tongues will be silent and dumb, all excuses will be nullified, for this is a day in which they do not speak, nor will they be given permission to offer excuses [77:35-36]. How many curtains will be torn on that day! How many lineages will be broken on that day! How many with white-faces will become black-faced on that day! How many of the pious will be disgraced! How many hats of good fortune will be thrown in the dust of abasement! How many edicts of sultans will be stamped with the signet of dismissal! For the command that day will belong to God [82:19]. How many fathers will be lamenting in the depths of hell, their children strolling in the meadows of paradise! No father will suffice for his child, nor will any child suffice in anything for his father [31:33]. At the harshness of that day Adam will come forward: “Lord God, let Adam go, and do as You know with his children.” Noah will lament, “Lord God, have mercy on my weakness and helplessness!” Abraham the bosom friend, Moses the speaking companion, and Jesus the spirit of God-each will be helpless in himself and be saying with the tongue of poverty in the state of brokenness, “Myself, myself!” Then the master of the first and the last, the lamp of heaven and earth, the chosen and ap- proved of the Lord of the Worlds, MuḤammad, will come forth in that desert of the resurrection like a full moon and the whole world will be brightened and the spheres a rose garden. When the master shows his beauty and perfection and the glitter of the light of his face reaches the world of the resurrection, felicity and security will appear for the folk of faith. Just as the moon passes by the stars in the spheres, on that day the paragon of the world will pass by the faithful and keep on gazing on their faces, and he will intercede for the folk of faith. Thy Lord shall bestow upon thee so that thou shalt approve [93:5].

O people, if you are in doubt about the Uprising, surely We created you of dust, then of a sperm drop, then of a blood clot, then of a lump of flesh, fully created and not fully created, that We might make clear to you. The composition of the Adamic body in the first creation is a clear argument against the deniers of the Uprising. He is saying, “I am the Lord who created a body and figure with such comeliness, a stature and form with such beauty, from that feeble sperm drop in that firm settledness. He says, “Did We not create you of feeble water, then put it in a firm settledness?” [77:20-21]. If you ponder this body, you will find an exemplar of all the created and newly arrived things in the celestial and terrestrial worlds. Just as He arranged the seven spheres in heaven, so also He composed seven parts in this body-water and dust, and then flesh, skin, veins, sinews, and bones. Just as He divided the spheres into twelve constellations, so also He made twelve holes in this structure in the likeness of the twelve constellations: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two breasts, the two well-known roads, the mouth, and the navel. Just as the angels travel in the layers of the heavens, so also the faculties of the soul travel in this Adamic composition. Just as some of the constellations in heaven are southern and some northern, some of these holes in the body are toward the right and some toward the left. Just as there are seven stars in the spheres of heaven called planets and, in the view of some, misfortune and felicity are tied to their forelocks, so also in your body there are seven faculties to which the wholesomeness of the body is tied: the faculty of eyesight, the faculty of hearing, and the faculties of taste, smell, touch, speech, and intellect. The root of these branches is in the heart, and to this the Prophet alluded with his words, “Surely in the body of Adam's child there is a lump of flesh. When it is wholesome, the rest of the body is also wholesome, and surely it is the heart.” This then is taking into account the celestial world. As for how the body takes into account the terrestrial world, it is that the body is just like the earth, the bones are like the mountains, marrow is like the minerals, the belly like the ocean, the viscera and veins are like rivers, flesh is like the dust, hair is like plants, the front is like the in- habited parts, the back like the uninhabited parts, before the front is like the east, behind the back is like the west, the right is like the south, the left is like the north, breath is like wind, speech like thunder, sounds like thunderbolts, laughter like light, sorrow and grief like darkness, weeping like rain, the days of childhood like the days of spring, the days of youth like the days of summer, the days of maturity like the days of autumn, and the days of old age like the days of winter. In sum, you should know that there is no animal or plant, nothing silent or speaking, whose characteristic you will not find in this dust-dwelling speck. This is why the great ones of the religion have said that you will find everything in the Adamite, but you will not find the Adamite in anything. This body whose attributes you have heard is like a throne upon which is sitting a king who is called the “heart.” He has no kinship with this dense dust and is like a prisoner who has no rest and settledness in the dreadfulness of the prison. Night and day he is thinking about when he will be delivered from the prison and return to the world of the gentleness of Return to thy Lord! [89:27]. He is like a bird in a cage, always looking up from the doorway of the soul: When will I be released from this cage to make a nest in the divine garden? [DS 371]

They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearls, and their clothes therein will be silk. Just as today the folk of recognition are disparate in recognition and the faithful have more or less faith, tomorrow in the house of subsistence everyone will see caresses and generosity in keeping with his own state and in the measure of his own recognition. The worshipers will wear clothing of silk along with bracelets of gold and pearls and be with houris and palaces; the recognizers will have clothing of solitariness in the ocean of face-to-face vision, drowned in light. One group will be adorned with the ornaments of paradise, and another group will adorn paradise with the light of their beauty. Though pearls increase the beauty of faces, the beauty of your face adorns the pearl.

And they will be guided unto the goodly in speech. It has been said that this is to acknowledge one's sins and attest to His words, “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves” [7:23]. True speech and pure words are free of making claims, far from pride, and near to need. They are to attest to one's own incapacity, to acknowledge one's own sins, and to emulate Adam with burning and need in saying “We have wronged ourselves.” Sahl Tustarī said, “I looked at this affair and saw no path closer to God than need, and no veil thicker than making claims.” Look closely at the road of Iblis and you will only see making claims. Look closely at the road of Adam and you will see only need. O Iblis, what do you say? “I am better” [38:76]. O Adam, what do you say? “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves.” All the existent things were brought out from the concealment of nonexistence into the open space of the decree, but the plant of need grew from Adam's dust. He was made the object to whom the angels prostrated themselves. He was sat down on the throne of kingship and vicege- rency, and the proximate angels were made to stand before his throne, but he did not lose one iota of his need: “O Lord, this is all Your bounty. What is rightfully ours is this: Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. The seat of vicegerency is Your bestowal, but the gift of our makeup is Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves.” A great man said, “One day I sinned. I repented 300,000 times but I still see myself walking in danger from that sin.” You poor wretch! The men of this road waged a war against their own souls. This war will never have a way to peace, for they found that their own souls are the enemy of the religion. How can a man of the religion make peace with the religion's opposite? O soul mean in aspiration and deranged, whatever touchstone I use, you come up false.

When We built for Abraham the place of the House: “Associate nothing with Me, and make My house pure for those who circumambulate, stand, and bow in prostration.” Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, “We gave him the success to build the House, We gave him the ability to do so, We helped him with it, and We said to him, 'Associate nothing with Me,' that is, 'Do not have any regard for the House and do not look at the fact that you built it.'” He is saying, “We gave Abraham ability and We gave him means, tools, strength, skill, power, and help so that he could build the house of the Kaabah as We wanted and commanded. Then We said to him, 'Do not look at what you have done and what you have made. Look at Our success- giving and Our help. Do not look at your striving but see Our desire and solicitude.” O chevalier! The servant was given two eyes so that with one eye he would see the attributes of his own soul's blights and with the other eye the gentle attributes of the Real's generosity. With one eye he sees His bounty, with the other eye his own acts. When he sees His bounty, he boasts of it, and when he sees his own acts he shows poverty. When he sees the generosity of the Begin- ningless, he becomes joyful, and when he sees the footsteps of dust's nonexistence, he becomes needful. That distracted man of ʿIrāq [Shiblī], burnt by the fire of separation, used to say, “Would that I were fuel for the furnace and had not heard this tale!” Sometimes he would say, “Where are the proximate angels and residents of the Holy Pali- sades?! Let them spread their carpets before the throne of my good fortune and the chair of my exaltedness!” Sometimes my hands are full of silver, sometimes I'm poor. Sometimes my heart's elated, sometimes wounded. Sometimes I'm behind the people, sometimes ahead- I indeed am the chameleon of the days. And make My house pure. In the tongue of learning, this is the Kaabah, but according to the expla- nation by allusion, the meaning is, “Empty your heart of all things save the remembrance of God.” He is saying, “Occupy your heart totally with My remembrance and do not give any stranger or other access to it, for the heart is the container of the wine of My affection and love. ” “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.” Any heart that is more limpid in relation to engendered beings and more merciful toward the faithful is more exalted and beloved to the Exalted Presence. The heart is the sultan of your makeup. Be careful to consider it exalted and preserve it from the opacity of caprice and appetite. Do not pollute it with the darkness and appetite of this world. Revelation came to David: “'O David, make for Me a pure house in which I may reside!' O David, make the house pure so that the Lord of the house may settle down in the house.” He said, “'Lord God, which house can embrace You?' Which house is suited for Your tre- mendousness and majesty?” He said, “That is the heart of the faithful servant.” David said, “Lord God, how can I make it pure?” He said, “Strike the fire of love to it so that everything that does not have My lineage may burn away. Then sweep it with the broom of remorse so that if anything is left it may be swept pure. O David, after that if you see anyone perplexed in the road of seeking Me, take that as the mark, for the pavilion of My holiness is there. 'I am with fevered hearts.'”

That is because God makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night, and God is hearing, seeing. This is an explication of power and its attribute of exaltedness in the creation of day and night, light and darkness.

That is because God is the Real and what they supplicate other than Him is the unreal, and because God is the high, the great. This is the affirmation of unity in the divine attributes and the nullification of associates and as- sociationism.

Hast thou not seen that God sends down water from heaven, and then the earth becomes green? The purport of this verse and the verses that follow is to remind of the blessings and to manifest the wisdom of creating benefits for creation. Whatever He created, He created as is worthy of Himself and as it should be created. Whatever He put, He put in its own place. Whatever He gave, He gave to its own folk. He is the powerful who does whatever He wants. And He is the wise who does not do whatever He can. In this world, He created even the foot of an ant and the wing of a gnat in keeping with the requirement of power, the requisite of wisdom, and according to His will. He gave wisdom and power each other's hands so that the work of the Divinity would go forth well- ordered. If wisdom had not been with power, the universe would have been disrupted. God has attributes that are the antagonists of the existence and acts of the creatures. These are the attributes of exaltedness, tremendousness, compulsion, magnificence, and endless unneedi- ness. He also has attributes that are the interceders for the existence and acts of the creatures, like wisdom, mercy, gentleness, clemency, munificence, and generosity. The attributes of mercy and wisdom hold back the reins of the attributes of exaltedness and unneediness so that this handful of hapless creatures may live out their lives in the shadow of gentleness and mercy in accordance with wisdom. Were it not for these interceders, everything-from the Throne and the Footstool down to the ant's foot and the gnat's wing-would become nothing and nonexistent. One word of the beginningless unneediness and independence showed itself to this world, and the day of deprivation came forth for the unbelievers and the estranged. Like strangers, they set their heads to their own thoughts and did not recognize God's measure or gain access to what is worthy of Him. They set up a helpless, inanimate idol without attributes as His partner, worshiping it and taking it as a friend, such that the Exalted Lord said of them,

Feeble are the seeker and the sought! Weak and helpless are both the worshiper and the worshiped.

They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure. Surely God is strong, exalted. WāsiṬī said, “Creatures do not recognize the rightful due of His measure-only the Real.” No one knows His measure save He. No one can recognize Him as is worthy of Him save He. Intellects are confounded and understandings bewildered at the beginnings of the shining of His majesty. Prophets and messengers came back on the feet of incapacity from the threshold of the reality of recognizing Him. O chevalier, tomorrow when the servants reach the exaltedness of union with Him and see the marks bearing witness to proximity, He will bestow the vision of Himself in the measure of your capacity, not in the measure of His tremendousness and majesty. This is why it has been said, “He spoke to Moses in respect of Moses. Had He spoken to Moses in respect of His tremendousness, Moses would have melted.”

O you who have faith, bow and prostrate and worship your Lord! In respect of understanding, the Pir of the Tariqah said in the tongue of allusion, “He commanded the faithful to bowing and prostrating. In saying 'and worship your Lord,' He means 'Put up with trials in the religion and this world since God has placed you among the folk of service and pro- vided you with the sweetness of the taste of being chosen by Him.'” He is saying, “If the trials of the passing days and the tribulation of this world are made into a draft and placed in the hand of your incapacity, do not make a sour face. Carry the load of tribulation with spirit and heart. Drink the draft in gratitude for the fact that He has commanded you to His service and kept you in the presence of prayer and the station of secret whispering.” Take care not to lay favors on Him with your obedience and worship. Know that in reality, all the acts of obedience and worship, the good deeds and words, of Adam's children from the begin- ning of existence to the end of the era, placed next to the divine perfection and beauty, are nothing but the noise of an old woman's spindle. Had He in His generosity and bounty not invited this handful of dust to the threshold of His eternity and, with His gentleness, spread out the carpet of bold expansiveness in the house of guidance, how could this woebegone of existence, this speck of impure dust, have the gall to take a step on the edge of the carpet of kings? What is suited for dust is to say with the attribute of brokenness and the tongue of incapacity and poverty, “We have come to shame at our own existence, we've encountered stone because of the decree. On the surface of the rug of misfortune, our black days have come in place of color.”

And struggle in God as is the rightful due of His struggle. He chose you, and He placed no hardship upon you in the religion-the creed of your father Abraham. He named you submit- ters from before.... He is your Patron, so what an excellent Patron and what an excellent Helper! Struggle is of three sorts: One with the soul, one with the heart, and one with possessions. Struggle with the soul is that you not rest from service and discipline, you do not look for concessions and interpretations, and you go forward in the commands and prohibitions with reverence. Struggle with the heart is that you do not give odious thoughts access to your self, you do not have deter- mined resoluteness in opposition, and you do not rest from meditation on blessings and bounties. Struggle with possessions is by giving away, generosity, munificence, and largesse. Generos-ity is that you give away some and you keep some for yourself. Munificence is that you give away most and keep a little for yourself. Largesse is that you give away all and live in poverty and want. This was the state of Abū Bakr, the greatest of the sincerely truthful, to whom MuṣṬafā said, “What remains for your family?” He said, “God and His Messenger.” It has been said that the rightful due of His struggle is that you do not slacken from struggle against the soul for a moment. Their speaker said, O Lord, my struggle is never over, so Your earth is all my front line and fortress. He chose you... He named you... He is your Patron. He chose you. When He chose you, He saw the faults, and He was pleased despite the faults. He named you. There was no heaven and no earth, no Throne and no Footstool, no Adam and no Eve, and you were Muslim in His knowledge. He placed the name of Muslim upon you and wrote for you the inscription of election: those to whom the most beautiful has preceded from Us [21:101]. He chose you through guidance, He named you with the name of friendship, and He is your Patron by manifesting solicitude. He chose you, not because of the excellence of your deeds, He named you with the name of the Substitutes, and He is your Patron in all states. He chose you, so who will misguide you? He named you, so who will change you? He is your Patron, so who will abandon you? He chose you through guidance. He gave you the name of being a Muslim through solicitude. He did this because He is your Patron in reality, your heart-opener through mercy, and your secret core-adorner through love. So what an excellent Patron! He curtains faults, He removes distress, He forgives sins. At the time of sin He calls you ignorant-They do the ugly in ignorance [4:17]-so that He may accept your apol- ogy. At the time of bearing witness, He calls you a knower-except those who have borne witness to the truth while they are knowing [43:86]-so that He may accept your testimony. At the time of shortcom- ing He calls you weak-Man was created weak [4:28]-so that He may efface your shortcoming. So what an excellent Patron! He is your Patron. If you call upon Him, He says “Here I am,” and if you turn away from Him, He calls out to you. So what an excellent Patron! He made you appear through love before you loved Him and He desired you before you desired Him. What a fine Lord, joined with love, pleased with the faulty, passing over, pardoning! He passes over so as to put aside, or He sets aside so as to overlook. If He puts aside, He is without need, and if He overlooks, He is the servant-caresser. He is tremendous in favor, eternal in beauti- ful doing, and He gives turns to the world's folk. Part of his good Lordhood is that He does not take back His gifts at the servant's missteps, nor does He cut off blessings at his disloyalty. Dhu'l-Nūn Miṣrī said, “Once I was at the Nile river, washing clothes. Suddenly I saw a tre- mendous scorpion coming. I sought refuge in God from its evil, and God spared me its evil. I followed it until it reached the edge of the water. A frog came out of the water and held up its back so that the scorpion could sit on its back, and it crossed the Nile. In wonder I said, 'Surely this is significant.'” Dhu'l-Nūn bound up his loin-cloth and went over to the other side. He saw that the frog had put down the scorpion and returned to its own place. The scorpion went on until it reached a tre- mendous tree. Dhu'l-Nūn said, “I looked and saw a boy, a young man, fallen drunk, ruined, and asleep. I said to myself, 'Surely we belong to God!' [2:156]. Right now the scorpion is going to destroy that young man.' While I was in these thoughts, a tremendous serpent appeared from a corner aiming to destroy that young man. I saw the scorpion jump on the serpent's back and sting its brain, killing it. From there it went to the edge of the water, the frog returned, and it crossed on its back. I came back from there and the young man was still in the sleep of heedlessness. I began to sing, saying, “O sleeper, the Majestic protects you from everything crawling in the darkness! How do your eyes sleep when you have a King from whom come the benefits of blessings? “The young man awoke and saw the state. I said to him, 'Look at what God has turned away from you and how He has turned it away from you!' Then I told him the story. When he heard those words, a pain and grief arose from inside his heart, and he lamented a great deal. He turned his face to heaven and wept to God saying, 'O my Master and Patron! This is Your act toward him who disobeyed you last night! By Your exaltedness, I will not disobey You again until I meet You! He took off the garment of foolishness and put on the garment of good and rectitude.”