🕋 تفسير سورة البقرة
(Al-Baqarah) • المصدر: EN-AL-QUSHAIRI-TAFSIR
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ الم
📘 Alif lām mīm. Addressing one another with individual letters is one of the customs of lovers in their love. These are the lovers' secrets with each other so that no one watching will be aware. Between them lovers have a secret not disclosed by word, nor does creation have a pen to record it. * Of the sort of hidden message that He gave not one will be given up for a hundred thousand lives. In the scroll of friendship there is the imprint of a script whose interpretation none but the passion- ate read. In the secluded cell of friendship, there is mystery between friends whose murmur none but the recognizers know. In the picture-gallery of friendship there is a color of colorlessness that none but the enraptured have the eyes to see. If you want to see the beauty of the beloved's face, blind the eyes of your head and look with the eye of your intellect! [DS 495] Though Moses heard a thousand words in a thousand languages, this mystery was given over to MuḤammad in the seclusion of Or closer [53:9] on the carpet of expansiveness: “Alif.” I said to her, “Halt [qifī].” She said, “qāf.” Those thousands of words came to Moses, but the veil stayed in place. This mystery came to MuḤammad at the moment of face-to-face vision. Moses heard the words but did not see the Speaker, MuḤammad heard the mystery while gazing on the Keeper of the Mystery. Moses in seeking was delighted with the seeking; MuḤammad in the Presence was delighted with the Friend. Moses had not found the pleasure of contemplation, so he did not know its taste. He had not gone beyond listening and remembering; his repose was in hearing, which is why He spoke so much to him. But MuḤammad had gone beyond the limit of hearing to the center point of togetherness. The jealousy of the Remembered did not leave him in the remembrance and the wave of light lifted him up from love, so remembrance became lost in the Remembered and love in the Light. The spirit was lost in face-to-face vision, and face-to-face vision is far from explication. When a heart finds delight in His grasp and is inundated by face-to-face vision, what will it do with reports? When the spirit rests in the embrace, why should it busy itself with much remembrance? For him who must have face-to-face vision, reports are the bane. Why would a heart alone with face-to-face vision cling to reports? [DS 110] It has been said that Alif lām mīm caresses the paragon of the world in the tongue of allusion. It means, “Isolate [afrid] your secret core for Me, loosen [layyin] your limbs in My service, and stand [aqim] with Me, effacing your own traces and gaining proximity to Me!” O Master, pass all at once beyond the curtain of Gabriel's intermediacy so that the attribute of passion may pull off the mask of inaccessibility and show you the wonders of the Treasuries and the pearls of the Unseen that He has prepared for you. If Gabriel bothers you there, spill his blood- pay Gabriel's blood-price from mercy's treasure. [DS 592] O paragon, take one step outside of dust so that, when face-to-face vision gives you access, you will be all set and released from others. O paragon, what those chevaliers [the Companions of the Cave] drank down in sleep over three hundred nine years-drink it down in one moment in wake- fulness, for the house is empty, and the Friend is yours. It's night, there's wine, and the lover's alone- get up and come, pretty idol, for tonight is our night. It has been said that alif is an allusion to “I” [ana], lām to “My” [lī], and mīm to “from Me” [minnī]. I: It is I who am the Lord, I who join with the servant in love. I am the light of the name and the light of the message. I am the repose and ease [56:89] of hearts, I am the intimacy and rest of spirits. My: Whatever was, is, and will be is all My kingdom and property, decreed by My prescrip- tion and subjugated to My determination. That which overpowers it is My command, that which penetrates into it is My will. It has its being by My keeping, it is preserved by My help. From Me: Whatever has come has come from My power, whatever has gone forth has gone forth from My knowledge, whatever has been has been from My decree. All this is to admonish the servants: “You should dismiss your own intellect and knowledge so that you may reap the fruit. Leave the work to Me so that you may take a portion.
فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ فَزَادَهُمُ اللَّهُ مَرَضًا ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْذِبُونَ
📘 In their hearts is a sickness; and God has increased their sickness; and there awaits them a painful chastisement because they used to lie. In the hearts of the hypocrites is the sickness of making partners [with God] shirk and God increases their sickness in their imagining that they have been saved by deceiving the Muslims. The pain of their grievous punishment will reach them in the end. The allusion pertains to whoever has confused his ultimate objective qaṣd with his worldly concerns ḥaẓẓ and mixed his spiritual desire irāda with his whims hawā taking one step forward with spiritual desire and one step backward with worldly con- cerns and following the lower self. He is neither a sincere seeker murīd nor permanently neglectful. If the hypocrites had been sincere in their beliefs they would have been safe from the punishment in the hereafter just as they were safe from paying the jizya tax and the like in this world in the manner of polytheists and dhimmīs. Similarly if the seeker murīd had been sincere in his spiritual desire he would have reached out in his heart to the realities of the communion [of lovers] and the blessings of sincerity would have reached him and he [would have] attained what he desired. But his state is as it has been said: We have not been firm but justice will be firm with us without bending. If we had been sincere khalaṣnā we would have been saved takhallaṣnā from tribulation. There is a barrier between one whose worship has become weak and the degrees of the gardens darajāt al-jannāt. There is a barrier between one whose spiritual desire has become weak and the intimate communications of nearness and whispered confidences muwāṣalāt al-qurb wa-l-munājāt. As for those who rely on this world and follow [their] whims their reliance on the abode of illusion is an illness of their hearts. The increase in their disease will increase as their greed increases. The more they find something from [this world] the more their greed multiplies for what they have not found hastening the punishment for them. Among [their] immediate punishments are the dissipation of their aims and then the loss of all pleasure in their lives. They are kept by [these punishments] from their Protector mawlā. There will be no enjoyment for them nor rest in what they have preferred when [they] follow their own whims.
أَوَكُلَّمَا عَاهَدُوا عَهْدًا نَبَذَهُ فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ ۚ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
📘 And We have revealed to you clear proofs; and none disbelieves inthem except the wicked. Why whenever they make a covenant does a party of them reject itḍ Nay but most of them are disbelievers. One disbelieves in His clear signs only when one's eyes are blocked from perceiving and one's fate from God has already been determined as unfor- tunate. There is no sense in anyone who denies that day is day. Likewise there is no union for anyone who has not been assisted by lights and insights from the Real. Why whenever they made a covenant...: their predetermined fate sābiq al-taqdīr confounded them and their subsequent contrivances lāḥiq al-tadbīr broke their covenant. God prevails over His affair.
وَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَهُمْ نَبَذَ فَرِيقٌ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ كَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 When there came to them a messenger from God confirming what was with them a party of those who had been given the scripture cast away the scripture of God behind their backs as though they did not know. They denied the messengers of the Real that came to their hearts by means of intuitions khawāṬir and [they] belied the messengers who came to them outwardly. O ignorance in which there is not a sliver of deeper knowledge ʿirfān! O deprivation whose companion is disappointment khidhlān!
وَاتَّبَعُوا مَا تَتْلُو الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَىٰ مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ ۖ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ وَلَٰكِنَّ الشَّيَاطِينَ كَفَرُوا يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ عَلَى الْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَارُوتَ وَمَارُوتَ ۚ وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَا إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌ فَلَا تَكْفُرْ ۖ فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ ۚ وَمَا هُمْ بِضَارِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنْفَعُهُمْ ۚ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمُوا لَمَنِ اشْتَرَاهُ مَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلَاقٍ ۚ وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْا بِهِ أَنْفُسَهُمْ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 And they follow what the devils used to relate during the reign of Solomon: Solomon disbelieved not but the devils disbelieved and taught the people sorcery; and that which was revealed to the two angels in Babylon- Hārūt and Mārūt. They taught not any man without them saying �We are but a temptation; do not disbelieve.� From them they learned how they might cause division between a man and his wife yet they did not hurt any man thereby save by the leave of God; and they learned what hurt them and did not profit them. And surely they knew well that whoever buys it he shall have no share in the hereafter; Whoever is divided by his whims ahwāÌ falls into one state of heedless- ness ghafla after another so that every kind of ignorant affair welcomes him. Moreover those whose absence [from the Beloved] is prolonged become a warning to others and a temptation for whoever follows their path. Whoever emulates them in their transgression joins their commu- nity and becomes one of them. This is the case in the description of Hārūt and Mārūt and what happened to them-they became a temptation and a warning for men. One who listens to what they say and does not take into account their ignorance will share in their tribulation balāÌuhumā and suffer their distress ʿanāÌuhumā in the hereafter. The allusion in their story is to the one on this path Ṭarīqa who is inclined to affectation deception and pretension. He attracts followers whom he leads to hell by his falsehood and blocks them from the path of right direction by the evil of his darknesses. But those who take heed cross over to safety on its bridges and the one who is disgraced tahattaka by his inclinations to falsehoods-his veils astāruhu are torn tahattakat and his faults ʿawāruhu are exposed to anyone with eyes. When Hārūt and Mārūt were deceived by the disobedience to which they had become accustomed they blamed [their being deceived on] the disobedience of the children of Adam. Because of their tendencies toward carnal desires and the promptings to temptations and harmful things they plunged forward into disobedience. What happened to them is what the storytellers relate: they are hanging upside down until the Day of the Resurrection and if not for [God's] gentleness rifq toward them and their affair their punishment would not end then.
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ آمَنُوا وَاتَّقَوْا لَمَثُوبَةٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ ۖ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 Yet if only they had believed and been fearful verily a reward from God would have been better if they had but known. If they had only preferred drawing near iqbāl to God over being dis- tracted ishtighāl from Him they would have obtained the treasure of the two abodes dhukhra al-dārayn and reached the glory of the two worlds ʿizza al-kawnayn. But the blows of subjugation pressed upon them kasa- bathum saṬawātu al-qahr and kept them in the lands of abandonment fa-athbatathum fī mawāṬini al-hajr.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انْظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا ۗ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
📘 O you who believe do not say �Observe us�; but say �Regard us� and listen; and for disbelievers awaits a painful chastisement. The objectives of enemies in all their states fī jamīʿi aḥwālihim including their actions and words min aʿmālihim wa-aqwālihim are malicious for they remain tied to their ways in what they do and do not do. The way of the friends [of God] is to avoid being like them and to adopt a path which is not their path.
مَا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَلَا الْمُشْرِكِينَ أَنْ يُنَزَّلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ
📘 Those disbelievers of the people of the scripture and the idolaters do not wish that any good should be revealed to you from your Lord but God singles out for His mercy whom He will; God's grace is most abundant. The antipathy of the enemies toward the unwavering decency of the friends is unceasing and enduring. But the envious [one] shall not prevail lākin al-ḥasūda lā yasūd nor will he obtain what he seeks wa lā yaḥṣul lahu maqṣūd. The special qualities of mercy are sufficient for the friends even if the enemies are abased and the flanks and borders of the lands of their rejoicing are destroyed.
۞ مَا نَنْسَخْ مِنْ آيَةٍ أَوْ نُنْسِهَا نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ مِنْهَا أَوْ مِثْلِهَا ۗ أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
📘 Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten-We bring better than it or its like. By way of allusion He is saying, “We never make you advance from the locus of servanthood without setting you down in the courtyards of freedom. We never remove from you any of the attributes of mortal nature without making you abide through one of the marks that give witness to the Divinity.” In terms of allusion He is saying, “O paragon of the horizons, O messenger to jinn and men, O quintessence of predetermination, O luminous full moon, O totality of perfection, O kiblah of prosperity, O basis of bounteousness, O displayer of gentleness and majesty, O you whose branch of union is blooming and whose star of exaltedness is always shining, O you whose good fortune has gone beyond the clouds of being and become specific to the marks giving witness to the Lord- hood and the confirmation of the Divinity! Instant by instant the work of your good fortune is advancing. What others have as crowns, you have as sandals. “The sandals that your steed threw from its feet became the crown of sultans-and may it ever be so! [DS 838] “O paragon! Even though the stations beyond which We make you advance are the beautiful deeds of all the friends and the limpid, they are your ugly deeds as long as you remain within them. When you pass beyond them, ask forgiveness for them!” MuṣṬafā said that he asked forgiveness for them seventy times a day: “My heart becomes clouded, so I ask forgiveness from God seventy times a day.” Abū Bakr al-ṣiddīq said, “Would that I could witness that for which God's Messenger asked forgiveness!” Concerning His words, “Whatever verse We abrogate,” it has also been said, “That is, the servant is not transferred from a state without being given what is above and beyond it. 'Whenever We abrogate any trace of worship, We replace it with one of the lights of servanthood. When- ever We abrogate one of the lights of servanthood, We put in its place something of the moons of servitude.'”9 So he continues, being transferred from the lower to the higher, until he falls under one of the attractions of the Real. And “One attraction from the Real is equivalent to all the deeds of jinn and men.
أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۗ وَمَا لَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ
📘 Do you not know that to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and that you have none besides God neither protector nor helperḍ His ������ way sunna is to draw His friends from the witnessing of what He possesses milk to the vision of His kingdom mulk. Then He takes them from the vision of His kingdom to witnessing His truth ḥaqq and then [He] takes them from the vision of His signs ayāt to the vision of His attributes ṣifāt and from the vision of His attributes to the witnessing of His essence dhāt.
أَمْ تُرِيدُونَ أَنْ تَسْأَلُوا رَسُولَكُمْ كَمَا سُئِلَ مُوسَىٰ مِنْ قَبْلُ ۗ وَمَنْ يَتَبَدَّلِ الْكُفْرَ بِالْإِيمَانِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَاءَ السَّبِيلِ
📘 Or do you desire to question your messenger as Moses was questioned aforetimeḍ Whoever exchanges belief for unbelief has surely strayed from the even way. The children of Israel annoyed Moses ���� ������ and the Muslims were prohibited from following this precedent. They were commanded to be conscious of the bashfulness of the Messenger ﷺ as much as possible so that in his presence they were silent with awe. [God] most high said Support him and revere him [48:9].195 The beauty of refined behavior adab in outward circumstances is a model for the beauty of refined behavior with God inwardly.
وَدَّ كَثِيرٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ لَوْ يَرُدُّونَكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ إِيمَانِكُمْ كُفَّارًا حَسَدًا مِنْ عِنْدِ أَنْفُسِهِمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الْحَقُّ ۖ فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّهُ بِأَمْرِهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
📘 Many of the people of the scripture long to make you disbelievers after you have believed from the envy of their own souls after the truth has become clear to them; yet pardon and be forgiving till God brings His com- mand; truly God has power over all things. Those among the heedless who have lost understanding wish that not even a star would rise over those who are in peace and safety salāma and those who are possessed by envy would like the sun to stop shining over those whom they envy. These are the attributes of disbelievers so God abases and humbles them. The allusion in this is to the state of those who possess spiritual desire irāda in the beginning when they embark on their travels. If they do not find help and success in companionship and they live among people following externals these people will prevent them from traveling and will not stop giving advice to them. They will frighten them with weak- ness and threaten them with poverty until they divert them to the way of heedlessness and cut them off from the path of spiritual desire. These are truly the enemies of God those who have been overtaken by the enmity of the moment. Their punishment is being deprived of smelling any of the fragrances of sincerity ṣidq. Yet pardon and be forgiving... for the way of the aspirant is to protect his innermost self from anyone or anything other [than God]. He tries to employ his best nature with each individual and spares no effort in kindness for soon the Real will open the way for him on his path.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لَا تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ
📘 When it is said to them �Do not [foment] corruption in the land� they say �We are only putting things right.� Truly they are the agents of corruption but they perceive not. This alludes to the fact that when thoughts of warning came secretly to their hearts calling them to right conduct they followed self-indulgent interpretations rukhaṣ al-taÌwīl and deceived themselves about that which bore witness to the hardness of their hearts. When they denied the proof of the Real in the thoughts that came to their hearts God took the bless- ing away from their states and in its place gave them a deaf ear to the Real. Their affliction is in their resistance to the path Ṭarīqa and their loss of belief in it. Just as an apostate is a more intense enemy to Muslims so the one who returns from spiritual desire irāda to the world and ordinary customs is the worst of people in rejecting this path and the most distant from its followers. As the proverb goes �Anyone who loses their stored grain to fire wishes the same for others.� According to the sincere among those [on the path] the help of those who have deserted the way of spiritual desire should not be accepted just as the Messenger ﷺ did not accept the almsgiving zakāt of Thaʿlaba. It is said that it is sufficient to expose those who lie by saying to such a person's face �You have lied.� When they said �We are only putting things right� the Real ������ showed them to be liars and He said �Truly they are the agents of corruption but they perceive not� meaning �We are aware of them and have exposed them.�
وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ ۚ وَمَا تُقَدِّمُوا لِأَنْفُسِكُمْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ تَجِدُوهُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
📘 And perform the prayer and pay the alms; whatever good you shall offer for your own souls you shall find it with God; assuredly God sees what you do. The obligation for the aspirant is to perform the acts of intimate communication muwāṣalāt and to continually seek to gain access with different kinds of acts of drawing near qurubāt trusting that what he offers in sincere difficult efforts mujāhadāt will bear fruit in the final states hālāt.
وَقَالُوا لَنْ يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلَّا مَنْ كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَىٰ ۗ تِلْكَ أَمَانِيُّهُمْ ۗ قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
📘 And they say �None shall enter paradise except those who are Jews or Christians.� Such are their desires. Say �Produce your proof if you speak truly.� Each party ḥizb smooths things out199 for itself thinking salvation belongs to it and claiming access [to paradise] as its share. But mere guessing ḥusbān without the verification of proof burhān does not produce results lā yaÌtī bi-ḥāṣil nor is it of any use wa lā yaḥūz bi-ṬāÌil.
بَلَىٰ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُ لِلَّهِ وَهُوَ مُحْسِنٌ فَلَهُ أَجْرُهُ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
📘 No, whosoever submits his face to God, doing the beautiful, shall have his wage with his Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they grieve. The work is the work of the purifiers, the good fortune the good fortune of the truthful, the con- duct the conduct of the pure, and the hard cash the hard cash in their purse. Today they are on the carpet of service with the light of recognition, tomorrow on the carpet of companionship with the joy of union. Surely We purified them with that which is pure [38:46]. He is saying, “We made them pure and brought them forth pure from the crucible of testing so that they would be worthy for the Presence,” for the Pure Presence gives access only to the pure. “Surely God is goodly and accepts only the goodly.” Nothing is of any use with the Pure Presence save pure activity and pure speech. Then you must become so purified of that pure activity that you do not seek it out in this world or the afterworld. Then you may reach God pure. Surely he shall have nearness to Us, and a beautiful return [38:40]. The secret of this talk is what was said by Abū Bakr Zaqqāq: “The defect in the purity of every purifier is to see his purity. If God desires to purify his self-purification, He will eliminate the seeing of his self-purification from his purification. Then he will be 'purified' [mukhlaṣ], not 'purifying' [mukhliṣ].” He is saying that your self-purification will be pure when it is pure of your seeing it. Know also that this self-purification is not in your hands, nor in your capacity or possession. Rather, it is a secret of the Lord placed there by the Glorified. No one is aware of it, and no one else has any access to it. The Unity says, “It is one of My secrets that I deposit in the hearts of those whom I love among My servants.” He is saying, “I choose a servant and approve him for My love, then I place my deposit in the core of his heart. Satan has no access to it so as to destroy it, nor does the soul's caprice see it so as to change it, nor does the angel reach it so as to write it down.
وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ لَيْسَتِ النَّصَارَىٰ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَىٰ لَيْسَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ وَهُمْ يَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابَ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ قَالَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ مِثْلَ قَوْلِهِمْ ۚ فَاللَّهُ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فِيمَا كَانُوا فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ
📘 The Jews say �The Christians stand on nothing�; and the Christians say �The Jews stand on nothing�; yet they recite the scripture. Thus the ignorant say the like of what these say; God shall decide between them on the Day of Resurrection regarding their differences. The allusion in this verse is an inversion of its apparent sense. Today the enemies [of God] disclaim one another [as they have done in the past] but the friends [of God] also do something like that. Nonetheless it is said that the Sufis will remain in a good state as long as they quarrel and do not accept one other because if they were to accept one another they would stay with each other [rather than turning to God].
وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ مَنَعَ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ أَنْ يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ وَسَعَىٰ فِي خَرَابِهَا ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ مَا كَانَ لَهُمْ أَنْ يَدْخُلُوهَا إِلَّا خَائِفِينَ ۚ لَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
📘 Who does greater wrong than he who bars God's places of prostration? In terms of allusion, He is asking, “Who does greater wrong than he who ruins the homeland of worship with appetites? Who does greater wrong than he who ruins the homeland of recognition with attachments? Who does greater wrong than he who ruins the homeland of contemplation by glancing at others?” The homeland of worship is the soul of the renunciants, the homeland of recognition the heart of the recognizers, and the homeland of contemplation the secret core of the friends. When someone keeps his soul away from appetites, the homeland of his worship flourishes and his name is written in the register of the renunciants. Thus Mālik Dīnār lingered in Basra for forty years and never ate or tasted the dates of Basra, dried or fresh, before he died. He was asked about that and he said, “The possessor of appetite is veiled from his Lord.” When someone keeps his heart pure of attachment, the homeland of his recognition flourishes and he belongs to the ranks of the recognizers. Thus one of them said about Ibrāhīm Adham, “I was with Ibrāhīm Adham in a journey, and we were afflicted with hunger. After we settled in a mosque he brought out some sections of the Qur'an he had with him and said, 'Go and pawn these sections and bring us something to eat, for hunger has stricken us.' I went out, and someone came forward to me in front of a fully laden mule. He was saying, 'The one I am seeking is a light- complexioned man called Ibrāhīm ibn Adham.'” “I said, 'What do you desire from him?' “He said, 'I am the slave of his father, and these things belong to him.' So I led him to him. He entered the mosque, put his head and hands on the ground and kissed him. Ibrāhīm said, 'Who are you?' He said, 'I am your father's slave. Your father has died, and I have with me 40,000 dinars, your inheritance from your father. I am your slave. Command me as you wish.' “Ibrāhīm said, 'If you speak the truth, then you are free, for the sake of God. And what you have with you is all a gift to you. Leave us.
وَلِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ ۚ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 To God belong the East and the West; whithersoever you turn there is the face of God. Lo! God is Embracing Knowing. Here the allusion is to the eastern and western places of hearts [of the believers]. Hearts have rising lights shawāriq and night visitors Ṭawāriq. The night visitors are the murmurings hawājis of the lower selves that arrive in the darknesses of desire and carnal passions. The rising lights are the stars of different types of knowledge the moons of presence and the suns of gnosis. As long as the lights are rising the qibla of the hearts is clear and visible. Then when the realities take over the authority of the lights becomes hid- den like stars at the rising of the sun. Similarly at the appearance of the Real there is destruction and subjugation so there is no witnessing of any trace no remaining sensation or comprehension no power of intellect or knowledge no illumination of deeper knowledge. For the experiencing of all these qualities lasts only as long as human nature lasts. When those who have attributes become effaced how can any attribute of theirs remainḍ He said �whithersoever you turn there is the face of God.� As long as there is a remnant or even a sliver of sensory perception and the ability to differentiate then the qibla should be aimed for and if it is not known it should be sought. According to scholars when the guideposts in every direction are obscure and there is no knowledge of the qibla all directions are equally permissible for prayer since none of them can be preferred for the intention niyya.
وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا ۗ سُبْحَانَهُ ۖ بَلْ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ كُلٌّ لَهُ قَانِتُونَ
📘 They say, “God has taken a son.” Glory be to Him! Rather, to Him belongs what is in the heavens and the earth; all are devoted to Him. He is pure, without fault, incomparable, the one Lord-one in forbearance, one in loyalty, one in love. If the servant does harm, He does not cut off from him, for He is one in forbearance. If the servant inclines toward another, He does not so incline, because He is one in loyalty. If the servant breaks the covenant, He does not break it, because He is one in love. He is one in Essence, one in attributes, rid of causes, incomparable with obsequiousness, praised by all expressions, fitting for all allusions, the creator of time and the hours, the determiner of instants and moments. His artisanry has no defect, His determining no contrivance, His descrip- tion no likeness. He is a determiner who has always been. Powerful, Knowing, Alive, Desiring, Hearing, Seeing, clothed in majesty, Hallowed beyond having an equal, transcending opinion and talk. * O Essence of perfection lacking nothing! The effusion of generosity comes from Your hand alone. He is a lord without associate or partner, a king without equal or need. His promise is no lie, His name is no metaphor. The door of withholding is shut and the door of His munificence open. He is a forgiver of sins, a caresser of the faulty. He knows without cause, He is able without artifice. He is alone without paucity, spreader of the creed, outside of number, artisan without toil, self- standing until the Endless, hallowed beyond envy. His name is Subtle, Self-Standing, and Self- Sufficient; He begets not, nor was He begotten, and equal to Him is none [112:2-4]. So much are You face-to-face in my heart, so much hidden from my eyes, that your describer cannot describe You- in Your attributes You are as You are. A renowned Lord, caring for His servants-ears are open to His name, hearts imprisoned by His message, tawḤīd-voicers fallen into His snare, yearners drunk with the love from His cup. He is the lovingly kind such that no one in the universe is like Him in loving kindness. The disobedient and destitute have hope in Him, and the poor are happy in the subsistence of His majesty.
بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَإِذَا قَضَىٰ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ
📘 Originator of the heavens and the earth; and when He decrees a thing He but says to it �Be� and it is. The Originator al-badīʿ according to the scholars is the One who brings the entity ʿayn into existence without any model lā ʿalā mithāl. According to the people of allusion He is the One and there is nothing like Him laysa lahu shayun mithlihi since this term alludes to both the negation of any likeness mithl to His essence and the negation of any model mithāl for His acts. He is the One al-aḥad without any quantity comprising Him; the Eternal al-ṣamad whom no final point in time cuts off; the Real al-ḥaqq whom no imagination can picture; and the Existent al-mawjūd of whom no understanding is capable. When He decides on an affair nothing preordained maqdūr can oppose it and nothing created mafṬūr can separate itself from His decree.
وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ لَوْلَا يُكَلِّمُنَا اللَّهُ أَوْ تَأْتِينَا آيَةٌ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ قَالَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ مِثْلَ قَوْلِهِمْ ۘ تَشَابَهَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ ۗ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ
📘 And they who do not know say �Why does God not speak to usḍ; Why does a sign not come to usḍ� So spoke those before them the like of what they say; their hearts are much alike. Yet We have made clear the signs to a people who are certain. The speech kalām of God ������ is connected to all created things in their entities aʿyān and their traces āthār by the command to �Be!� amr al-takwīn [and it is also connected to] those who have been charged [with the law] by the prescriptive command amr al-taklīf. But whoever lacks the ear of comprehension is deaf to hearing the Real. He ������ addressed some among the people of the Book and they heard His address but they were not able to bear it and after they recognized the enormity of the signs they engaged in distortion and alteration. Included in the signs which He made manifest were that which removes the defect of anything other [than Him] al-ʿilla min al-aghyār and quenches the thirst from things that are better al-ghulla min al-akhyār. But what proofs even if they were plain and clear would suffice those whose due is wretchedness whose [wretch- edness] has already comeḍ
إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ بِالْحَقِّ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا ۖ وَلَا تُسْأَلُ عَنْ أَصْحَابِ الْجَحِيمِ
📘 We have sent you with the truth a bearer of good tidings and warner. You shall not be asked about the inhabitants of hellfire. �We have singled you out [O Muḥammad] with qualities which We did not make appear in anyone else so all people are under your banner. Those who are accepted are in conformity with you while those who are rejected oppose you al-maqbūl man wāfaqaka wa-l-mardūd man khālafaka. You will not be questioned about the states of others and you will not be turned away because of anyone.�
أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْمُفْسِدُونَ وَلَٰكِنْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ
📘 When it is said to them �Do not [foment] corruption in the land� they say �We are only putting things right.� Truly they are the agents of corruption but they perceive not. This alludes to the fact that when thoughts of warning came secretly to their hearts calling them to right conduct they followed self-indulgent interpretations rukhaṣ al-taÌwīl and deceived themselves about that which bore witness to the hardness of their hearts. When they denied the proof of the Real in the thoughts that came to their hearts God took the bless- ing away from their states and in its place gave them a deaf ear to the Real. Their affliction is in their resistance to the path Ṭarīqa and their loss of belief in it. Just as an apostate is a more intense enemy to Muslims so the one who returns from spiritual desire irāda to the world and ordinary customs is the worst of people in rejecting this path and the most distant from its followers. As the proverb goes �Anyone who loses their stored grain to fire wishes the same for others.� According to the sincere among those [on the path] the help of those who have deserted the way of spiritual desire should not be accepted just as the Messenger ﷺ did not accept the almsgiving zakāt of Thaʿlaba. It is said that it is sufficient to expose those who lie by saying to such a person's face �You have lied.� When they said �We are only putting things right� the Real ������ showed them to be liars and He said �Truly they are the agents of corruption but they perceive not� meaning �We are aware of them and have exposed them.�
وَلَنْ تَرْضَىٰ عَنْكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ ۗ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللَّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَىٰ ۗ وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ ۙ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ
📘 Never will the Jews be pleased with you neither the Christians not until you follow their creed Say: �God's guidance is the true guidance.� And if you were to follow their whims after the knowledge that has come to you you shall have against God neither friend nor helper. �Do not concern yourself with pleasing the enemies after you have received Our good pleasure riḌāÌ for they will not be pleased with you unless you follow their religions and that is impossible. So declare yourself free of them make your difference apparent and show enmity toward them. Know that their reliance on what they find pleasing is the cause of endless wretchedness. Do not worry yourself. Call your community to free them- selves from them and their path and be for Us through Us free of anyone other than Us trusting in Our help for you are through Us and from Us.�
الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَتْلُونَهُ حَقَّ تِلَاوَتِهِ أُولَٰئِكَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ ۗ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ
📘 Those to whom We have given the Book and who recite it with the rightful due of recitation. The rightful due of recitation is that you recite the Qur'an with burning, need, limpidness of heart, and pure belief, with a remembering tongue, a believing heart, and a limpid spirit-the tongue in remembrance, the heart in grief, the spirit with love; the tongue with loyalty, the heart with limpid- ness, the spirit with shame; the tongue in the work, the heart in the mystery, and the spirit in joy. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “In the remembrance the servant reaches a place where the tongue reaches the heart, the heart reaches the spirit, the spirit reaches the secret core, and the secret core reaches the Light. The heart says to the tongue, 'Silence!' The spirit says to the heart, 'Silence!' The secret core says to the spirit, 'Silence!' God says to the traveler, 'My servant, you have been speaking for a while. Now I will speak, you listen.'”
يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَنِّي فَضَّلْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ
📘 O children of Israel remember My favor wherewith I favored you and that I have preferred you over all the worlds. His ������ way sunna in His address to the people of Moses ���� ������ is to call them by their proper name saying �O children of Israel remember... � that is �O children of Jacob.� But He addresses this community [of Muḥammad] honorifically saying �O you who believe...�
وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا لَا تَجْزِي نَفْسٌ عَنْ نَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَلَا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهَا عَدْلٌ وَلَا تَنْفَعُهَا شَفَاعَةٌ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ
📘 And beware of a day when no soul will be requited for another and no compensation will be accepted from it nor will any intercession benefit it neither will they be helped. As for the enemies nothing [that is no payment or compensation] will be accepted from them. As for the friends [the Prophet] ﷺ said �Protect yourself from the fire even if it be by half a date [given in charity].� The intercession of intercessors will not benefit the disbeliever for this is a determination made for each community with their prophet. As for the believers they will benefit in particular from the Prophet's ﷺ intercession. Everyone on that day will be saying �My soul my soul� but our Prophet ﷺ will say �My community my community.�
۞ وَإِذِ ابْتَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَاتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا ۖ قَالَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِي ۖ قَالَ لَا يَنَالُ عَهْدِي الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 And when his Lord tried Abraham with some words. It has been narrated from al-Ḥasan that he said, “God tried him with the stars, the moon, and the sun, and he spoke beautiful words in that, for he knew that His Lord was constant and never ceas- ing. He tried him with the sacrifice of the son, and he was patient in that and did not fall short.” He is saying that the shining stars and brilliant sun were adorned, and Abraham was tested. “That was so that the one tried would know, not that the one trying him was ignorant.” In other words, this was to show him what comes from him and how he was walking on the road of servanthood. Abraham came out of it extremely virtuous, fortunate, and felicitous. He said, “This is my Lord” [6:76]. It is said that here there is an ellipsis. He means, “They say, 'This is my Lord.' These estranged ones say that this is my God. But it is not, for this is one of the low ones, those taken down. I do not love the low ones and the taken down.” Well done Abraham! He spoke a splendid point. It rose up from the low, but he knew that the Lord is high, beyond His servants. Again, when it went down, he turned away from it and said, “I do not love the low ones, for they are not worthy of Godhood.” Here the lords of realization have voiced another intimation and have seen another subtle point. They say that from the first Abraham's dust was mixed with the water of bosom friendship, his secret core was burned with the fire of passion, his spirit was lit up with the love of eternity, and the ocean of passion was stirring up waves inside him. Then at dawn, at the moment of the morning draft of the passionate, the shouts of joy of the drunkards, and the uproar of those who have lost their hearts, he opened his eyes from the giddiness of the wine of bosom friendship and the drunkenness of passion and said, “This is my Lord.” This is as they say: Your image has so taken my eyes that wherever I look I fancy it's you. Both drunkenness and passion are paths of trial and the basis of trouble. Do you not see where pas- sion by itself threw Joseph of Canaan, and what drunkenness by itself did to Moses of ʿImrān? In the case of Abraham, both were together. Why then is it strange that drunkenness and the uproar of heart-lostness should make him gaze on the moon and the stars and say, “This is my Lord”? This is exactly what they say about a drunkard-that he does not know what he is saying. If he did know, then how could he be drunk? You said, “I'm drunk.” By my soul if you are- he who is drunk does not know drunkenness. As for Abraham's being tried by the sacrifice of his child, that is because he gazed on the beauty of Ishmael and began to pay regard to him, for the sword of Ishmael's beauty wounded Abraham's heart. The command came, “O Bosom Friend! Did We preserve you from Azar and Azari idols so that you could gaze on the face of Ishmael? The stamp of bosom friendship with Me and glancing at others cannot be combined, whether you gaze at the Azari carvings or Ishmael's face. Any talk that keeps you back from the road-let it be unbelief or faith. Any picture that holds you back from the Friend-let it be ugly or beautiful. [DS 51] It was not long before a sword was placed in his hand and it was said, “Sacrifice Ishmael, for two friends will not fit in one heart.” With two kiblahs you can't walk straight on the road of tawḤīd- either the Friend's approval, or your own caprice. [DS 488] In terms of the outward meaning, the story of the sacrifice is known and famous. Concerning the inward meaning and in the tongue of allusion, it has been said, “Cut off your heart's attachment to your child with the sword of truthfulness.” “Truthfulness is God's sword in His earth. He does not place it on anything without cutting it.” Abraham heard the command and with the sword of truthfulness cut his heart off from his child. He separated love for Ishmael from his heart. The call came, “O Abraham, 'Thou hast been truthful to the vision' [37:105]. The tongue of the state was saying, “I separated from creatures, sharpening my love for You. I made my child an orphan in order to see You.”
وَإِذْ جَعَلْنَا الْبَيْتَ مَثَابَةً لِلنَّاسِ وَأَمْنًا وَاتَّخِذُوا مِنْ مَقَامِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ مُصَلًّى ۖ وَعَهِدْنَا إِلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ أَنْ طَهِّرَا بَيْتِيَ لِلطَّائِفِينَ وَالْعَاكِفِينَ وَالرُّكَّعِ السُّجُودِ
📘 And when We appointed the House to be a place of visitation for the people and a sanctuary: �Mention O Muḥammad when We appointed the House meaning the Kaʿba to be a place of visitation for people to come to and a sanctuary for them to return to to make their way to it from every direction. It is a House which I created from stone yet attached to eternity. Whoever looks to the House with the eye of creation is cut off while those who look with the eye of far-reaching vision arrive and connect. Everyone who seeks refuge at that House is secure from the punishment of the hereafter if he seeks refuge to show veneration and respect ʿalā jihati al-iʿẓām wa-l-iḥtirām and repent from sins wa-l-tawbati ʿan al-āthām.� It is said that the House was built of stone but it is a stone that attracts hearts just as a magnet attracts iron. [What kind of house is itḍ] A house... Its shade causes whomever comes to it to remain in the courtyard of security amn. A house... Whoever glances upon it receives the good news of forgive- ness attained. A house... Subtleties circumambulate the heart of whoever circum- ambulates it. One circumambulation is by another circumambulation and one circuit is by another circuit. Is the reward of goodness anything but goodnessḍ [55:60]. A house... Whatever one spends of one's wealth to reach it is not lost. A house... Whatever one withholds from it is without profit. Whoever visits it forgets any other place of visitation and abandons his [own] regions. A house... No distance is reckoned too far to it. Visiting it is not to be neglected for fear of unpleasant occurrences or harmful attacks. This is a house which possesses no harm for the lifeblood of the poor fuqarāÌ. A house... Whoever holds back from visiting it lacks noble-heartedness futuwwa or is deficient in love maḥabba. A house... The heart of the one who holds back from it is harder than stones. A house... When the rays of its lights fall upon someone he is made to forget suns and moons. A house... One is not so much amazed by those who stay away from it but rather by how those who come to it can leave! Take to yourselves Abraham's station for a place of prayer; A servant was raised up on his feet for the sake of God ������ and his footprints made a qibla for all Muslims to honor him for all time until the resurrection.
وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ اجْعَلْ هَٰذَا بَلَدًا آمِنًا وَارْزُقْ أَهْلَهُ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ مَنْ آمَنَ مِنْهُمْ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ۖ قَالَ وَمَنْ كَفَرَ فَأُمَتِّعُهُ قَلِيلًا ثُمَّ أَضْطَرُّهُ إِلَىٰ عَذَابِ النَّارِ ۖ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ
📘 And when Abraham said �My Lord make this land secure and pro- vide its people with fruits; such of them as believe in God and the Last Day� He said �And whoever disbelieves to him I shall give enjoyment a little then I shall compel him to the chastisement of the fire-how evil a journey's end!� And when Abraham said 'My Lord make this land secure': The request was answered because it was not adulterated by the worldly concern of the servant. Abraham's request was not for his own concern ḥaẓẓ but rather for the right ḥaqq of his Lord may He be exalted and glorified. When Abraham was mindful of the required etiquette in seeking provision for those who believed they were granted that-but so were those who did not believe. [On the other hand] when he spoke about leadership saying �And of my seedḍ� [2:125] without [divine] permission [the request] was denied and it was said to him �My covenant shall not reach the evildoers� [2:125].
وَإِذْ يَرْفَعُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ وَإِسْمَاعِيلُ رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
📘 And when Abraham raised up the foundations of the House and Ishmael with him: �Our Lord! Receive this from us. Truly You are the Hearing the Knowing. The success of the request is in the sincerity of the supplication nujḥu al-suÌāl fī ṣidqi al-ibtihāl. When the two of them humbly sought aid in prayer He gave them help and fulfilled the request. Truly You are the Hearing of our speech the Knowing of our states.
رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُسْلِمَةً لَكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
📘 Our Lord! And make us submissive to You and of our seed a com- munity submissive to You; and show us our holy rites and relent to us. Surely You are the Relenting the Merciful. [That is] �Submissive muslimīn yielding to Your decree so that not one vein of ours throbs without Your good pleasure. Make from our seed a community submissive to You so that after us they will take our place in upholding Your rights.� What a difference between one who seeks someone to inherit his wealth man yaṬlubu wārithan li-mālihi and one who seeks a deputy after him to perform acts of obedience to Him in his states man yaṬlubu nāÌiban... fī aḥwālihi. [That is] �Show us our holy rites since there is no way to know what conforms [to Your will] except by the path that God granted success and communication.� [That is] �And relent to us after we carry out all that You have com- manded us to do so that we do not look to what we do and do not do but turn back to You from witnessing our actions so there is no danger of hidden idolatry al-shirk al-khafī in imagining anything from us or through us.�
رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
📘 “Our Lord, and raise up amidst them a messenger from among them, who will recite Thy signs to them, teach them the Book and the Wisdom, and purify them. Surely Thou art the Exalted, the Wise.”
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ آمِنُوا كَمَا آمَنَ النَّاسُ قَالُوا أَنُؤْمِنُ كَمَا آمَنَ السُّفَهَاءُ ۗ أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ السُّفَهَاءُ وَلَٰكِنْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 And when it is said to them, “Have faith as the people have faith,” they say, “Shall we have faith as fools have faith?” Surely it is they who are the fools, but they do not know. O generous Lord, O renowned, wise Enactor! O You who are true in promise, pure in justice, com- plete in bounty, and eternal in love! Whatever You want You show, and as You want, You adorn. Each has a name, and in the heart of each is Your mark. The stamp of worthiness is upon some people, and the brand of unworthiness on others. The worthy are brought by the road of bounty on the steed of approval with the escort of gentleness in the time of generous bestowal at the turn of proximity. The unworthy are driven into the street of justice on the steed of wrath with the escort of abandonment at the turn of deprivation. This deprivation and that proximity did not come from water or dust, for on the day when the two were written out, there was neither water nor dust. There was beginningless bounty and gentleness and everlasting severity and justice. That was the portion of the self-purifiers and this the portion of the hypocrites. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Alas for the apportioning that has gone before me! Alack for the words spoken by the Self-Seer! What profit if I am happy or distraught? I fear what the Powerful said in the Beginningless.” The hypocrites, who had fallen under the garment of justice, approved of themselves and deemed themselves to have a good name. The purifiers, the truthful, and the Messenger's Com- panions they called “fools.” The Lord of the Worlds in His generosity acted as their deputy in this and answered them: “Those are not the fools, the fools are those who call them fools.” Indeed, when someone does not belong to himself, God belongs to him. When someone tightens his belt in obeying God's commands, God joins with him. “When someone belongs to God, God belongs to him.” The unbelievers said to MuṣṬafā, “You are possessed: O thou unto whom the Remembrance has been sent down, surely thou art possessed [15:6].” God said to MuḤammad, “They call you mad, but you are not mad: Thou art not, by the blessing of thy Lord, possessed [68:2]. You are My friend, approved of by Me. What harm will come to you if they do not approve of you? What you must have is that I approve of you. The friend must be approved of by a friend, not by the city.”
وَمَنْ يَرْغَبُ عَنْ مِلَّةِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِلَّا مَنْ سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ ۚ وَلَقَدِ اصْطَفَيْنَاهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَإِنَّهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
📘 And who shrinks from the creed of Abraham but one foolish in himself? We chose him in this world, and in the next world he shall be among the wholesome. One of these two verses is in praise of the Beloved [MuḤammad], the other in praise of the Bosom Friend [Abraham]. Although both are caressed and worthy prophets, adorned by the generous be- stowal and the bounteousness of the Lord, there is a difference between the Beloved and the Bosom Friend! The Bosom Friend is the desirer, and the Beloved the desired. The desirer is the wanter, and the desired the wanted. The desirer is the traveler, and the desired is the snatched away. The desirer stands in the station of service in his traveling, and the desired stands on the carpet of companionship in the pulling of the Real. When someone is in his own traveling, his road will not be empty of deception. This is why the Bosom Friend's road, despite the greatness of his state, was not empty of deception. Thus, when the star of deception came into his road, he said, “This is my Lord” [6:76]. In the same way, the Lordhood kept on opening up ambuscades of deception by means of the moon and the sun. Finally protection took the reins of his bosom friendship and pulled him to itself from the world of deception. He said, “Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving” [6:79]. MuṣṬafā, however, was in the pull of the Real. The ambuscade of deception was not able to make his road steep. Rather, on that night everything that was not and then came to be sought his help from deception. They had recourse to the lights of his Shariah against deception and backslid- ing. He was confirmed by the Real's pull to such an extent that he did not look at any of that from the corner of his eye. The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]. There is as much difference between the Bosom Friend and the Beloved as there is between the traveler and the snatched away. The Bosom Friend had the attribute of servitors at the threshold of Lordhood, standing on his own feet: “Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth, unswerving.
إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ أَسْلِمْ ۖ قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
📘 When his Lord said to him, “Submit,” he said, “I submit to the Lord of the Worlds.” When the Bosom Friend began to travel, the command came from the Exalted Presence, “O Abra- ham, anyone who wants Me must belong to Me totally. As long as a sliver of mortal desires and soulish resistance remains with you, you will not pass from the suffering of striving to the ease of the pull. 'The ransomed slave stays a slave so long as a dirham is owed.'” If you want Me, you must want what I desire. You must leave aside yourself totally. The Bosom Friend said, “O Lord, Abraham no longer has any self-governance, any free choice. Now I have come on the feet of poverty, in the state of brokenness, to see what You command. I submit. I have overthrown myself and entrusted my work to You. I have come back to You entirely.” The command came, “O Abraham, that is a very great claim. Every claim must have a mean- ing, and everything rightfully due a reality. Now watch out for the testing!” He was tested by other than himself, by part of himself, and by his whole self. The test by oth- ers was that he had plentiful possessions. They say he had 70,000 sheep in seven thousand herds. Each herd had a dog with a gold collar around its neck. He was commanded to detach his heart from all of it and to toss it away in the path of God. The Bosom Friend tossed it all away and left nothing for himself. In the traditions it has come that the angels said, “Lord God, ever since this call was given out in the World of the Dominion, 'And God took Abraham as a bosom friend' [4:125], our spirits have been in a whirlpool and our gall-bladders have been melting because of this special favor. How is the Bosom Friend worthy of this generosity?” The call came, “Gabriel, open up your peacock-feathers and go from the top of the Lote Tree to the summit of that mountain and test the Bosom Friend.” With the divine determination and facilitation Gabriel came down in the form of a child of Adam. He stood beside that mountain and shouted, “O Holy One!” The Bosom Friend fainted from the pleasure of hearing that. When he came to, he said, “O servant of God! Say that name again, and this herd belongs to you.” Gabriel again shouted out, “O Holy One!” The Bosom Friend was rolling in the dust like a half-slaughtered chicken. He was saying, “Say it again, and another herd belongs to you!” You spoke of Him to me, O Saʿd, and you increased my madness. So increase that speaking, O Saʿd! In this manner he was asking for loans, and each time he gave to him a herd with the dog and the gold collar, until he gave it all and lost it all. When he had lost all of it, the knots became tighter, passion and destitution joined together. The Bosom Friend said, “O servant of God! Recite the name of the Friend one more time, and my spirit is yours!” Wealth, gold, things-gamble them away for nothing. When the work reaches your spirit, gamble it away! Gabriel became happy. He spread his peacock feathers and said, “He was right to take you as a bosom friend. If there is any shortcoming, it is in our eyes. You have passion to perfection.” When Gabriel appeared to him, he said to him, “O Bosom Friend, I have no use and no need for these sheep.” The Bosom Friend said, “Even if you have no use for them, there is no option in chivalry to take them back.” Gabriel said, “Then let us scatter them in the deserts and the wildernesses so that they may pas- ture as they desire. The world's folk will benefit from that until the resurrection.” The mountain sheep that are now scattered throughout the world all come from that lineage. Until the resurrec- tion anyone who hunts and eats one is a guest of the Bosom Friend and consumes the food at the table of the beautiful doing of that majestic angel's presence. As for Abraham's being tested by a part of himself, it is that he was shown the sacrifice of his child in a dream and instructed to do that. The whole of that story will be told in its own place, God willing. As for his being tested by his whole self, it is that the rebellious Nimrod was persuaded to light up a fire and build a mangonel in which to throw him. The divine address came to the fire: “O fire, be coolness and safety” [21:69].
وَوَصَّىٰ بِهَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بَنِيهِ وَيَعْقُوبُ يَا بَنِيَّ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَىٰ لَكُمُ الدِّينَ فَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
📘 And Abraham enjoined upon his sons this and [so did] Jacob 'My sons God has chosen for you the [true] religion see that you die not save in submission.' He related that Abraham ���� ������ enjoined his sons as did Jacob ���� ������ who said �Do not let death come upon you except in the state of submission islām.� Their laws even if they differed in details were of one origin. The spring of unity tawḥīd is not divided into two. words of God most high �God has chosen for you the [true] religion� were good news. By [these words] their desire to meet the demands of submission islām became strong. For when they realized that God ������ had chosen them for that [islām] they knew with certainty that He would help them and make it easy for them to uphold the rightful due of submission islām.
أَمْ كُنْتُمْ شُهَدَاءَ إِذْ حَضَرَ يَعْقُوبَ الْمَوْتُ إِذْ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِي قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ إِلَٰهَكَ وَإِلَٰهَ آبَائِكَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِلَٰهًا وَاحِدًا وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ
📘 Or were you witnesses when death came to Jacobḍ When he said to his sons �What will you worship after meḍ� They said �We will worship your God All of them ḍ followed one way in declaring [God's] oneness tawḥīd and submission islām. They inherited that one after another from their forefathers and [they] were the people of the house of intimacy deserving of nearness and purified in truth by God. and the God of your fathers Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac One God to Him we submit.� [Jacob's sons] did not say �Our God� out of respect for [Jacob's] special status inasmuch as they accepted his superiority and saw themselves as attached to his station maqām. [Rather] they said of themselves that they were followers of [Abraham Ishmael and Isaac] when they said �and to Him we submit.�
تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ ۖ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُمْ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ ۖ وَلَا تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
📘 That is a community that has passed away; theirs is what they have earned and yours is what you have earned; you will not be asked about what they did. The Real ������ sent down to each [community] its place and singled out for each one its status according to His decree ḥukm. There is no news about their outward forms and no trace remaining of what distinguished each group from the others. Each is a king in his own region and each has a celestial sphere revolving in felicity.
وَقَالُوا كُونُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَىٰ تَهْتَدُوا ۗ قُلْ بَلْ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا ۖ وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
📘 And they say �Be Jews or Christians and you will be guided.� Say �Nay rather the creed of Abraham a ḥanīf; and he was not of the idolaters.� [That is] �When the groups contended with you [Muḥammad] they demanded that you agree muwāfaqa with them. Stand firm in opposing that to which they call you and turn your attention increasingly to Us. Follow the way of the Friend al-khalīl in withdrawing from the group whether it be one's own father or anyone else who is not in accord lā yuwāfiqu with his Protector.� Thus he said �And I shall shun you and that which you call upon besides God� [19:48]. The ḥanīf is the �one who leans� toward the straight truth on the path the truth free from any defect of creation. [He is] in agreement wāfiq with the truth by the Truth.
قُولُوا آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالْأَسْبَاطِ وَمَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ وَمَا أُوتِيَ النَّبِيُّونَ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِنْهُمْ وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ
📘 Say: �We believe in God and in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to Abraham Ishmael Isaac Jacob and the tribes and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord we make no division between any of them and to Him we submit.� Because our Prophet ﷺ believed in everything that was revealed before him he was honored with everything that [God] had conferred in honor to [the prophets] before him. When [God] proclaimed the harmony muwāfaqa of all [the messages of the prophets] He entrusted everything in existence [to fall] under [Muḥammad's] banner. [Muḥammad] said �Adam and all others shall be under my banner on the Day of the Resurrection.� When his community believed in everything that God revealed to His messengers and made no division between any of them they drew the highest share in honor and took precedence over all communities.
فَإِنْ آمَنُوا بِمِثْلِ مَا آمَنْتُمْ بِهِ فَقَدِ اهْتَدَوْا ۖ وَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَإِنَّمَا هُمْ فِي شِقَاقٍ ۖ فَسَيَكْفِيكَهُمُ اللَّهُ ۚ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ
📘 If they have faith in the like of that in which you have faith, they will have found guid- ance; but if they turn away, they will have split from you. God will suffice you against them; He is the hearing, the knowing. “O master of the east and west and messenger to men and jinn! We have placed these tasks in your tracks and commanded the world's folk to follow you. We wrote the Compact of Love for your servitors and brought them under Our gaze. We threw your opponents into the lowland of abase- ment and feebleness. Whoever opposes you is on the side of the enemies, and whoever serves you is on the side of the friends. When someone wants you, We want him and give him access to Us. When someone turns away, We burn him and throw him down. Whoso obeys the Messenger has obeyed God [4:80]. “O paragon! Do not let your heart be tight because these estranged people have turned away and spoken ill. We will suffice you against their business and We will remove their torment from you. God will suffice you against them.”
صِبْغَةَ اللَّهِ ۖ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللَّهِ صِبْغَةً ۖ وَنَحْنُ لَهُ عَابِدُونَ
📘 God's color-and who is more beautiful in color than God? “Then We will bring a people who have come out in the color of tawḤīd and who are adorned with the attribute of love and clothed in God's color, which is colorlessness. Whoever is pure of the color of the color-mixers is colored by God's color.” He who has painted a thousand worlds with color- why would He buy my color and yours, O bankrupt man! So, when someone reaches God's color and falls back on Him, He colors him in His own color. In the same way, the elixir makes copper and iron the same color as itself and they become precious. If the estranged fall back on Him, they become His familiars, and if the disobedient fall back, they become obedient. On this topic many stories are told about the shaykhs. One of them is narrated from Ibrāhīm Khawāṣṣ. He said, “Once I went into the desert and saw a Christian, who had his sash around his waist. He asked if he could accompany me, so we walked for seven days. He said, 'O monk of the unswerving folk! Bring forth what you have of expansiveness, for we are hungry.' “I said, 'O God, do not disgrace me before this unbeliever.' Then I saw a tray, upon which were bread, roast meat, dates, and a pitcher of water. We ate and drank, and we walked for seven days. Then I became hasty and I said, 'O monk of the Christians, bring what you have, for my turn is finished.' He leaned on his staff and supplicated, and lo there were two trays with double what there had been on my tray. “I was bewildered and upset, and I refused to eat. He insisted, but I did not respond to him. He said, 'Eat, for I have two pieces of good news to give to you. One is that I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that MuḤammad is God's messenger,' and he took off the sash. 'The other is that I say, “O God, if there is any danger here, then I will begin with this.”' So he began. “We ate and we walked, and then we made the hajj and took up residence in Mecca for a year. Then he died, and was buried in al-BaṬḤāÌ-God have mercy on him.”
قُلْ أَتُحَاجُّونَنَا فِي اللَّهِ وَهُوَ رَبُّنَا وَرَبُّكُمْ وَلَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُخْلِصُونَ
📘 Say: �Would you then dispute with us concerning God and He is our Lord and your Lordḍ Our deeds belong to us and to you belong your deeds and to Him we are sincerely devoted.� How can dispute with strangers be appropriate when they are covered by absence and shaded by concealment while the friends are lit by unveiling and the bright noon of witnessingḍ When is the state of one who is bankrupt by his absence equal to one whose selection and sincere devotion [and] immersion in acts of drawing near to Him has [already been] decreedḍ It is preposterous-there is no equality!
وَإِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَإِذَا خَلَوْا إِلَىٰ شَيَاطِينِهِمْ قَالُوا إِنَّا مَعَكُمْ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ
📘 When they meet those who believe they say �We believe�; but when they go apart to their devils they say �We are with you; we were only mocking.� God [Himself] mocks them leaving them in their insolence bewildered. The hypocrites wanted to maintain their relations with disbelievers while associating with Muslims so when they appeared before Muslims they said �We are with you� and when they were alone with those like them among the disbelievers they voiced their loyalty to them. They wanted to have relationships with both sides but they were excluded from both. God most high said �Wavering all the time-not to these neither to those� [4:143]. Similarly anyone who wants to combine the path of spiritual desire irāda with [one's habitual behavior] with ordinary people ahl al-ʿāda [should know that] this cannot be done since the two opposites cannot be combined. �The servant who has contracted with his master to be freed is still a servant until the last dirham [is paid].� When night draws nigh day slips away. Anyone who has a hodgepodge khalīṬ in every corner nāḥiyya and a heart bound rabīṬ in every nook zāwiyya is headed for disaster. First one group and then another take turns dwelling in his heart so that it is forever ruined.53 There is no pleasure for him in life nor does he truly possess any provision from his heart. The one who spoke for them said: I see you as someone left over from the people of Moses for they do not wait patiently for food. When the hypocrites said �we were only mocking� God most high said �God [Himself] mocks them� that is He requites them for their mocking. Similarly when people put the reins in the hands of carnal desires they are lured into the wadis of separation. Their feet are not firmly planted in a place so they wander in the labyrinth of absence. Just as he leaves the hypocrites in their insolence bewildered he prolongs the period [in which they dwell with] their confused hopes. So when the times of their deaths draw nigh their hopes are at their highest while their actions are at their lowest. That is the requital for what they did and the noxious result of what they produced. The beautification of their ugly acts in their eyes is the worst of their punishments and their being content with their listlessness is their greatest misfortune.
أَمْ تَقُولُونَ إِنَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالْأَسْبَاطَ كَانُوا هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَىٰ ۗ قُلْ أَأَنْتُمْ أَعْلَمُ أَمِ اللَّهُ ۗ وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ كَتَمَ شَهَادَةً عِنْدَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
📘 Or do you say: �Abraham Ishmael Isaac and Jacob and the tribes- they were Jews or they were Christiansḍ� Say: �Have you then greater knowl- edge or has Godḍ And who does greater injustice than he who conceals a testimony received from Godḍ And God is not heedless of what you do.� Whoever looks from himself to creation forms an image of each thing based on his own character and considers everything to be something like him. When they by virtue of being outsiders [to the Real] judged the prophets [���� ������] according to their own state the Real ������ threw their conjecture back upon them and left them with their own opinion. Are those who have been drawn away from their own testimony like those who are veiled by itḍ Is the one who is snatched away from all of it equal to the one who is thrown back to what is like himḍ That is the conjecture of those who disbelieve-what misery is theirs!
تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ ۖ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُمْ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ ۖ وَلَا تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
📘 That is a community that has passed away; theirs is what they have earned and yours is what you have earned; you will not be asked about what they did. The barriers of fate came between you and them for they built their struc- tures on separation and heedlessness while you have pitched your tents on closeness and connection. The freedman of Our favor ʿatīq faḌlinā is not like the fugitive of Our force Ṭarīd qahrinā.
۞ سَيَقُولُ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَ النَّاسِ مَا وَلَّاهُمْ عَنْ قِبْلَتِهِمُ الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا ۚ قُلْ لِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ ۚ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ
📘 The fools among the people will say �What has turned them from the direction they used to face in their prayersḍ� The eyes of the disbelievers were weak so the correct view about all the circumstances of the believers was not apparent to them. They looked with an eye to finding ugliness and let loose their tongues to oppose everything that was and would be from [the believers]. They did not see anything new without bringing forth a new objection to it. That included the change in the matter of the qibla when it was shifted to the Kaʿba. They said that if their qibla was correct what would turn them from itḍ So [God] said: Say: �To God belong the East and the West. He guides whomever He will to a straight path.� The servants worship toward any region and direction they will. Similarly the companions of absence and those who are veiled from witnessing [the way in which] the Real grants free agency to His friends seek only certain aspects of the affair and bring their own states to bear upon them. If they had seen the whole picture with singular vision they would have been saved from the pain of divisive thinking the distraction of accursed thoughts and the claims of fractured conjecture but God guides whom He wills to His light.
وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا ۗ وَمَا جَعَلْنَا الْقِبْلَةَ الَّتِي كُنْتَ عَلَيْهَا إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَنْ يَتَّبِعُ الرَّسُولَ مِمَّنْ يَنْقَلِبُ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ ۚ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى الَّذِينَ هَدَى اللَّهُ ۗ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُضِيعَ إِيمَانَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِالنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ
📘 Thus We appointed you a midmost community.... Surely God is clement, ever-merciful toward the people. It is the wise Lord, the knowing King, whose power and existence-giving bring forth beings. The newly arrived things exist through His exaltedness and His making them manifest, and the earth and the heavens stand forth through His keeping. He created the newly arrived things and chose from among them the animals. From among the animals He chose the Adamites, from the Adamites He chose the faithful, from the faithful He chose the prophets, and from the prophets He chose MuḤammad. He chose his community above the previous communities. This is why MuṣṬafā said, “I was brought forth from the best generation of the children of Adam, generation after generation, until I came to be in the generation in which I am.” He also said, “Surely God chose my companions above all the world's folk save the prophets and the envoys. He chose four of my companions and made them the best of my companions-and in all of my companions there is good-Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī. He chose my community over the other com- munities, so He sent me forth in the best generation. Then there will be the second and third in succession, then the fourth, one after another.” What is understood from this report is that MuṣṬafā is the best of the Adamites, the chosen from among the world's folk, the leader of the creatures, the adornment of the world, the weighty one of the time, the lamp of the earth, the full moon of heaven, the shelter of the disobedient, the interceder for the sinners, the master of all the messengers and their seal. After MuṣṬafā the best of all creatures is Abū Bakr the sincerely truthful. The Lord of the Worlds placed the cushion of his imamate on the throne of MuṣṬafā's Shariah, turned the lodging place of his servanthood into self-purification and truthfulness, and made trust and certainty the keeper of the rank of his friendship. After him the best of creatures is ʿUmar KhaṬṬāb. The Lord of the Worlds placed the reins of lowering and raising the legal rulings in the hand of his sufficiency and pulled the robe of his rulership over the forehead of the creed. With his harshness and awesomeness the smoke of as- sociationism was subdued by its own misfortune.
قَدْ نَرَىٰ تَقَلُّبَ وَجْهِكَ فِي السَّمَاءِ ۖ فَلَنُوَلِّيَنَّكَ قِبْلَةً تَرْضَاهَا ۚ فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ ۚ وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنْتُمْ فَوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ شَطْرَهُ ۗ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ لَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا يَعْمَلُونَ
📘 We have seen thy face turning about in heaven. Now We shall turn thee toward a kiblah that thou shalt approve. He had let him know that he was in the sight of the Real so that he would model his courtesy on the Real's courtesy. When he put courtesy into practice, he did not ask the Real for what his heart wanted and did no more than gaze upon heaven. Then He gave him better than what He gives to those who ask. When the Lord is generous and the servant exalted, He keeps the servant within the stipula- tions of courtesy, shows him the road of deeds, and gives him success. Then He rewards him for the deeds and praises him for his veneration. He says, “How excellent is the wage of the doers!” [3:136]. “How excellent a servant he was; surely he kept on returning” [38:30]. In the same way, He reported to MuṣṬafā, “You are in My vision and My exalted witnessing. Be careful to recognize the respect due to the Presence and to ask in keeping with courtesy.” Hence when his heart was intent on the kiblah, he did not make this manifest, in keeping with courtesy. He kept that wish in his heart and then the Exalted Presence addressed him: “Now We shall turn thee toward a kiblah that thou shalt approve. We have come to know that wish in your heart and We have admired your beautiful courtesy in not asking. We will bestow upon you that of which you approve in the work of the kiblah. O MuḤammad! All the servants in the world are seeking My approval, but I am seeking your approval. All are searching for Me, but I am calling for you. All wish for My caresses, but We are caressing you. Thy Lord shall bestow upon thee so that thou shalt approve [93:5]. Now consider the Kaabah as the kiblah of your soul and Me as the kiblah of your spirit.” When those caresses came forth from the Presence of Unity and those generosities reached him, the tongue of his state said in his yearning, “When your heart reaches out once in love for me, suffering separation from You becomes easy, sweetheart.” Abū Bakr Shiblī said, “The kiblahs are three: the kiblah of the common people, the kiblah of the elect, and the kiblah of the elect of the elect.
وَلَئِنْ أَتَيْتَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ بِكُلِّ آيَةٍ مَا تَبِعُوا قِبْلَتَكَ ۚ وَمَا أَنْتَ بِتَابِعٍ قِبْلَتَهُمْ ۚ وَمَا بَعْضُهُمْ بِتَابِعٍ قِبْلَةَ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ ۙ إِنَّكَ إِذًا لَمِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 Yet if you should bring to those who have been given the scripture every sign they will not follow your direction and you are not a follower of their direction; neither are they followers of one another's direction. If you were to follow their whims after the knowledge that has come to you then you will surely be among the evildoers. �Devotion to the path of the Real was already yours from the eternal decree [just as it was decreed] that your enemies would fall to the side. Between the two of you there is a barrier barzakh. They do not overstep [55:19-20]. They will not follow your qibla even if you were to show them evidence that was clearer than suns and moons. And you will not be followers of their qibla even if they bring every stratagem. In that there is a decree from God ������ from pre-eternity.�
الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَعْرِفُونَهُ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ ۖ وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِنْهُمْ لَيَكْتُمُونَ الْحَقَّ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 Those to whom We have given the Scripture they recognize him as they recognize their sons; even though there is a party of them that conceal the truth while they know. Their hidden envy causes haughtiness in them concerning what they necessarily know. Similarly whoever has been defeated in the darknesses of his lower self throws off the cloak of bashfulness. There is no use censuring him; words will not rein in his abandon.
الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ ۖ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ
📘 The truth comes from your Lord; then be not among the doubters. i.e. 'after the suns of certainty have appeared to you do not yield to the results of mere guessing'. The address is to [the Prophet] but what is intended by it is the community.
وَلِكُلٍّ وِجْهَةٌ هُوَ مُوَلِّيهَا ۖ فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ ۚ أَيْنَ مَا تَكُونُوا يَأْتِ بِكُمُ اللَّهُ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
📘 Everyone has a direction to which he turns. The creatures have five kiblahs. First is the Throne, second the Footstool, third the Inhabited House, fourth the Holy House [Jerusalem], and fifth the Kaabah. The Throne is the kiblah of the angels who carry it. The Footstool is the kiblah of the cherubim. The Inhabited House is the kiblah of the spirituals. The Holy House is the kiblah of the prophets. The Kaabah is the kiblah of the faithful. The Throne is of light, the Footstool of gold, the Inhabited House of carnelian, the Holy House of marble, and the Kaabah of stone. This is an allusion for the faithful servant: “If you cannot come to the Throne to circumam- bulate, or to the Footstool to visit, or to the Inhabited House to worship, or to the Holy House to serve, then at least you can turn your face five times a day toward this stone, which is the kiblah of the faithful, and receive the reward for all of them.” Everyone has a direction. One of them has said that the allusion here is this: “All people have been distracted from Me by something that has come between Me and them. So, O faithful, belong to Me and be through Me.” In terms of allusion, He is saying, “All the people have turned away from Me. They have become familiar with others without Me. They have made their sweetheart other than Me and ac- cepted the other in friendship. “You who are the chevaliers of the Tariqah and claim friendship with Me, lift up your eyes from anything beneath Me, even if it be the highest paradise. Then you will go straight in follow- ing the Sunnah and conduct of MuṣṬafā and you will perform the rightful due of emulating that paragon of the world. For, as the greatest of the prophets, his conduct was to turn his eyes away from all beings and not to see any refuge nor to approve of any resting place other than the shelter of Unity.” When a man wears down his spirit in passion's road he'd best incline toward none but the Friend. In passion's road the passionate must not think of hell or paradise. When someone puts himself right in following MuṣṬafā, the candle of friendship with the Real will be lit in his road and he will never fall away from friendship's avenue.
وَمِنْ حَيْثُ خَرَجْتَ فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ ۖ وَإِنَّهُ لَلْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
📘 From whatever place you issue turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; it is the truth from your Lord. God is not heedless of what you do. 'Just as you face the qibla from wherever you are whether you are near or far from it likewise draw near to Us in your heart whatever your state whether you are in good fortune from Us or afflicted'.
اللَّهُ يَسْتَهْزِئُ بِهِمْ وَيَمُدُّهُمْ فِي طُغْيَانِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ
📘 When they meet those who believe they say �We believe�; but when they go apart to their devils they say �We are with you; we were only mocking.� God [Himself] mocks them leaving them in their insolence bewildered. The hypocrites wanted to maintain their relations with disbelievers while associating with Muslims so when they appeared before Muslims they said �We are with you� and when they were alone with those like them among the disbelievers they voiced their loyalty to them. They wanted to have relationships with both sides but they were excluded from both. God most high said �Wavering all the time-not to these neither to those� [4:143]. Similarly anyone who wants to combine the path of spiritual desire irāda with [one's habitual behavior] with ordinary people ahl al-ʿāda [should know that] this cannot be done since the two opposites cannot be combined. �The servant who has contracted with his master to be freed is still a servant until the last dirham [is paid].� When night draws nigh day slips away. Anyone who has a hodgepodge khalīṬ in every corner nāḥiyya and a heart bound rabīṬ in every nook zāwiyya is headed for disaster. First one group and then another take turns dwelling in his heart so that it is forever ruined.53 There is no pleasure for him in life nor does he truly possess any provision from his heart. The one who spoke for them said: I see you as someone left over from the people of Moses for they do not wait patiently for food. When the hypocrites said �we were only mocking� God most high said �God [Himself] mocks them� that is He requites them for their mocking. Similarly when people put the reins in the hands of carnal desires they are lured into the wadis of separation. Their feet are not firmly planted in a place so they wander in the labyrinth of absence. Just as he leaves the hypocrites in their insolence bewildered he prolongs the period [in which they dwell with] their confused hopes. So when the times of their deaths draw nigh their hopes are at their highest while their actions are at their lowest. That is the requital for what they did and the noxious result of what they produced. The beautification of their ugly acts in their eyes is the worst of their punishments and their being content with their listlessness is their greatest misfortune.
وَمِنْ حَيْثُ خَرَجْتَ فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ ۚ وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنْتُمْ فَوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ شَطْرَهُ لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَيْكُمْ حُجَّةٌ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْهُمْ فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِي وَلِأُتِمَّ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
📘 From whatever place you issue turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; and wherever you may be turn your faces towards it so that there be not any argument from the people against you; excepting the evildoers among them; 'If you want there to be no pathway for anyone against you no shadow to fall upon you from any created thing and no hand to reach you with evil then from whatever place you issue ḥaythumā kunta whithersoever you are aynamā kunta and whatever state you are in kayfamā kunta be for Us kun lanā and be from Us wa kun minnā for truly whoever occupies themselves exclusively with Us - nothing can get to them'. [2:150 cont'd] and do not fear them but fear Me; 'When they are effaced from their engendered existence kawn as mortal remains rusūm Our decrees aḥkām flow over them so why should there be fear of themḍ' [2:150 cont'd] and that I may perfect My grace upon you and that you may be guided. The perfection of grace is to add unveiling kashf to kindness luṭf. The one whom He suffices through the exigency of His generosity jūd is below the one whom He enriches by the rightful due ḥaqq of His existence wujūd. Concerning the meaning of this they have recited: We are in the most perfect happiness but only through you is the happiness made complete. The [only] imperfection of what we are in O people of my love is that you are absent while we are present.
كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا فِيكُمْ رَسُولًا مِنْكُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِنَا وَيُزَكِّيكُمْ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 As also We have sent among you of yourselves a messenger to recite Our verses to you and to purify you and to teach you the Book and wisdom and to teach you what you knew not. The sending of the Messenger was to open the gates of attainment for it was in His ������ prior knowledge that the hearts of His friends would be thirsty to meet Him. There is no way for anyone to [reach God] except through the intermediary of the messengers. By sending messengers He charged some people with the burdens [of prescriptive law] kulaf and by sending messengers to others He honored them with the arts of drawing near and approaching zulaf. What a difference between one people and another!
فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ
📘 So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful for Me and not ungrateful toward Me. This is to remember the lovingly kind Friend, the heart's ease and the spirit's food. Remembrance is the polo-ball and familiarity with Him is the bat. Its steed is yearning and its field love. Burning for Him is the rose, and recognizing Him the garden. This remembrance makes the Real apparent. It is joined with the Haqiqah and separate from mortal nature. This remembrance is the watering place for the tree of tawḤīd, the fruit and produce of which is friendship with the Real. This is why the Lord of the Worlds said, “My servant does not cease remembering Me, and I remembering him, until he is passionate for Me and I passionate for him.” This is not the remembrance of the tongue that you know-this is inside the spirit. The time came when Abū Yazīd was remembering little with the tongue. When he was asked about that, he said, “I am in wonder at this remembrance of the tongue, and I am more in wonder at him who is a stranger. What would a stranger be doing in the midst? Remembrance of Him is in the midst of the spirit.” In the story of passion for You, many are the hardships. I'm with You, but many are the stations between us. * I wonder at him who says, “I remember my Lord.” Should I forget, then remember what I forgot? That great man of his time said in a whispered prayer, “O Lord! How can I remember You when You Yourself are remembering and I am crying out from forgetfulness. You are the remembrance and the remembered, You are the help in finding Yourself. “O Lord! When someone reaches You, his sorrows are finished; when someone sees You, his spirit laughs. Who has more joy in the two worlds than he who remembers You? Who is more worthy of happiness in You than the servant?” O poor man, you are remembering yourself. What do you know about remembering Him? Not having traveled, what do you know about the way stations? Not having seen the Friend, how can you be aware of His name and mark? You are your own object of worship-you worship yourself: whatever you do, you do it for yourself. If you pass into the spirit, you will gain dignity. If one day you pass by the street of the Haqiqah and remember Him in your secret core, you will see “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what has never passed into the heart of any mortal.” Just once pass by Our street and gaze on Our subtle artisanry. If you want roses, pass into the spirit and make the heart aware of union with Us. It is written in one of God's scriptures, “'My servant! You will remember Me when you have tried out the others. I am better for you than anyone else.' My servant, when you have seen and tested others, then you will know My worth and recognize My rightful due. In other words, once you have seen their lack of loving kindness and you have grasped My loving kindness and loyalty, then you will know that I am more lovingly kind to you than anyone else and I am more useful. “'My servant, did I not remember you before you remembered Me?' My servant, one mark of My loving kindness is that I remembered you first, then you remembered Me. “'Did I not love you before you loved Me?' First, I wanted you, then you wanted Me. “'My servant, have you turned away from Me and toward another because you are ashamed to face Me? Where are you going? My door is open, My gifts are bestowed on you.'” This is as someone said: You have all your brightness from Me, you wander around, then you come back to Me. By the exaltation of the Exalted! If you take one step in His path, a thousand generosities will reach you from Him. “From you a little service, from Him much blessing! From you a bit of obe- dience, from Him great mercy!” The Prophet alluded to this in recounting from God: “When someone remembers Me in him- self, I remember him in Myself; and when someone remembers Me in an assembly, I remember him in an assembly better than his. When someone comes near to Me by a span, I come near to him by a cubit, and when someone comes to Me walking, I come to him rushing.” And be grateful for Me and not ungrateful toward Me. It has been said that “I was grateful for Him” is gratitude at seeing blessings and in respect of activity.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ
📘 O you who believe seek help through patience and prayer; surely God is with the patient. �Seek the help of [God's] blessing ṣalāt through patience.�That is to say �your being worthy of your Lord's blessing ṣalāt [comes] by your patience at the flow of the decrees of the Real over you.� For that reason God most high said yet give good tidings to the patient [2:155] followed by Upon those rest blessings ṣalawāt and mercy from their Lord [2:157]. It is said that the patient are entitled to the ultimate treasures and the highest ranks inasmuch as they have attained the company maʿiyya of God most high who said �Surely God is with maʿa the patient.�
وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَنْ يُقْتَلُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتٌ ۚ بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ وَلَٰكِنْ لَا تَشْعُرُونَ
📘 Say not of those who are slain in the path of God, “They are dead.” No, they are alive, but you are unaware. The life of this world has left them behind, but they have reached endless life.12 What have they lost by being released from this world's abasement? They have reached union with the exaltedness of the Patron. If I die, don't say about me, “He's dead.” Say, “The dead man came to life in the Friend who took him.” Alive is the one who lives through Him, not through the spirit. Whoever comes to life in the Friend lives forever. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O Lord, if someone is occupied with You, how could his occupa- tion come to an end? When someone lives through You, how could he ever die? If the spirit in the body is deprived of You, it is like an imprisoned corpse. Alive in reality is he who lives with You. God's praise be on those slain concerning whom the King says that they are alive.” No, they are alive, but you are unaware. The cloak of awe is on the shoulders of their exalted- ness, the shadow of the Tremendous Throne is their resting-place of intimacy, and the Presence of the Real's majesty is the place of their spirit's repose, in a seat of truthfulness, at an Omnipotent King [54:55].
وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنْفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ
📘 And We will indeed try you with something of fear and hunger, and decrease of wealth, souls, and fruits; and give good news to the patient. The custom of the Lord is that whenever He threatens the servant and shows harshness in a verse, then, right after that or before it, He caresses the servant and gives him hope. Thus in this verse He breaks the servant by mentioning those harsh things and varieties of trial. Then He gives good news, He caresses, and He says, “and give good news to the patient.” And, at the beginning of these verses He says, “Surely God is with the patient” [2:153]. Glory be to Him! How gentle and how merciful He is to His servants! And We will indeed try you. He says, “We will test you, sometimes with fear, sometimes with dread, sometimes with poverty, sometimes with hunger, sometimes with outward affliction, sometimes with inward sorrow.” The outward trial and evident affliction are in fact easy work, for sometimes they are there and sometimes not, like the trial of Abraham and the trial of Job. The complete trial is inward sorrow, which does not leave its place for a moment. When someone is closer, more worthy of friendship, and more suitable for union, his sorrow is more. Such was MuṣṬafā's sorrow. He had no capacity for it on the highest horizon, nor did he have any rest from it on the expanse of the earth. He was like a moth before a lamp: It does not have the capacity to stay with the lamp, nor the remedy of staying away from the lamp. With the tongue of his state he was saying, “In separation I make do because of shame before Your image, in union I burn in fear it will cease. Such is the state of the moth with the candle- in separation it burns and in union it burns.” “Yes, everyone who seeks union with Me and wants proximity with Me has no escape from taking on the burden of tribulation and tasting the drink of sorrow.” āsiya, the wife of Pharaoh, sought for the Real's neighborhood and asked for His proximity. She said, “My Lord, build for me a house with Thee in the Garden [66:11]. O Lord, I want a room in Your neighborhood, for it is beautiful to have a room in the street of the Friend. ” “Yes, it is beautiful, but its price is very expensive. Everything is sold for gold and silver, but this is sold for spirit and heart.” āsiya said, “That's nothing to fear. And if its price were a thousand spirits instead of one, there would be no holding back.” So they crucified āsiya and drove iron nails into her eyes. But she, in that chastisement was laughing and happy. This is as they say: When it's the heart-taker's desire, one thorn is better than a thousand dates. Bishr Ḥāfī said, “I was passing through the bazaar in Baghdad. They were whipping someone with one thousand strokes, but he did not let out a sigh. Then they took him to prison. I went in his tracks and asked him, 'Why all those blows?' He said, 'Because I am entranced by passion.' “I said, 'Why did you not weep so that they might lighten them?' He said, 'Because my beloved was watching. I was so drowned in the contemplation of my beloved that I had no concern for weeping.' “I said, 'If you had been gazing on the Greatest Beloved, how would that have been?' He cried out once, then he died.” Yes, when passion is truly there, trial takes on the color of blessing. This is great good fortune: the beauty of the Beloved gives you access to itself so that in contemplating Him, you will take all severity as gentleness. But, Not just any piece of straw comes near You- to suffer grief for You it needs a man.
الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُمْ مُصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
📘 Surely We will try you with something of fear and hunger and diminu- tion of goods and lives and fruits; yet give good tidings to the patient; those who when they are struck by an affliction say �Surely we belong to God and to Him we will return.� He tried them with blessings in order to make their gratitude manifest and He tried them by tribulation in order to make their patience manifest. He caused that which was [already] known of their state to enter into exis- tence marked them with the record that He had decreed and established them with the attribute He [already] knew. He tried them with fear which cleared their breasts and by hunger which cleansed their bodies and by diminution of goods which purified their material blessings. Through the afflictions suffered by [their] lower selves their wages were magnified before God and through the blight of [their] fruits their compensation was doubled from God. Yet give good tidings to the patient meaning those who do not oppose His decree through what He brings to pass. It is said He asked them to fear in their seeking to avoid His punish- ment; then to suffer hunger in their desire for His nearness and generosity; then the dimunition of goods through almsgiving renouncing [the goods] in the hopes of something better which is obtaining knowledge of Him; and lives anfus through their submission to worship of Him; and fruits in abandoning their hope for abundant material blessings. Yet give good tidings to those who are patient in seeking the beautiful in His decree and yielding to the flow of His power. The demands of the unseen muṬālabāt al-ghayb will either be through wealth the self or near relations. Whoever devotes wealth to God will have salvation najāt. Whoever exerts [him]self for His decree will [be raised in] degrees darajāt. Whoever is patient with the misfortunes of near relations will have recompense and stations of nearness qurubāt. Whoever does not hoard the spirit from Him will have perpetual intimate communications muwāṣalāt. Those who when they are struck by an affliction face the matter with patience and even gratitude. Nay [they are] even exultant boastful. Whoever views things as property belonging to the Real sees himself as a stranger between Him and His decree for the One who brought forth creation has more right over created beings than they do themselves.
أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ
📘 Upon those rest blessings and mercy from their Lord and those-they are the truly guided. They attained their patience and their ability to withstand the demands of the divine decree from His prior blessings to them. It was not because of their patience or their endurance that they arrived at His blessings for if not for His pre-eternal mercy their obedience would not have arisen through the condition of servitude for His prior solicitude is what brought pure guidance to them. They are the truly guided: Because He blessed them in the beginning lammā raḥimahum fī l-bidāya they were guided in the end ihtadaw fī l-nihāya.
۞ إِنَّ الصَّفَا وَالْمَرْوَةَ مِنْ شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ ۖ فَمَنْ حَجَّ الْبَيْتَ أَوِ اعْتَمَرَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِ أَنْ يَطَّوَّفَ بِهِمَا ۚ وَمَنْ تَطَوَّعَ خَيْرًا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ شَاكِرٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 Truly ṣafā and Marwa are among the symbols of God These sites and relics tilka al-mashāhidu wa-l-rusūm these ruins and remains wa-tilka al-aṬlālu wa-l-ruqūm are extolled and visited. One sets out for them because they are the ruins of the lovers where the vestiges [still] gleam: The passions of houses belong to those who have lived in them. There is no concern or joy in the house itself. Truly the earth of their path even the dust of their footprints has tre- mendous value for the lovers. Even the smallest bit of dust that falls upon the edges of their path is more precious than the most fragrant musk: And that is only because Umayma walked beside it in a group [of women] trailing a garment. so whoever makes the pilgrimage to the House or the visitation he would not be at fault if he circumambulates them; and whoever volunteers good God is Grateful Knowing. ṣafā and Marwa were favored by being close to the House. The running between the two became part of the law just as the circumambulation became part of the law for the House. Just as the circumambulation is one of the main rites of the pilgrimage so is the running. The neighbor is honored for the sake of the neighbor.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْتُمُونَ مَا أَنْزَلْنَا مِنَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَالْهُدَىٰ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا بَيَّنَّاهُ لِلنَّاسِ فِي الْكِتَابِ ۙ أُولَٰئِكَ يَلْعَنُهُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَلْعَنُهُمُ اللَّاعِنُونَ
📘 Those who conceal the clear proofs and the guidance that We have revealed after We have shown them clearly in the scripture-they shall be cursed by God and by those who curse This verse alludes to those to whom the Real ������ has unveiled knowledge of the good manners ādāb of traveling but who have become stingy in revealing [this knowledge] to aspirants [who seek] advice and guidance. In that moment they become worthy of wrath. One fears for them that the blessing will be removed from their knowledge when they fall short in it just as they held back in imparting [that knowledge] to the deserving.
أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الضَّلَالَةَ بِالْهُدَىٰ فَمَا رَبِحَتْ تِجَارَتُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا مُهْتَدِينَ
📘 Those are they who have bought error for guidance; so their commerce has not profited them; nor are they guided. This alludes to those who have neglected what is due ḥuqūq by remain- ing in the familiar territories of worldly fortunes ḥuẓūẓ. [They] have lost their bargain so their commerce has not profited them. Those who are content with this world over the next are in manifest loss. Those who prefer this world or the next over the Real have the most intense loss. Although the one who suffers the loss of [the gardens] of bliss will come up short the one who is afflicted with distance from intimate conversation and the disengagement of his heart from his Protector the one who remains in the captivity of carnal desires with no messenger [reaching] his heart the one without attainment for his spirit without intimate conversation with Him without approach to Him without the witnessing [of Him] in his innermost self-this is the one who [truly] suffers and is afflicted. If even a moment slips away his Lord has slipped away. Moments have no substitutes or alternates. Thus someone said: You were the pupil of my eye. [The organ] by which I see wept for you. Anyone who has a will after you let him die for I used to be a guard over you.
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا وَأَصْلَحُوا وَبَيَّنُوا فَأُولَٰئِكَ أَتُوبُ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ وَأَنَا التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
📘 Except those that repent and make amends and show clearly-them I shall turn [relenting]; I am the Relenting the Merciful. [Except those who] compensate for their past negligence by graciously turning back taking on the task of giving advice to the aspirants. They show clearly to [the aspirants] the goodness in upholding certain modes of behavior explaining and demonstrating this to them in a beautiful way. Surely the clearest proof of the clarity of your actions and the truest tes- timony of that by which you call people to God is that your behavior does not contradict what you have alluded to in your speech. God most high said �And I do not desire to be inconsistent in what I forbid you� [11:88].
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ
📘 But those who disbelieve and die disbelieving-upon them shall be the curse of God and the angels and of people altogether. Abiding therein: the chastisement shall not be lightened for them no respite shall be given them. Here the allusion is to those who after they have traveled the path of spiritual desire irāda find it fitting to return to the states of the people of habit ahl al-ʿāda.261 Then while they are in the grip of this estrange- ment [from the path] and in this condition [they] leave the world. Those are the companions of separation aṣḥāb al-furqa. There is no drawing near for their spirits or setting straight their calamity no asking for mercy from anyone. They have lost in this world and the hereafter. They are cursed by gnats in the air and stagnation in [their] water yalʿanuhum al-baqqu fī l-hawāÌi wa-l-naqʿu ʿalā l-māÌi. Abiding: that is they remain forever in their contemptible position insignificant and [find no] lessening of it or relief without kindness or favors.
خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ۖ لَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابُ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْظَرُونَ
📘 But those who disbelieve and die disbelieving-upon them shall be the curse of God and the angels and of people altogether. Abiding therein: the chastisement shall not be lightened for them no respite shall be given them. Here the allusion is to those who after they have traveled the path of spiritual desire irāda find it fitting to return to the states of the people of habit ahl al-ʿāda.261 Then while they are in the grip of this estrange- ment [from the path] and in this condition [they] leave the world. Those are the companions of separation aṣḥāb al-furqa. There is no drawing near for their spirits or setting straight their calamity no asking for mercy from anyone. They have lost in this world and the hereafter. They are cursed by gnats in the air and stagnation in [their] water yalʿanuhum al-baqqu fī l-hawāÌi wa-l-naqʿu ʿalā l-māÌi. Abiding: that is they remain forever in their contemptible position insignificant and [find no] lessening of it or relief without kindness or favors.
وَإِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ ۖ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ الرَّحِيمُ
📘 And your God is one God. There is no god but He, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful. This is the description of the one Lord, the one Lord God and King. He is one in magnanimity and governance, one in forbearance and beautiful doing, one in generosity and peerlessness, one in loving kindness and servant-caressing. Every magnificence is the mantle of His majesty, and in that He is one. Every tremendousness and all-compellingness is the shawl of His lordhood, and in that He is one. He is one in Essence, one in attributes, one in deed and mark, one in loyalty and compact, one in gentleness and caressing, one in love and friendship. On the day of apportioning, who was there but He, the One? Before the day of apportioning who was there? That same One. After the day of apportioning, who handed over those portions? That same One. Who shows? That same One. Who adorns? That same One. He is more apparent than everything in the world of apparentness, and in this apparentness He is one. He is more hidden than anything in the world of hiddenness, and in this hiddenness He is one. O You who are more face-to-face than anything in the world! You are more hidden than the world's most hidden thing! O You who are more distant than all that the servants suppose! You are closer to the servants than the spirit's vein. How disloyal the Adamite who does not know the worth of this declaration and the exaltedness of this ascription! God says, “And your God is one God.” The wonder is not that He ascribed the servants to Himself, joined them to Himself, and said, “Surely My servants” [15:42]. The wonder is that He ascribed Himself to the servants and joined His name to their name, saying, “Your God.” This is not because His lordhood must be joined to the servant's servanthood, or that the servants are deserving of that. Rather, in generosity and loving kindness He Himself is unique and one. In magnanimity He is worthy of every generous bestowal and every gift. In the place of our Heart-taker's beauty and loveliness, we are not suited for Him-He is suited for us. And your God is one God. There was no world and no Adam. There were no tracks and no traces, there was no one in the house.
إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَالْفُلْكِ الَّتِي تَجْرِي فِي الْبَحْرِ بِمَا يَنْفَعُ النَّاسَ وَمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مِنْ مَاءٍ فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ وَتَصْرِيفِ الرِّيَاحِ وَالسَّحَابِ الْمُسَخَّرِ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ
📘 Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, the alternation of the night and the day, the ships that run on the sea with what benefits people, the water that God sends down from heaven giving life to the earth after its death, the scattering of every beast therein, the shifting of the winds, the clouds subjected between heaven and earth-there are signs for a people who have intellect. In this verse the Lord of the Universe shows the generality of people the road to Himself, so that they will gaze upon the wonders of the dominion of heaven and earth and on the artisanries of land and sea and then recognize the Artisan and attest to His oneness. Ibn ʿAṬāÌ said, “He made Himself recognized to the common people with His creation, to the elect with His attributes, and to the prophets and the elect of the elect with His Essence.” The gaze of the common people is on the artisanry, the gaze of the elect on the attributes, and the gaze of the prophets and the elect of the elect on the Essence. The generality of the faithful look at the artisanry and from the artisanry reach the Artisan. The elect among the faithful know the attributes and from the attributes reach the Object of attribution and from the name the Named. Thus it was said to the Children of Israel, “Sacrifice a cow” [2:67], but they did not recognize it. So the cow was described to them, they recognized it, and they sacrificed it. As for the prophets and the sincerely truthful, they recognize Him through Him, not through other than Him. They look from Him to Him, not from the other to Him. God alludes to this state when He says, “Dost thou not see thy Lord, how He stretched out the shadow?” [25:45]. He did not say, “Look at the shadow so that you may see My artisanry.” He said, “Look at Me so that you may see My artisanry. O paragon of the world! Look not at Gabriel's coming, look at My sending. Look from Me to him, not from him to Me.” Consider for a moment the female companions of Joseph. When the very entity of Joseph was unveiled to them, they were annihilated from themselves and became absent from Joseph's attributes.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَتَّخِذُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَنْدَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّهِ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِلَّهِ ۗ وَلَوْ يَرَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا إِذْ يَرَوْنَ الْعَذَابَ أَنَّ الْقُوَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعَذَابِ
📘 Among the people are some who take peers apart from God, loving them as if loving God. And those who have faith are more intense in love for God. If this were the only verse in the whole Qur'an about the faithful and God's friends, their eminence and honor would be complete, for the Lord of the Worlds is saying, “They love Me intensely and more completely than the unbelievers love their objects of worship.” Do you not see that every once in a while the unbelievers set up another idol and take up another object of worship. Like poor people, they are content with something carved of wood. Then, when they can, they take down the wooden one and make another from silver or gold. If their love for their object of wor- ship is real, why do they turn away from it toward another? They say that a man met a woman recognizer, and her beauty exercised its influence over his heart. He said, “'My all is busy with your all.' O woman! I have lost myself in love for you.” She said, “Why don't you look at my sister, who is more beautiful and lovely than I?” He said, “Where is your sister so that I may see her?” She said, “Go, idler! Passion is not your work. If your claim to love me were true, you would not care about anyone else.” And those who have faith are more intense in love for God. The Lord of the Worlds says, “The love of the faithful for Me is not like the unbelievers' love for idols, such that every once in a while they incline toward another. Rather, the faithful never turn away from Me and never incline toward anyone else. For, if they did turn away, they would never find someone like Me, no matter how much they sought.” Poor man, God has many servants like you. If something bad is to occur for you, it will occur. How can you turn away, for you will not find a Lord like Him. Shiblī said, “I learned Sufism from a dog that was sleeping at the door of a house. The owner came out and was driving the dog away, but the dog kept on coming back. I said to myself, 'How base this dog is! He drives him away, and he keeps on coming back.' The Exalted Lord brought that dog to speech and it said, 'O Shaykh! Where should I go? He is my owner.'” I will not leave the Friend at a hundred iniquities and cruelties. Even if He increases them, I will not be troubled, It is I who chose Him over everyone else; if I complain about Him, I will have no excuse.
إِذْ تَبَرَّأَ الَّذِينَ اتُّبِعُوا مِنَ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوا وَرَأَوُا الْعَذَابَ وَتَقَطَّعَتْ بِهِمُ الْأَسْبَابُ
📘 When those who were followed declare themselves quit of those who followed them. The unbelievers loved idols in keeping with caprice and nature, not reality. Hence, when they see the beginnings of the chastisement at the resurrection, they will know that they have no place on which to stand and will disown the idols. As for the faithful, their friendship is the fruit of the Real's friend- ship-as He says, “He loves them, and they love Him” [5:54]. Therefore the steep roads and trials that come to them do not bring any defect into their love, so they do not turn away from the Real. First they see the agonies of death. Then their pure spirit is snatched away from them. They are kept for many years in the dust. Then they are frightened many times at the resurrection in those diverse stations. They are rebuked while severity of many sorts is shown to them, and then they are kept for a time in hell. Despite these tribulations and trials that come into their road, at each moment they fall more into passion and expend their spirits and hearts even more in friend- ship for the Real. With the tongue of the state they say, “If You're happy with my grief, give me grief upon grief! Away with a passion that decreases with a hundred cruelties!” This is why He says, “Those who have faith are more intense in love for God” [2:165].
وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوا لَوْ أَنَّ لَنَا كَرَّةً فَنَتَبَرَّأَ مِنْهُمْ كَمَا تَبَرَّءُوا مِنَّا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُرِيهِمُ اللَّهُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ حَسَرَاتٍ عَلَيْهِمْ ۖ وَمَا هُمْ بِخَارِجِينَ مِنَ النَّارِ
📘 And those who followed say �O if only we might return again and disown them as they have disowned us!� So God shall show them their works anguish for them! Never shall they exit from the Fire. At that time they will know the bitter taste of the companionship of created things but they will not be able to attain anything but anguish.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
📘 O people eat of what is in the earth lawful and wholesome; and fol- low not the steps of Satan; he is a manifest foe to you; That which is forbidden even if it is pleasing now is contaminated in the end. That which is permitted even if it is hateful now is wholesome in the end. The pure and permitted [can be understood as] that which is acquired without forgetting the Real. It is said that that which is permitted is what the gatherer obtains for His sake and acquires while witnessing the Real in every state. Anything that causes you to forget the Real or disobey the Real is from the steps of Satan.
إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَاءِ وَأَنْ تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 he only commands you to evil and indecency and that you should speak against God what you do not know. Because of his audacity toward God he induces you to speak falsely about God.
مَثَلُهُمْ كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي اسْتَوْقَدَ نَارًا فَلَمَّا أَضَاءَتْ مَا حَوْلَهُ ذَهَبَ اللَّهُ بِنُورِهِمْ وَتَرَكَهُمْ فِي ظُلُمَاتٍ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ
📘 Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindled a fire and when it illumined [the area] all about him God took away their light and left them in darkness unable to see The similitude God ������ strikes here for hypocrites is that of someone who kindles a fire in the beginning of the night then the fire is extinguished and he is left in the darkness. Similarly something of the benefits of this world appear to the hypocrites outwardly but then they are afflicted in the hereafter by the pain of the punishment. Or [it may be that] something of their affirmation iqrār flashes but then they remain in the darkness of their denial inkār. The allusion in this verse is to one who has a beautiful beginning trav- eling the path of spiritual desire Ṭarīq al-irāda. He toils for a time and endures one difficulty after another. He then returns to this world before having reached the truth and reverts to the darknesses of human nature within him. His stem sprouted but did not bear fruit. His branch blossomed but did not ripen. He hastened the eclipse of listlessness over the moons of His presence. The hand of subjugation rejected him after the tongue of kindness beckoned him. His heart moved away from closeness and his lower self became full of rancor toward the seekers. He is as it is said: When passion settled in and we said we were happy we thought we were secure from growing apart. Division sent its messengers in secret and destroyed what we had brought together in our union. The allusion in this verse also pertains to one who grasps [only] the lowest level of comprehension but makes claims far above what he [knows]. When the ongoing increase he possesses in his states is cut off he remains in the darkness of his claims. There is also [an allusion to] the one who relies on the rubble and glitter of this world. When [his] states become like a well-trodden road helped along by hope and rising expectation death appears as an ambush of the divine ruse. He leaves everything yatruk al-kull but carries the burden forth yaḥmil al-kall.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا ۗ أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ
📘 And when it is said to them �Follow what God has revealed� they say �No; but we follow what we found our fathers doing.� Whatḍ Even if their fathers do not understand anything and they were not guidedḍ There is no raising their eyes beyond that which is like them in form class kind and ancestry for they are set on their way. Without a doubt they have plunged into the fire on their path. Had they known that their ancestors had no intelligence to restrain them nor guidance to unite them they would have withdrawn from them [understanding them to be] hostile and resisted them [understanding them to be] oppositional [to God's com- mand]. But the lights of insight were snatched from them and they were deprived of the proofs of certainty.
وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي يَنْعِقُ بِمَا لَا يَسْمَعُ إِلَّا دُعَاءً وَنِدَاءً ۚ صُمٌّ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
📘 The likeness of those who disbelieve is as the likeness of one who shouts to that which hears nothing save a call and a cry; deaf dumb blind-they do not comprehend. Without the ears of comprehension and acceptance their bodily hearing did not benefit them. They descended to the status of animals incapable of actualization taḥṣīl. Whoever is content to be like an animal man raḌiya an yakūn ka-l-bahīma does not have much worth lam yaqaʿu ʿalayhi kathīr al-qīma.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
📘 O you who believe eat of the good things Ṭayyibāt wherewith We have provided you and give thanks to God if it be Him that you worship. The permitted ḥalāl is that for which there is no [bad] consequence. The good thing Ṭayyib is that thing whose blessing is not attributed to any created thing. When the servant finds something that combines these two qualities it is permitted and good. The true meaning of thankfulness to Him is that you do not take a breath in anything other than the pleasure of the Real so long as the energy given to you by that [permitted and good] food remains.
إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ ۖ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
📘 He has only forbidden you carrion blood the flesh of swine and what has been hallowed to other than God. Yet whoever is constrained not desiring nor transgressing no sin shall be on him. God is Forgiving Merciful. He has forbidden in outward circumstances these specific things which have been hallowed to other than God. He has forbidden to the innermost hearts companionship with other than God and even witnessing anything other than God. Yet whoever is constrained that is anyone who has not found a means to annihilation in the realities of the Real should only travel by way of the law. Either he should be effaced in God or stand by means of God or act for God. Otherwise he is a foolish man of no account.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْتُمُونَ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَيَشْتَرُونَ بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا ۙ أُولَٰئِكَ مَا يَأْكُلُونَ فِي بُطُونِهِمْ إِلَّا النَّارَ وَلَا يُكَلِّمُهُمُ اللَّهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَلَا يُزَكِّيهِمْ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
📘 Those who conceal what God has revealed of the scripture and sell it for a little price-they shall consume nothing in their bellies but the fire; God shall not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection neither purify them; and theirs is a painful chastisement. The scholars ʿulamāÌ are asked to spread the evidentiary proofs of knowl- edge while the friends awliyāÌ are commanded to preserve the trusts of the secret. If [the scholars] conceal the proofs of the different types of knowledge they will be bridled with a bridle of fire nār. By con- trast if [the friends] divulge even a sliver from the secret they [will be] immediately distanced from the secrets asrār and snatched away from the lights anwār they have been given. To each is a limit ḥadd and to each a command amr.
أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الضَّلَالَةَ بِالْهُدَىٰ وَالْعَذَابَ بِالْمَغْفِرَةِ ۚ فَمَا أَصْبَرَهُمْ عَلَى النَّارِ
📘 They are those who have bought error at the price of guidance and chastisement at the price of pardon; what makes them so patient for the fireḍ That is because God has revealed the Book with the truth; and those that are at variance regarding the Book are in schism far removed. Truly those that prefer the other ghayr over the unseen ghayb the cre- ation khalq over the Real ḥaqq the lower self nafs over intimacy uns [with God] how hard are their hearts ma aqsā qulūbahum how shameless what they love and seek wa-mā awqaḥa maḥbūbahum wa-maṬlūbahum how cheap their worth and how disgraceful for those who have eyes to see! That is because God has revealed the Book in truth and made its decree and rule come to pass in sincerity and brought them to that for which He prepared them and established them on the way He has fashioned for them.
ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ نَزَّلَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ ۗ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِي الْكِتَابِ لَفِي شِقَاقٍ بَعِيدٍ
📘 They are those who have bought error at the price of guidance and chastisement at the price of pardon; what makes them so patient for the fireḍ That is because God has revealed the Book with the truth; and those that are at variance regarding the Book are in schism far removed. Truly those that prefer the other ghayr over the unseen ghayb the cre- ation khalq over the Real ḥaqq the lower self nafs over intimacy uns [with God] how hard are their hearts ma aqsā qulūbahum how shameless what they love and seek wa-mā awqaḥa maḥbūbahum wa-maṬlūbahum how cheap their worth and how disgraceful for those who have eyes to see! That is because God has revealed the Book in truth and made its decree and rule come to pass in sincerity and brought them to that for which He prepared them and established them on the way He has fashioned for them.
۞ لَيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَنْ تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ ذَوِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينَ وَابْنَ السَّبِيلِ وَالسَّائِلِينَ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَى الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَاهَدُوا ۖ وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ ۗ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُونَ
📘 Piety is not that you turn your faces to the east and the west. Rather, piety is he who has faith in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets; who gives wealth despite lov- ing it to kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, the son of the road, beggars, and slaves; and who per- forms the prayer and gives the alms tax; those who are loyal to their covenant when they make a covenant; those who are patient in misfortune, hardship, and moments of peril. It is they who have been truthful, and it is they who are the godwary. You have learned what the Shariah stipulates in terms of the outward meaning of this verse. Now listen to the inner meaning in the tongue of allusion and recognize the signs of the Haqiqah, for the Haqiqah is to the Shariah as the spirit is to the body. What is a body without a spirit? Such is the Shariah without the Haqiqah. The Shariah is the house of the servitors. All the people are gathered there. They keep it flourishing with service and worship. The Haqiqah is the house of the sanctuary. The recognizers are gathered there. They keep it flourishing with veneration and contemplation. The distance from service and worship to veneration and contemplation is the same as that from familiarity to love. Familiarity is the attribute of wage-earners, and love is the attribute of recognizers. The wage-earner brings all the varieties of piety mentioned in the verse. Then he says, “Oh, if the wind blows against it, or something of it is taken away, I will lose the wage for that.” The recognizer performs all of it according to its stipulations. Then he says, “Oh, if any of it remains, I will be held back from good fortune.” Any talk that keeps you back from the road-let it be unbelief or faith. Any picture that holds you back from the Friend-let it be ugly or beautiful. [DS 51] The wage-earner says, “My prayer, my fasting, my alms-giving, my patience in trials, my loyalty to covenants!” The recognizer says in the tongue of abasement, “Who am I to wear the cloak of loyalty to You, to have my eyes carry the burden of Your disloyalty, To have the spirit's scent come from my lips and speak of You, to grow an exalted branch in my heart and suffer Your trial?” [DS 933] The Pir of the Tariqah said, “How should I have known that the share of the wage-earner is ever- lasting paradise, and the hope of the recognizer is one glance? How should I have known that the wage-earner is wishing for houris and palaces, and the recognizer is inundated by light in the sea of face-to-face vision?” When he was dying, Abū ʿAlī Rūdbārī said to his sister, “O FāṬima, look, the doors of heaven have opened, the Gardens have been adorned! The maid-servants have gathered at the battlements and they are saying, 'Enjoy yourself, O Abū ʿAlī! All this was built for you!'” The tongue of Abū ʿAlī's state was answering, “O God, how could I be joyful with paradise and houris? If You give me one breath, from that breath I will build a paradise!” Your rightful due is that I look on no one else with the eye of love until I see You.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِصَاصُ فِي الْقَتْلَى ۖ الْحُرُّ بِالْحُرِّ وَالْعَبْدُ بِالْعَبْدِ وَالْأُنْثَىٰ بِالْأُنْثَىٰ ۚ فَمَنْ عُفِيَ لَهُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ شَيْءٌ فَاتِّبَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَأَدَاءٌ إِلَيْهِ بِإِحْسَانٍ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ تَخْفِيفٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ ۗ فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَلَهُ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
📘 O you who have faith! Written for you is retaliation in the case of the slain. He is addressing the body, heart, and spirit and saying, “O totality of the servant! If you want to step into the street of friendship, first detach your heart from life and toss away everything you know about states and deeds, for in the shariah of friendship your life will be taken as retaliation, and everything you know will be the wergild, though more is needed. Such is the shariah of friend- ship. If you are the man for the work, enter! Otherwise, nothing will get done with self-love and defilement.” In the tracks of manliness plane trees live long, in the tracks of defilement jasmine goes fast. Throw away your life, travel the road, live upright, and be a man! Then you will subsist-when you empty your skirt of these ruins. Yes, it's a marvelous work, the work of friendship! It's a wonderful shariah, the shariah of friend- ship! Whenever someone is killed in the world, retaliation or wergild is mandatory against the killer. In the shariah of friendship, both retaliation and wergild are mandatory for the person killed. The Pir of the Tariqah, “How should I have known that there is retaliation for those killed by friendship? But, when I looked, that was Your transaction with the elect. How should I have known that friendship is sheer resurrection and that those killed by friendship should ask for wer- gild? Glory be to God! What work is this, what work!? He burns some people, He kills some people, and no one burned has regrets, no one killed turns away.” How You kill us and how we love You! O marvel! How we love the killer! * May my eyes' light be the dust beneath Your feet! May my heart's rest be Your curly locks! In passion for You, may my justice be Your cruelty! May my life be sacrificed in grief for You! One person is burnt and left unsettled, another slain and perplexed in the field of solitariness. One is hanging on reports, another mixed with face-to-face vision. Who planted these seeds? Who stirred up this tumult? One is in a whirlpool, another wishing for water, but the drowned is not sated, the thirsty has no sleep.
وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
📘 In retaliation there is life for you O people of pith so that you might fear. In carrying out the retaliation there is life because when one knows that if he kills he will himself be killed he refrains from killing. In this there is life for the one who kills and the one who is killed. But according to the allusive explanation there is greater life in aban- doning retaliation because when one has been annihilated in Him ������ He is the successor for him and his life from Him is more perfect for him than his remaining with himself. When God has inherited from them and succeeded them the remaining of the Successor is dearer than the life of the one who was annihilated.
صُمٌّ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لَا يَرْجِعُونَ
📘 deaf dumb blind they shall not return Deaf to hearing the calls of the Real with the ears of their hearts dumb to whispered conversation with the Real with the tongue of their innermost selves blind to witnessing the flow of decreed events with the eyes of their faculties of insight. They shall not return from their persistent shamelessness nor can they be deterred from their wholehearted embrace of errors. It is said deaf to hearing through the Real dumb to speaking through the Real blind to studying creation through the Real. There was no predetermination for them to desist iqlāʿ and no allotment to help them in being deterred irtidāʿ.
كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا الْوَصِيَّةُ لِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۖ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ
📘 It is written for you, when death is present for one of you and he is leaving behind some good, to make a will for parents and kinsfolk honorably, as something rightfully due from the godwary. The testament of the lords of wealth is one thing, and the testament of the lords of states is some- thing else. The testament of the lords of wealth goes out from the wealth, and the testament of the poor men from the states. At the end of their lives, the rich give out one-third of their wealth,13 and the poor give out limpidness of states and truthfulness of deeds. As much as the disobedient person is afraid for himself because of his bad deeds, the recogniz- er is afraid for himself ten times more because of the truthfulness of his deeds and the limpidness of his states. But there is a difference between the two: The disobedient person is afraid of the out- come and in dread of punishment, and the recognizer is afraid of the Real's majesty and awareness. When the recognizers are afraid, this is called “awe,” and when the disobedient are afraid, it is called “fear.” Fear occurs because of reports, and awe occurs because of face-to-face vision. Awe is a fear that puts no veil before supplication, no blindfold over perspicacity, and no wall before hope. It is a fear that melts and kills. As long as he does not hear the call, “Fear not and grieve not!” [29:33], he will not reach ease. The owner of this fear is shown generosity, but he burns in dread of losing it. His light is increased, and the terror of alteration is thrown into him. Abu Saʿīd Abi'l-Khayr had this state at the time of death. When he put his head on the pil- low of death, they said to him, “O Shaykh, you were the kiblah of those burned, emulated by the yearners, the sun of the world. Now that you have turned your face to the Exalted Presence, give some advice to these burnt ones, say some words that will be their reminder.” The Shaykh said, “My two eyes full of water, my liver full of fire, my hands full of wind, my head full of dust!” Bishr Ḥāfī had the same state at the time of going.
فَمَنْ بَدَّلَهُ بَعْدَمَا سَمِعَهُ فَإِنَّمَا إِثْمُهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ يُبَدِّلُونَهُ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 Then if anyone changes it after hearing it the sin shall rest upon those who change it; surely God is Hearing Knowing. Whoever distorts an utterance the evil and harm of that becomes his. His punishment is that he is denied the smell of the fragrance of sincerity. Whoever aids the religion dīn God aids him and whoever provides aid against the religion God forsakes him.
فَمَنْ خَافَ مِنْ مُوصٍ جَنَفًا أَوْ إِثْمًا فَأَصْلَحَ بَيْنَهُمْ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
📘 But if anyone fears injustice or sin from one making a testament and so makes things right between them then no sin shall be upon him; surely God is Forgiving Merciful. Here the allusion is to the one who recognizes a weakness in one of the aspirants murīdūn or sees in one of the novices ahl al-bidāya a laxity of purpose qaṣd. Or [it may allude to] someone giving counsel [who] speaks with pure sincerity to someone who does not have the capacity for it. He understands his kindness to the aspirant as a form of indulgence encouragement persuasion and permissiveness toward him. This is not objectionable for urging people to pure sincerity [on the path] and [encour- aging them] in what is not yet firmly established in them has an ample reward. Showing kindness to novices who are not yet firm in their resolve or sincere in their effort is a crucial element in seeking to make things right.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
📘 O you who have faith! Written for you is fasting. In the tongue of allusion and the clarification of wisdom, He is saying, “O you who have faith, fasting has been written for you. It has been written because you will be the guests of the Real, and tomorrow in paradise He wants to take hungry guests to a banquet. When the generous take someone to a banquet, they like the guests to be hungry so that the feast will be sweeter in their hearts. The Lord of the Worlds created paradise and everything within it for the faithful. None of it is of any use to Him, nor does He have any need for it.” A pir of the Sufis sent out an invitation, but no one came. The pir lifted up his hands and said, “Lord God, if you send your servants into the fire tomorrow, paradise and perfect bliss will be like my table!” The value of a table is for people to sit there and eat. Indeed, the Lord of the Worlds created all the treasuries of blessing for the faithful and the eaters, but He Himself does not eat. This is why He says, “Fasting belongs to Me, and with it I recompense.” One of them said, “In other words, 'Self-sufficiency belongs to Me. I do not eat or drink. I reward those who fast without reckoning, for they sought conformity with Me by not eating. They sought friendship with Me, for the first station in friendship is conformity.'” Know then that when you gain conformity with the angels by saying “Amen” at the end of the Surah of Praise, your past and future sins are forgiven-as has come in the report. Hence by means of your conformity with God in not eating-even though your not eating is by self-exertion and temporary, and God's not eating is a beginningless attribute-you should know what eminence and nobility accrue to your heart and religion! It has been said that by saying “Fasting is Mine,” He ascribed fasting to Himself so that the hands of the plaintiffs would fall short of that. Tomorrow at the resurrection, when those plaintiffs gather around you and take away your acts of worship by calling you to account for your acts of wrongdoing, the Lord of the Worlds will keep your fasting in the treasury of His bounty and say to the plaintiffs, “This belongs to Me-you have no hand in this.
أَيَّامًا مَعْدُودَاتٍ ۚ فَمَنْ كَانَ مِنْكُمْ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ ۚ وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ يُطِيقُونَهُ فِدْيَةٌ طَعَامُ مِسْكِينٍ ۖ فَمَنْ تَطَوَّعَ خَيْرًا فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَهُ ۚ وَأَنْ تَصُومُوا خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ ۖ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 For days numbered; and if any of you be sick or be on a journey then a number of other days; Whoever is present in the month fasts for God and whoever is present with the Creator of the month fasts through God. The fast for God leads to recompense while the fast through God leads to nearness. The fast for God is the fulfillment of worship taḥqīq al-ʿibāda and the fast through God is the healing of spiritual desire taṣḥīḥ al-irāda. The fast for God is an attribute of every worshiper ʿābid and the fast by means of God is the quality of every seeker qāṣid. The fast for God is accomplished by the outward ẓawāhir [selves] and the fast by means of God is accomplished by the innermost ḌamāÌir selves. The fast for God is abstention according to the clear explanations of the law ʿibārāt al-sharīʿa and the fast by means of God is abstention through the allusions of reality ishārāt al-ḥaqīqa. Whoever is present in the month [of RamaḌān] abstains from the things that break the fast while whoever is present with the Real abstains at all times from witnessing created things. Whoever fasts with his lower self will drink from the drink of Salsabīl and Zanjabīl. Whoever fasts in his heart will drink from the drink of that which causes love maḥābb through the blessing of [God's] approval ījāb. Those who fast with their innermost selves are those about whom God has said �He will give them a pure drink to drink� [76:21]. What a drink! [It is] a not a drink that is turned about in the hand but rather one that appears from [God's] kindness. [It is] a drink of becoming intimate not a drink from a cup. God most high said �If any of you be sick or be on a journey then a number of other days� that is for anyone who breaks the fast for these reasons [they should] fast a number of other days equaling those in which the fast was broken. The allusion is to one who is losing the vigor of his spiritual desire irāda so that he returns to other than Him either through a permissive interpretation rukhṣat taÌwīl or because of a lack of strength or endurance or a weakness in taking on the burdens of the decrees of reality aḥkām al-ḥaqīqa.
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدًى لِلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِنَ الْهُدَىٰ وَالْفُرْقَانِ ۚ فَمَنْ شَهِدَ مِنْكُمُ الشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ ۖ وَمَنْ كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ ۗ يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
📘 The month of Ramadan is that wherein the Qur'an was sent down as guidance. In other words, the month of Ramadan has come to you. He is saying, “Now the month of Rama- dan has turned to the friends. It is a month that both washes and burns. It washes the hearts of the sinners with the water of repentance and burns the bodies of the servants with the fire of hunger.” The word Ramaẓān is derived either from ramẓāÌ or ramaẓī. If it is from ramẓāÌ, it means hot stone, which burns whatever is placed upon it. If it is from ramaẓī, it means rain, which washes whatever it meets. MuṣṬafā was asked, “What is Ramadan?” He replied, “In it God burns the sins of the faithful and forgives them for them.” Anas Mālik said that he heard God's Messenger say, “Ramadan has come. In it the gates of the Garden are opened, the gates of the Fire are shut, and the satans are fettered. If someone reaches Ramadan and is not forgiven, then when?” He also said, “Were God to give the heavens and earth permission to speak, they would give those who fast during Ramadan the good news of the Garden.” Poor man, you do not know the worth of this blessing. You are caressed everywhere in the world, and eminence has been put down next to you, but you are unaware. The submission, which is higher and better than all the creeds, is your religion. The Qur'an, which is more exalted than all the books, is your book. MuṣṬafā, who is the master of Adam's children, the eyes and lamp of the em- pire, the leader of the world's folk at the resurrection, is your messenger. The Kaabah, which is the most eminent of spots, is your kiblah. The month of Ramadan, which is more excellent and eminent than all other months, is your month and the season of your practice. It is a month in which all acts of disobedience are forgiven, the satans subjugated, paradise embellished and its doors open, and the doors of hell shut. In it the bazaar of the workers of corruption is broken, the deeds of the obedient are joined with self-purification, and past sins and recorded defilements are burned. The Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī said, “Had God wanted to chastise MuḤammad's com- munity, He would not have given them the month of Ramadan, nor the surah, 'Say: He is God, One' [112].
وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ ۖ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ ۖ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لِي وَلْيُؤْمِنُوا بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ
📘 And when My servants ask thee about Me, surely I am near. I respond to the supplication of the supplicator when he supplicates Me. So let them respond to Me and have faith in Me. Perhaps they will be led aright. He is saying, “When My servants ask you about Me, those are the servants who hang on to the ring of veneration for Me. They have fled to My street, put aside everything less than Me, undertaken to serve Me, believed in Me, and cut themselves off from secondary causes. They have wrapped the turban of trial around their heads and bought Our love with spirit and heart. They came into existence with passion, and they are leaving with passion.” With passion my steed set out from nonexistence, my night always bright with union's wine. Of that wine not forbidden by my religion my lips will not stay dry till I'm back in nonexistence. “When servants like this and friends like this ask you about Me and seek My mark from you, know that I am near to them. Uncalled and unsought, I am near. Unhoped for and unperceived, I am near. With My firstness, with My attributes, I am self-standing and near. Not by the worthiness of the servant-I am near by My own description.” This is the same that He said to His speaking companion Moses, on that pitch black night on the edge of the Mount when he was called from the right bank of the watercourse [28:30]. Mo- ses was called from the right bank of the blessed watercourse: “O great Moses!,” for after Adam, no one heard the speech of the Real with the ears of his head except Moses. He was called, “O Moses!” Moses became unsettled, he could not bear it, and his patience fled. How can patience overcome love? Love will always snatch away the hand of patience. In his burning, distraction, and inability to bear, he said to the caller, “You have made me hear You. Where should I seek You?” The call came, “O Moses, seek as you like, for I am with you. I am nearer to you than the spirit is to your body, your life-vein is to you, your speaking is to your mouth. The speech is My speech, the light is My light, and I am the Lord of the Worlds. ” In terms of allusion, it is as if the Exalted Lord said, “O Moses, I am near to you through knowledge, but far from your imagination. O Moses, I am the share of My lovers, and I bestow the shares of the wage-earners. Remembering Me is delight, loving Me celebration, recognizing Me the kingdom, finding Me joy, companionship with Me the spirit's repose, and nearness to Me light. I take the place of the spirit for the friends, I am the resurrection without Trumpet for the recognizers.” I said, “Lovely idol! Are You then my beloved? Now that I look closely, You are my spirit. I will have no spirit if You turn away from me. O Spirit of the world, You are my unbelief and faith.” Surely I am near-I respond to the supplication of the supplicator. He is saying, “I am near to My servants, and I love the near ones. I answer those who call Me, I give access to those who seek Me, I am pleased with those who reach proximity to Me. My servant! Come near to Me so that I may come near to you. 'When someone comes near to Me by a span, I come near to him by a cubit.' My servant, if you call Me, I will respond to you. I also call you-to the assistance given by My religion and to the acceptance of the message of My messenger. So respond to Me! My servant, open a door so that I may open a door. Open the door of supplication, so that I may open the door of response: Supplicate Me; I will respond to you [40:60]. Open the door of turning back so that I may open the door of good news: They turned back to God, and for them is good news [39:17]. Open the door of expending so that I may open the door of replacement: Whatever you expend, He will replace it [34:39]. Open the door of struggle so that I may open the door of guidance: Those who struggle in Us, We will guide them on Our paths [29:69]. Open the door of trust so that I may open the door of sufficiency: Whosoever trusts in God, He will be enough for him [65:3]. Open the door of asking forgiveness so that I may open the door of forgiveness: And then asks forgiveness of God, he will find God forgiving, ever-merciful [4:110].
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ الصِّيَامِ الرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَائِكُمْ ۚ هُنَّ لِبَاسٌ لَكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ لِبَاسٌ لَهُنَّ ۗ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنْتُمْ تَخْتَانُونَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنْكُمْ ۖ فَالْآنَ بَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَابْتَغُوا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۚ وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الْخَيْطِ الْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ الْفَجْرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا الصِّيَامَ إِلَى اللَّيْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنْتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ ۗ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ آيَاتِهِ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ
📘 Permitted to you upon the night of the fast is to go in to your wives; they are a vestment for you and you are a vestment for them; God knows that you have been betraying yourselves and so He has turned to you [relent- ing] and He has pardoned you. So now lie with them and seek what God has prescribed for you and eat and drink until the white thread is distinct to you from the black thread at daybreak; then complete the fast to the night; [God] informs us that in truth the customs that characterize human beings are not attributable to Him. Whether you are engaged in worship ʿibāda which is the right of the Real or in the customs of companionship with your mate which is the goal sought by your lower self and worldly con- cern-both are the same for your state so long as there is refined behavior adab. The verse was revealed regarding the lapse of al-Fārūq. [God] made that [lapse] an occasion for a dispensation for all Muslims until the resur- rection. Thus are the rulings of the [divine] solicitude. It is said that [God] knew there is no escaping worldly concerns for the servant so He divided the night and day in this month between His right ḥaqq and your worldly portion ḥaẓẓ. He said �As for My right complete the fast to the night and as for your worldly portion eat and drink until the white thread is distinct to you from the black thread at daybreak.� and do not lie with them while you cleave to the mosques in devotion [to God]. Those are God's bounds; do not approach them. So God makes clear His signs to people so that they might fear. [God] states that the place of nearness is sanctified from the seeking of worldly concerns. He said �When you are occupied with your [lower] selves you are veiled through yourselves in yourselves but when your business is with Us do not turn back from Us to yourselves.� It is said that the jealousy ghayra of the Real ������ [comes] at the times when serious business is mixed with fun. ʿāÌisha [���� ������] said concern- ing it �O Messenger of God I truly love you and love being near to you.� [Muḥammad] replied �Let me be daughter of Abū Bakr I am worshiping my Lord.� He ﷺ said to her �I have a time wherein none but my Lord is allowed me.�
وَلَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتُدْلُوا بِهَا إِلَى الْحُكَّامِ لِتَأْكُلُوا فَرِيقًا مِنْ أَمْوَالِ النَّاسِ بِالْإِثْمِ وَأَنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 Consume not your goods between you in deception and proffer them to the judges that you may consume a portion of other people's goods in sin while you are aware. When you turn to created beings to judge matters know that God is watch- ing over you and His knowledge encompasses you. So situate yourself with shyness before the Real ������. Created beings know externals ẓawāhir but the Real ������ ������ is the One who governs the innermost secrets of hearts sarāÌir.
۞ يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْأَهِلَّةِ ۖ قُلْ هِيَ مَوَاقِيتُ لِلنَّاسِ وَالْحَجِّ ۗ وَلَيْسَ الْبِرُّ بِأَنْ تَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنِ اتَّقَىٰ ۗ وَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِهَا ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
📘 They ask thee about the new moons. The waxing and waning of the moon and its increase and decrease are allusions to the contraction and expansion of the recognizers and the awe and intimacy of the lovers. The contraction and expansion of the elect are like the fear and hope of the common people. Contraction and expan- sion are higher than fear and hope, and so also awe and intimacy are higher than contraction and expansion. Fear and hope belong to the common people, contraction and expansion to the elect, and awe and intimacy to the elect of the elect. First is the station of the wrongdoers, next the station of the moderate, and third the station of the preceders.14 The furthest limit of all is the intimacy of the lovers. In the state of intimacy, a man reaches a point where, if he enters fire, he is unaware of it and its heat leaves no trace in the repose of his intimacy. Thus Abū Ḥafṣ Ḥaddād was a blacksmith. He had lit up an exceedingly hot fire and placed iron within it, as is the custom of blacksmiths. Someone was passing by and reciting a verse of the Qur'an. The shaykh became happy at that verse and the state of intimacy overcame him. He put his hand into the furnace and pulled out the hot iron. He held it until his apprentice looked at him and said, “O Shaykh! How is that you are holding the hot iron in your hand?!” The shaykh put it aside, and then he left his profession. He said, “I have left this profes- sion many times and then come back to it. This time, the profession left me.”
أَوْ كَصَيِّبٍ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فِيهِ ظُلُمَاتٌ وَرَعْدٌ وَبَرْقٌ يَجْعَلُونَ أَصَابِعَهُمْ فِي آذَانِهِمْ مِنَ الصَّوَاعِقِ حَذَرَ الْمَوْتِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ مُحِيطٌ بِالْكَافِرِينَ
📘 Or as a cloudburst out of the heaven in which is darkness and thunder and lightning-they put their fingers in their ears against the thunderclaps cautious of death; and God encompasses the disbelievers. The meaning of His saying �Or� is that He gives either one of these two similitudes for [the hypocrites]. He compares the QurÌān to rain descend- ing from the heaven and compares the promises and threats in the QurÌān to the thunder and lightning in the rain. He compares their seeking refuge to [the ways they] flee from hearing the QurÌān distance themselves from attentiveness and neglect to try to gain insight to those who put their fingers in their ears against hearing the sounds of thunder. Similarly the allusion is to the heedless when the admonitions of those who admonish reach their ears or the lights of felicity shine on their hearts. If they would desist from their blind heedlessness they would be happy. But they keep each other distracted by false hopes and have resolved upon their corrupt path. They make weak excuses and swear by God �Had we been able we would have gone forth with you� destroying their souls [9:42] and they bring about their destruction by their own hands. Truly when the noble one gives you his love he veils the ugly and brings the beautiful to light. Similarly when the one who is tired wants to break things off he becomes weary of being together and says �That was that.�
وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ
📘 And fight in the path of God those who fight against you, but do not transgress. God loves not the transgressors. In the language of the recognizers and the path of the chevaliers, this killing and fighting is another way station of the travelers and another state of the lovers. However, as long as you have not been killed by the sword of struggle in the path of the Shariah and you have not been burned by the fire of love, you will not be allowed to enter by this gate. Take care not to believe that fire is simply the lamp that you know and nothing more; or that killing is simply the state that you know. Those killed by the Real are one thing, those killed by the throat something else. Being burned by the fire of punishment is one thing, being burned by the fire of love something else. Thus that great pir said, “How should I have known that this is the smoke of the burning brand's fire? I fancied that wherever there is fire there is a lamp. How should I have known that in friendship the sin belongs to the killed and the judge gives refuge to the adversary!? How should I have known that the bewilderment of union with You is the path, and he who is drowned in You seeks You all the more?” One day Shiblī went into the desert. He saw forty men, distracted, impassioned, and overcome by this talk. Each of them had gone into the desert, a brick under his head, his life having reached the gullet. The tenderness of affinity appeared in Shiblī's breast and he said, “O God, what do You want from them? You have placed the burden of pain on their hearts, You have struck fire in their haystacks. Will You now kill them all with the sword of jealousy?” His secret core was addressed with the words, “I will kill them. Once I kill them, I will pay them the wergild.” Shiblī said, “What is the wergild?” The address came, “When someone is killed by the sword of My majesty, his wergild is the vision of My beauty.” I will fight against Your passion's army and be killed-someone killed has value. The wergild of the one killed by hand is dinars, the wergild of the one killed by passion is seeing.
وَاقْتُلُوهُمْ حَيْثُ ثَقِفْتُمُوهُمْ وَأَخْرِجُوهُمْ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَخْرَجُوكُمْ ۚ وَالْفِتْنَةُ أَشَدُّ مِنَ الْقَتْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُقَاتِلُوهُمْ عِنْدَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ حَتَّىٰ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ فِيهِ ۖ فَإِنْ قَاتَلُوكُمْ فَاقْتُلُوهُمْ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ جَزَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ
📘 And slay them wherever you come upon them It means �It is incumbent on you to show enmity toward My enemies just as it is incumbent on you to establish friendship walāya and assistance muwālā with My friends awliyāÌ. So do not spare them even if there are bonds of kinship or close relation between you.� and expel them from where they expelled you; �First expel [your] love and mutual assistance with them from your hearts and then drive them from the regions of Islam so that they will be diminished.� sedition is more grievous than slaying. Here the allusion is to the ordeal that comes to hearts qulūb from the misfortunes of veiling; this is more grievous than that which comes to the bodily selves nufūs from the exertion of the spirit rūḥ because the pass- ing away of the life of the heart is more grievous than the passing away of the life of the bodily self. The bodily selves live through what is fitting and familiar to them but the heart can only live through God. It is said that sedition is more grievous than slaying means that remain- ing apart from God is much worse than letting go of your spirit ruḥ and your life ḥayāt. But fight them not by the sacred mosque until they should fight you there; then if they fight you slay them-such is the requital of disbelievers. The allusion in it: Do not disturb your time waqt with God [do not] let in the attributes that characterize the bodily and lower self even if these involve supererogatory acts of obedience. If a noisy preoccupation distracts you from God remove that matter from yourself by every means possible so that no attachment remains to block you from God.
فَإِنِ انْتَهَوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
📘 But if they desist surely God is Forgiving Merciful. The allusion in it: When the clamor of your thoughts and the enemies of your self nafs cut you off and they separate you from [God] and jostle you give up the chatter of the lower self nafs and stop its combative motion for surely those who have been asked to guard the innermost selves asrār should not have any business with the exertions of the lower selves nufūs in their various oppositional ways.
وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ لِلَّهِ ۖ فَإِنِ انْتَهَوْا فَلَا عُدْوَانَ إِلَّا عَلَى الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 Fight them till there is no sedition and the religion is for God; then if they desist there shall be no enmity save against evildoers. The allusion in the verse is to combat against the lower selves nufūs for your worst enemy is your lower self nafs within you. That is to say �Hold completely to the precepts of spiritual disciplines riyāḌāt until nothing remains of carnal human traces āthār bashariyya. Submit the self nafs and heart qalb to God so there will be no opponent or combatant from within you [fighting] to protect [yourself] taking instruction [from the lower self] managing [your own affairs] or exercising free choice in any state. The vicissitudes [of life] will flow over you as He wills them and you will be effaced from making any choices aside from what comes with the decree.� When the self nafs surrenders there is no enmity except toward the masters of holding back arbāb al-taqṣīr but those who uphold the right of [God's] command are far removed from any obligation to compel [others to do so].
الشَّهْرُ الْحَرَامُ بِالشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ وَالْحُرُمَاتُ قِصَاصٌ ۚ فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاعْتَدُوا عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ
📘 The sacred month for the sacred month; holy things demand retalia- tion; whoever commits aggression against you then commit aggression against him in the manner that he committed against you; and fear God and know that God is with the God-fearing. [Here] the allusion is to: �When two of the rights of God face off submit the moment waqt to the decree of the moment ḥukm al-waqt and turn with the allusions of the moment ishārāt al-waqt. Beware of preferring one over the other in what you possess in your worldly portion ḥaẓẓ- even a little-for you will be veiled from witnessing the Real ḥaqq and the vision of your heart will be blinded. Everything that is closer to what opposes your whims and further from what attracts and pleases you is in itself more appropriate.� And know that God is with the God-fearing those who fear the prefer- ence of their own whims over that with which He is pleased. When they act for God in what they do rather than for themselves God most high is with them through [His] help: He said �If you help God He will help you� [47:7].
وَأَنْفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلَا تُلْقُوا بِأَيْدِيكُمْ إِلَى التَّهْلُكَةِ ۛ وَأَحْسِنُوا ۛ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
📘 Expend in the path of God.... And do what is beautiful. Surely God loves the beautiful-doers. The rich remove money from their wallets, the poor remove the rich from their hearts, and the tawḤīd-voicers remove all creatures from their secret cores-to this He alludes with His words, “Say 'God,' then leave them” [6:91]. The rich let wealth go from their wallets for the sake of the reward of that world, the poor let the rich go from their hearts for the sake of the Lord's religion, and the recognizers let the creatures go for the sake of seeing the Glorified. The rich spend their possessions in alms tax and charity in order to escape from hell, the worshipers spend their souls in the duties of worship to reach paradise, and the recognizers spend their spirits and hearts in the realities of witnessing to reach union with the Real. And do what is beautiful. Surely God loves the beautiful-doers. MuṣṬafā said, “Beautiful doing is that you worship God as if you see Him, for if you do not see Him, surely He sees you.” Doing the beautiful is that you worship God in wakefulness and awareness as if you are gazing upon Him, and you serve Him as if you are seeing Him. This hadith alludes to the heart's encounter with the Real, the secret core's convergence with the Unseen, and the spirit's contemplation of the Patron. It is an incitement to self-purification in deeds, curtailment of wishes, and loyalty to what was accepted on the First Day. What was accepted on the First Day? Hearing Am I not your Lord and saying Yes indeed [7:172]. What is loyalty to what was accepted? Serving the Protector. How does one curtail wishes? In “As if you see Him.” Where is self-purification in deeds? In “He sees you.” When an eye has seen Him, how can it busy itself with glancing at others? When a spirit has found companionship with Him, how will it make do with water and dust? The word “Return!” [89:28] is addressed to the pure spirit. How will it make its home in the frame of water and dust? When someone has become accustomed to that Presence, how long will he put up with the abase- ment of the veil? How will the ruler of his own city spend his life in exile? The attribute of the spirit is subsistence. Water and dust undergo annihilation. He who lives in the Real is not like him who lives in this world. The realizer is aware of the secret of the Real: the Real is seeable. “As if you see Him” in the report bears witness to this.
وَأَتِمُّوا الْحَجَّ وَالْعُمْرَةَ لِلَّهِ ۚ فَإِنْ أُحْصِرْتُمْ فَمَا اسْتَيْسَرَ مِنَ الْهَدْيِ ۖ وَلَا تَحْلِقُوا رُءُوسَكُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَبْلُغَ الْهَدْيُ مَحِلَّهُ ۚ فَمَنْ كَانَ مِنْكُمْ مَرِيضًا أَوْ بِهِ أَذًى مِنْ رَأْسِهِ فَفِدْيَةٌ مِنْ صِيَامٍ أَوْ صَدَقَةٍ أَوْ نُسُكٍ ۚ فَإِذَا أَمِنْتُمْ فَمَنْ تَمَتَّعَ بِالْعُمْرَةِ إِلَى الْحَجِّ فَمَا اسْتَيْسَرَ مِنَ الْهَدْيِ ۚ فَمَنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ ثَلَاثَةِ أَيَّامٍ فِي الْحَجِّ وَسَبْعَةٍ إِذَا رَجَعْتُمْ ۗ تِلْكَ عَشَرَةٌ كَامِلَةٌ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ أَهْلُهُ حَاضِرِي الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
📘 And complete the hajj and the umrah for God. It is narrated from Wahab ibn Munabbih that God sent a revelation to Adam: “O Adam, I am the Lord of the world and the world's folk, the creator of all, the king doing what I desire. I am the Lord of Bakka, and those who dwell there are My neighbors. Those who visit are My delegates, My guests, and under My protection. I will populate this spot with the folk of heaven and earth. They will come in droves from every direction and every region, their hair disheveled and their faces covered with dust from the suffering of the road, saying 'God is greater' and reciting 'Here I am,' their faces turned toward the blessed desert, the earth colored with the blood of sacrifice. “O Adam! When someone visits this house and is self-purifying in that, he is My guest and one of Mine, one of those near to Me. It is worthy of My majesty to honor him and to bring him to forgiveness through the gift of mercy and bestowal. O Adam! Among your children is a prophet by the name of Abraham, My bosom friend, chosen by Me. With his hand I will establish it, and I will command him to build it. I will make its eminence appear, bring to light its watering place, mark its sanctuary, and teach him how to worship Me there. After him I will have the world's folk keep it inhabited and place respect and reverence for it in their hearts. Then will come the turn of MuḤammad the Arab, the Seal of the Prophets, the lamp of heaven and earth. I will make it his birth place and origin, the place where revelation falls upon him, and the domicile of his honor. I will put its watering place, deputyship, and rulership in his hand. Then I will put love for it in the hearts of the faithful from the corners of the earth. They will come, bareheaded and barefoot, their goods and means put aside, their lives placed in their hands, their hair disheveled, their faces covered with dust. They will all go and circumambulate that house, asking Me for forgiveness. O Adam! If someone asks you what I will do with them, say that I am with them in knowledge, I am found by their souls and present in their hearts, and I am the cure of their pain. I am concealed from their eyes, but I am face-to-face with their spirits.” So apparent are You to my heart, so hidden are You from my eyes! And complete the hajj and the umrah for God. The hajj of the common people is one thing, the hajj of the elect something else. The hajj of the common people sets out for the street of the Friend, the hajj of the elect sets out for the face of the Friend. That is going to the Friend's house, this is going to the Friend. I was in pain-not for the Kaabah but for Your face. I was drunk-not from wine but from Your fragrance. The common people went with their souls and saw doors and walls. The elect went with their spir- its and found conversation and vision. The elect travel this path just as that chevalier said: “The blood of the sincerely truthful was purified and made into a road- unless the spirit takes a step in this road, you will have no access.” He who goes with the soul finds suffering and carries burdens in order to circle the Kaabah. He who goes with the spirit finds rest and ease, and the Kaabah itself circles around his house. In this meaning there is the story of Ibrāhīm Khawāṣṣ. He said that once in his deprivation he found him- self wandering in Byzantium, just as the Men fall anywhere, bewildered and perplexed, helpless and having lost the thread. Perplexed in You the Men of the world have not been able to find the end of Your thread. The news in Byzantium was that the king's daughter had become mad, and her father had bound her with the bonds of madmen. The physicians were all helpless to cure her. From time to time she would breathe a cold breath and rain down hot tears, sometimes weeping, sometimes laughing. It occurred to him that something could be done. He went to the door of the king's house and said, “I have come to cure the sick person.” When the king's eyes fell on him, he said, “It seems you have come to cure my daughter. I suppose you are a physician.” He said, “Yes, I have a Lord who is a physician. I have come to cure your daughter.” He said, “Look at the battlements of the castle. What do you see?” Ibrāhīm looked and saw severed heads placed on those battlements. The king said, “If someone does not cure her, what you see is his recompense.” He said, “I have nothing to fear.” They tell me, “You'll destroy yourself.” How can a lover fear his own destruction? When the king saw that he had seen those heads on the battlement and thought nothing of it, he pointed him to the room of his daughter. He went forth and had not yet stepped foot into the room when he heard this call, “Say to the faithful that they cast down their eyes” [24:30]. He stayed right there, distracted by her situation and bewildered by her state. Again he heard a call: “O Son of Khawāṣṣ! A drink that increases nothing but thirst! A food that increases nothing but consterna- tion!” From behind the curtain he said, “O servant girl of God! What is this state and what is this ecstasy?” She said, “O shaykh! Once I was sitting amidst joy and blessings with my slave girls and spe- cial friends. Suddenly a pain fell into my heart and a sorrow reached my spirit. I was annihilated from myself and became enraptured. I had not yet come back to my room before that pain became consolidated and the work was completed.” O You the guide on whose road is pain! You are solitary and Your familiar solitary! One grain from Your trap, and an epoch, one drop from Your cup, and a Man! She said, “When I gained some ease from that ecstasy and distraction, I found myself in bonds and chains. I approved of His judgment and was satisfied with His decree. I knew that He does not want bad for His friends, so let us see what this work reaches in the end.” Ibrāhīm said, “What do you say that we contrive a stratagem in order to go to the Abode of Submission and cultivate the submission. It would be a shame if I were to leave a dear one like you in the Abode of Unbelief.” She said, “O Son of Khawāṣṣ! What kind of manliness is it to nurture the submission in the Abode of Submission? The man is he who takes up Islam in the Abode of Unbelief and nurtures it in spirit and heart.
الْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌ مَعْلُومَاتٌ ۚ فَمَنْ فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ الْحَجَّ فَلَا رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوقَ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِي الْحَجِّ ۗ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَعْلَمْهُ اللَّهُ ۗ وَتَزَوَّدُوا فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوَىٰ ۚ وَاتَّقُونِ يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ
📘 The pilgrimage is in months well-known; The pilgrimage for the bodily selves nufūs is in months well-known. The iḥrām is only binding in it and it is not possible to undertake the pilgrimage during the rest of the year rather [it is] only in a specific time period. One for whom that time has passed the pilgrimage has passed him. Likewise the pilgrimage of the hearts has times [that are] well-known and [it] is only appropriate during them. These are the days of youth for one who has no spiritual desire irāda in his youth has no communion in the state of his old age. Likewise the one for whom the time of his quest qaṣd and spiritual desire irāda has passed only the worship whose outcome is the garden is appropriate not the spiritual desire irāda whose outcome is communion. whoever undertakes the duty of pilgrimage during them then no lewdness nor wickedness or disputing in the pilgrimage. The allusion is also to whoever travels the path of spiritual desire that he should not stop at anything in the path nor mix his spiritual desire with anything. Whoever argues opposes or is rude with him-he yields to them all. He does not dispute with anyone for the sake of this world nor does he compete with anyone for some worldly fortune for the self or honor. God most high said �And when the ignorant address them they say 'peace'� [25:63]. Whatever good you do God knows it. You should be content with His knowledge and His judgment rather than being seen judged or known by His creatures. And take provision. But the best provision is piety; and fear Me O people of pith! The piety of ordinary people is the avoidance of errors while the piety of the elect is the avoidance of anything other [than God] in the inner secrets of their hearts.
لَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ تَبْتَغُوا فَضْلًا مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ ۚ فَإِذَا أَفَضْتُمْ مِنْ عَرَفَاتٍ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ عِنْدَ الْمَشْعَرِ الْحَرَامِ ۖ وَاذْكُرُوهُ كَمَا هَدَاكُمْ وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ لَمِنَ الضَّالِّينَ
📘 You would not be at fault if you should seek bounty from your Lord; [Here] the allusion is that whatever you seek from the bounty of God-from what has been determined for you according to His rightful decree-is praiseworthy if it has a portion for the Muslims or the strength of the religion dīn. Whatever you seek solely for your worldly fortune or for what benefits you is flawed. but when you press on from ʿArafāt then remember God at the sacred waymark; and remember Him as He has guided you though previously you were astray. [Here] the allusion is to when you have gone so far as to perform what He has requested [you should] remember His favor with you for if He had not desired you you would not have desired Him. If He had not chosen you you would not have preferred His good pleasure.
ثُمَّ أَفِيضُوا مِنْ حَيْثُ أَفَاضَ النَّاسُ وَاسْتَغْفِرُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
📘 Then press on from where the people press on and seek God's forgive- ness; God is Forgiving Merciful. The allusion [in this part of the verse] is that you should not see yourself as different from others because of some manner of dressing patched clothing or some quality that distinguishes you outwardly. Rather you should [consider yourself only as] one among [all] humanity. When the thought comes to you that you have done something or that anything [happens] through you for you or with you seek God's forgiveness and renew your faith for [this kind of thought] is a hidden idolatry shirk that infects your heart.
ذَٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
📘 This is the writing in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the godwary. It has been said that This is the writing is an allusion to what God has written against Himself for MuḤammad's community: “Surely My mercy takes precedence over My wrath.” God does that in His words, “Your Lord has written mercy against Himself” [6:54]. It has also been said that it is an allusion to the faith and recognition that God has written upon the hearts of the believers. Thus He says, “He wrote faith in their hearts” [58:22]. In this verse, it is as if God is saying, “My servant, I have written the imprint of faith in your heart, I have mixed in the perfume of friendship, I have decorated paradise for you, I have adorned your heart with the light of recognition, I have lit up the candle of union with Me, I have stamped the seal of love on your heart, and I have written the inscription of passion in your awareness.” “He wrote faith in their hearts: I wrote in the Tablet, but I wrote only your description. I wrote in your hearts, but I wrote only My description. I wrote your description in the Tablet, and I showed it to Gabriel. I wrote My description in your heart-how could I have shown it to an enemy? In the Tablet I wrote your loyalty and disloyalty; in your heart I wrote laudation and rec- ognition. What I wrote about you has not changed. How could what I wrote about Myself change? Moses carved out a stone from the mountain, and, when I wrote the Torah therein, the stone turned into emerald. The recognizer's heart was made of harsh stone-when I wrote My name therein, it turned into a notebook of exaltedness.” A guidance for the godwary. In another place, He said, “It is a guidance and a healing for those who have faith” [41:44]. He is saying that this Qur'an is guidance for the godwary, heal- ing for the faithful, the cause of familiarity, assistance for clarity, a key for the ears, a mirror for the eyes, a lamp for hearts, a healing for pain, a light for the eyes of the familiar, springtime for the spirits of the friends, admonition for the fearful, mercy for the faithful.
يَكَادُ الْبَرْقُ يَخْطَفُ أَبْصَارَهُمْ ۖ كُلَّمَا أَضَاءَ لَهُمْ مَشَوْا فِيهِ وَإِذَا أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ قَامُوا ۚ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَذَهَبَ بِسَمْعِهِمْ وَأَبْصَارِهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
📘 The lightning well-nigh snatches away their sight; whensoever it gives them light they walk in it; and when the darkness is over them; they stop; had God willed He would have taken away their hearing and sight; Truly God has power over all things. Part of the similitude of the hypocrites-as also the heedless-is that when they are present at public sermons or their hearts incline to gentleness or some terror overwhelms them their states move closer to repentance and their longing to turn [to God] becomes stronger. But when they revert to their own planning and seek counsel from those close to them their fam- ily and offspring urge them to return to their world. They offer their advice frightening them with weakness and dependency so that their resolve becomes weak their spiritual desire irāda declines and they become as it is said: Whenever he repents he returns to his ignorance just as the one who is feeble suffers a relapse. He said �had God willed He would have taken away their hearing and sight� meaning the outward hearing and seeing of the hypocrites as well as their being deaf and blind inwardly. The same [is true] for the heedless and those who are content with the external aspects of Islam-God most high has the power to negate the positive outcome tawfīq of their practice of outward acts of obedience ẓāhir al-Ṭāʿāt just as He has the power to negate the realization taḥqīq of what they have discovered from the most felicitous states ṣafāÌ al-ḥālāt.
فَإِذَا قَضَيْتُمْ مَنَاسِكَكُمْ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ كَذِكْرِكُمْ آبَاءَكُمْ أَوْ أَشَدَّ ذِكْرًا ۗ فَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَمَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلَاقٍ
📘 And when you have performed your holy rites remember God as you remember your fathers or yet more intensely. And when you have performed your holy rites is an allusion to carrying out the rightful due ḥaqq of servanthood ʿubūdiyya. Remember God as you remember your fathers is an allusion to carrying out the rightful due ḥaqq of love maḥabba. The performance of the holy rites is an undertaking through the self nafs. Remember God as you remember your fathers is an undertaking for His sake through the heart qalb continuously in the moment and throughout one's life. It is said that �Just as others boast of their fathers and delight in their ancestors let your boasting and delight be in Us.� It is said that �If your fathers have a right to raise and educate you Our right over you is even more binding since Our favors to you are more perfect.� It is said �Your ancestors may have glorious deeds and virtues but Our worthiness from the attributes of sublimity jalāl is far beyond anything due to your ancestors from the best of their states.� It is said that �If you never grow weary of remembering your father and you rarely forget him then remember Us continually and do not let weariness boredom or forgetfulness stop you.� It is said that �If someone speaks ill of your lineage you are not pleased. Similarly do not listen to the words of those who err and contrive but rather defend Us.� It is said that �The father is remembered with respect and deference. Similarly remember Us with awe even as you [also] remember the kind- ness of nearness and the best of caring.� He said �Remember God as you remember your fathers� but did not say �your mothers� because the father is remembered out of respect and the mother is remembered out of com- passion for her. God shows mercy-He is not the recipient of it. Or yet more intensely because the Real ḥaqq is more deserving aḥaqq. You might be much estranged from your father while the Real ������ is free from any thought coming to those who have knowledge of Him that they would oppose what has been made obligatory in even the smallest way. As you remember your fathers the father according to his rightful due and the Lord according to His rightful due.
وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُ رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
📘 Among them is he who says, “Our Lord, give us in this world something beautiful, and in the next world something beautiful.” It is said that the beautiful thing of this world wanted by the faithful is knowledge and worship, and the beautiful thing of that world is paradise and vision. That of this world is witnessing the mysteries, and that of that world is seeing with the eyes. This world's is the success of service, and that world's the realization of union. This world's is self-purification through obedience, and that world's deliverance from burning and separation. This world's is the Sunnah and the com- munity, and that world's the encounter and vision. This world's is the firm fixity of faith, and that world's the repose and ease [56:89]. This world's is the sweetness of obedience, and that world's the pleasure of contemplation. For this world's, there must be deeds with obedience, and for that world's there must be pain with recognition. It is a long road from deeds to pain, and he who does not have this eyesight has an excuse. What is obtained from these deeds is houris and palaces, but the possessor of this pain is drowned in light in the ocean of face-to-face vision. O You the guide on whose road is pain! You are solitary and Your familiar solitary! Among them is he who says, “Our Lord…”. There is a subtle point in this verse. When someone wants this world, inevitably he will be held back from the reward of the afterworld, for God says, “He has no share in the next world” [2:102]. MuṣṬafā said, “When someone loves this world of his, that will harm his next world; and when someone loves his next world, that will harm this world of his. So prefer that which subsists to that which undergoes annihilation!” When someone wants both this world and the afterworld, the Exalted Lord does not hold them back from him. He gives him what he wants. The report has come, “God is ashamed when a servant lifts up his hands to Him and He disappoints him.” It is also narrated, “God is ashamed when a person with gray hair who observes propriety and clings to the Sunnah asks Him for something and He does not give it.” There remains another group, who recognize the reality of approval and have surrendered to God's decree and approved of His determination. They do not turn away from lauding Him in order to ask from Him. They do not seek access to this world nor do they ask for the afterworld. Concerning them the Lord of the Worlds says, “When remembering Me busies someone from ask- ing from Me, I bestow upon him the most excellent of what I bestow on the askers.”
أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا ۚ وَاللَّهُ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ
📘 Those-they shall have a portion from what they have earned; If [what they have earned] was good then a good [portion]. If it was something else then something else. and God is swift at reckoning [The reckoning occurs] for ordinary people at [the Day of Judgment] and for the elect at every breath. It is said that He mentioned two groups: those who say �Our Lord give to us in this world� and those who say �Give to us in this world and the next.� The third group which is not mentioned are those who are content with His decree those who submit to His command those who forgo every supplication and request.
۞ وَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْدُودَاتٍ ۚ فَمَنْ تَعَجَّلَ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ وَمَنْ تَأَخَّرَ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ لِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ ۗ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ
📘 And remember God in certain numbered days, but if someone hastens on after two days, no sin shall be upon him. There are three sorts of remembrance: The remembrance of habit, the remembrance of calculation, and the remembrance of companionship. The remembrance of habit has no worth, for it is the se- cret core's heedlessness. The remembrance of calculation has no adornment, for its goal is seeking the wage. The remembrance of companionship is a deposit, for the tongue of him who remembers is a loan in the midst. The remembrance of the fearful is from dread of being cut off, the remembrance of the hopeful is from wishing to find what they seek, and the remembrance of the lovers is from the tenderness of burning. The fearful heard the call of the threat with the ear of fear and clung to supplication. The hopeful heard the call of the promise with the ear of hope and clung to laudation. The lovers heard the call beforehand with the ear of love and did not mix with pretexts. The remembrance of the Beginningless reached the recognizers and they fled from effort to their lot. And remember God in certain numbered days, but if someone hastens on after two days.... This is the attribute of the end of the ritual and the final acts of the hajj. Now let us offer com- prehensive words comprising all the waymarks and rituals along with allusions and subtle points. Know that there are two sanctuaries: the outward sanctuary and the inward sanctuary. The outward sanctuary surrounds the Kaabah, and the inward sanctuary surrounds the heart of the faith- ful. In the midst of the outward sanctuary is the Kaabah, the kiblah of the faithful, and in the midst of the inner sanctuary is a Kaabah that is the target of the All-Merciful's gaze. The former is the goal of the pilgrims, and the latter the locus of lights, so he is upon a light from his Lord [39:22]. The former is free from the hands of evil-doers and unbelievers, and the latter is free from seeing and thinking about others. If some article is found in the outward sanctuary, it is left there so that its owner may appear and find it. If some article is found in the inward sanctuary, there is no way to go after it, for it is nothing but God's secret.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يُعْجِبُكَ قَوْلُهُ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيُشْهِدُ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا فِي قَلْبِهِ وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ الْخِصَامِ
📘 And among people there is he whose speech in the life of this world pleases you; and who calls on God to witness what is in his heart; yet he is most stubborn in dispute. He relates that the Real ������ ������ has given some people skill in speaking outwardly yet [He] has turned away from their hearts which are bound by the ropes of deprivation and covered by their own ignorance. There is no meaning beyond [their outward selves] and nothing of weight in what they say. One cannot rely on their faithfulness nor trust in them in any way. The allusion is to the people of external appearances ahl al-ẓāhir who have not been helped by the lights of insight and are bound to the precepts of the external world. They have no faith in this kind of talk and no insight into this [path] as a whole. It is necessary to keep secrets from them since they will only receive this discourse with disapproval. Peaceable people among ordinary folk who have respect for this path and faith in the whole of this discourse are far closer to this way than those who count themselves among the elect but are cut off from faith in this affair.
وَإِذَا تَوَلَّىٰ سَعَىٰ فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ
📘 And when he turns his back he hastens about the earth to do cor- ruption there and to destroy the tillage and the stock; and God loves not corruption. [Here] the allusion is to those who only hasten to seek worldly fortunes. They are not concerned even though the ties to their religion have become unraveled and their bonds to Islam have been weakened. After that the ropes [tying them to] the world become stronger and the bonds of their desires become more closely woven with the prohibited things they have gathered and the debris they have acquired. When they retire to their whis- perings and ruinous aims they hasten to corruption make decisions based on worldly [aims] and employ people to help them in furthering their affairs-people from whose hearts God has removed inner sight. And God loves not corruption: Outward corruption is whatever brings about the ruin of religious affairs and the proper ordering of worldly matters.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُ اتَّقِ اللَّهَ أَخَذَتْهُ الْعِزَّةُ بِالْإِثْمِ ۚ فَحَسْبُهُ جَهَنَّمُ ۚ وَلَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ
📘 And when it is said to him �Fear God� he is seized by vainglory in his sin. So Hell shall be enough for him-how evil a cradling! Those are the people who have been seized by arrogance and who have lost the ability to humbly accept fair criticism; they turn up their noses at accepting the truth. When you enjoin someone [like this] to decency he says �How can you say this to someone like me when I am such and suchḍ� Then he turns it around and attacks you saying �You have more need to be enjoined with decency and forbidden indecency because your condi- tion is such and such...� If God had granted success to help him or mercy had reached him he would have been granted the favor shown to those who have been guided to seeing their errors and observing their bad traits. And he would not have harbored enmity toward the one who gave him the advice the traces of which remain in the heart for years. God most high said �So hell shall be enough for him� meaning [hell is] the state of his estrangement the darknesses of the lower self and the constriction of choice such that he does not hasten in anything except his [lower] desire. At every moment over and over he succumbs to [this] chastisement and trial. Then he is transported from this chastisement to the greater chastisement. God most high said �And We shall surely make them taste the nearer chastisement before the greater chastisement� [32:21].
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ رَءُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ
📘 But there are other men who sell themselves desiring God's pleasure; and God is gentle with His servants. Those who have been touched by the special favors of mercy and raised up by the fate already preordained [for them] prefer the good pleasure of the Real over themselves and submit entirely to their protector mawlā. God is gentle with His servants and because of His gentleness they attain these states-they do not deserve His gentleness because of these states.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
📘 O you who believe come all of you into submission; and follow not the steps of Satan; he is a manifest foe to you. [God] has charged the believer with making peace with everyone except his lower self for it makes no move except to oppose [the believer's] leader sayyid. Anyone who makes peace with himself becomes listless in his spiritual exertions mujāhadāt. This is the reason a seeker falls short and an aspirant loses interest. The steps of Satan are what are whispered to you about your inability to hold to the precepts of moral behavior and [your inability] to abandon unwise inclinations that are best ignored. But it is as God most high said �If you fear for him cast him into the waters� [28:7]. Look what He did with [Moses] when [Moses's mother] cast him [into the water] and how He returned him to her after saving him!
فَإِنْ زَلَلْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْكُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ فَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
📘 But if you slip after the clear proofs have come to you know then that God is Mighty Wise. A single slip after the disclosure of clear proofs is uglier by far than the many slips committed before this disclosure. Those who are known to be treacherous cannot be trusted. When the tribulation for the worst sins descends they will be completely uprooted.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
📘 O people worship your Lord who created you and those that were before you so that you may be fearful. Worship ʿibāda is becoming harmonious muwāfaqa with the command and it is pouring all energy into requests for realization taḥqīq of the unseen. The declaration of oneness tawḥīd enters one through the heart disengagement tajrīd [enters] through the innermost self becoming single-minded tafrīd [comes] through intention qaṣd and humility [comes] through the self. Surrender istislām is to the decree ḥukm. It is said �worship Him� by renouncing prohibited things persevering in performing acts of obedience welcoming obligatory acts with humility and lowliness and avoiding detours through the waystations of laziness and indifference. His saying �so that you may be fearful� is to bring the command closer to them and to make it easier. By the word �may� He keeps them at the bounds of fear and hope. The real meaning of �fear of God� taqwā is protecting oneself through conformity [to God's command] from the threats of punishment.
هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَقُضِيَ الْأَمْرُ ۚ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الْأُمُورُ
📘 What do they wait for that God shall come to them in the shadows of clouds and the angelsḍ The matter is determined and to God all matters are returned. The people thought that the Hour would be long in coming but the details tell them of the severity of the matter. [What are described] are acts af ʿāl [of God] only in the sense of the terrible events ahwāl [of that Hour]. God ������ divulges them so as to remove their doubt concerning the gran- deur of His affair and the implementation of His power in what He wills. The matter is determined and to God all matters are returned that is the veil of the unseen is removed exposing the clarity of the [divine] preordination. The hearts of those who declare His oneness are lit by the lights of insights and [therefore] they have no need to seek interpretation taÌwīl of this verse and those like it since [they know] the Real ������ is far removed from any change in locality or fading or specificity in place or time. He is sanctified from every movement and appearing [before human beings].
سَلْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ كَمْ آتَيْنَاهُمْ مِنْ آيَةٍ بَيِّنَةٍ ۗ وَمَنْ يُبَدِّلْ نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
📘 Ask the children of Israel how many a clear proof did We give them; whoever changes God's grace after it has come to him God is severe in retribution. The benefit of questioning [the children of Israel] was to make them acknowledge the issue of proof. Questioning them was not for the pur- poses of resolving any doubt on the part of the Messenger ﷺ concerning what had been plainly established by proof. Whoever changes God's grace after it has come to him God is severe in retribution in taking this grace away. At that moment they will recognize its worth and then they will mourn it since they will never attain it. The one who spoke for them said: You will leave and abandon me.Then you will look for me but you will not find me.
زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ۘ وَالَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَرْزُقُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
📘 Decked out fair to the disbelievers is the life of this world; and they deride the believers; but those who fear shall be above them on the Day of Resurrection; and God sustains whomever He will without reckoning. They were deceived without realizing it. The increasing darkness of their vision caused them to slander and to deride the friends [of God] ������. When people bear witness [on the Day of Resurrection] and when the error of ignorance is dispelled from their hearts they will know those who are in a state of loss and those who have gone far astray.
كَانَ النَّاسُ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ النَّبِيِّينَ مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ وَأَنْزَلَ مَعَهُمُ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ فِيمَا اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ ۚ وَمَا اخْتَلَفَ فِيهِ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ أُوتُوهُ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ ۖ فَهَدَى اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لِمَا اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ مِنَ الْحَقِّ بِإِذْنِهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ
📘 The people were one community. Then God sent the prophets as bringers of good news and warning. In terms of allusion and according to the tasting of the chevaliers of the Tariqah, this verse has another intimation and another meaning. The king of the universe, the keeper of the world, the knower of the hidden, is saying that when He first created creatures, He created them in the curtain- ing wrap of createdness. When He made them with such a makeup at the beginning, the darknesses of the attributes of createdness surrounded this created nature. They were all one group in the curtain of obscurity. All were gathered in the darkness of absence, all remained in the captivity of their own makeup. It was just like that chevalier said: “The creatures are at ease in the ruins of their own makeup- wink just once to throw the creatures into turmoil!” [DS 696] Then a courier came from the infinite world to their tininess. MuṣṬafā gave this report about that courier: “God created the creatures in darkness. Then He cast upon them something of His light. Whomsoever the light struck was guided, and whomsoever it missed went astray.” When this messenger turned its face from that infinity to their tininess, they all became aware, captive to desire, subjugated by will, wounded by wisdom, their ears fixed on their own fortune and lot: “What is coming to us? What will be decreed for us?” Then the hand of predetermination divided them into two groups: the lucky and the unlucky. He said about the lucky, “These belong to the Garden, and I do not care.” He said about the unlucky, “These belong to the Fire, and I do not care.” In other words, “I have no fear of being blamed. I will do whatever occurs to Me and have no regrets. Some are the folk of felicity without any conformity with Me, and some are the folk of wretchedness without any opposition to Me. 'These belong to the Garden, and I do not care' about their disloyalty, and 'These belong to the Fire, and I do not care' about their loyalty. I receive no profit from loyalty, nor do I lose anything from disloyalty. When someone gains faith, he is the one who profits; I stay exactly as I was, with- out equal or need.
أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَنْ تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُمْ مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ ۖ مَسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ
📘 Or do you reckon that you will enter the Garden? This is as they say: You can't speak the words of the good so easily- it is not so easy, easy, to speak their words. “When someone is too timid to engage with fearful things, he will not reach his hopes.” Are you not aware that joining is found in breaking off, life in death, and desires in not reaching your desires? The moth reaches union with the candle when it burns, and the candle finds life when it loses its head. Religion's pain is indeed marvelous, for when you suffer it, you will be like a candle-better once your head's cut off. [DS 485] The high Firdaws is a sweet garden and meadow, but the road there is difficult, a rosebed full of thorns. MuṣṬafā said, “The Garden is surrounded by disliked things,” lest the nobodies and the unqualified claim familiarity. Are they equal, those who know and those who know not? [39:9]. A simile for this rule is the ocean: It was made the resting place for precious pearls and night- brightening gems, and then sharks and huge fish were made the veil of those pearls and gems. Two men set out, pulled into the field of seeking by love for gems. They go to the ocean's shore and see its difficulties, and dread appears in them because of the danger of those sharks. Of the two men who see the terrors and difficult states, one is afraid and he steps back from seeking and declares himself quit of his own words. He had a wish, but his attribute of manliness was not complete. He fancied that this work could be finished merely by wishing and that he could reach the treasure without suffering. The exalted Shariah gives the answer: “The religion is not reached with wishfulness and self-adornment.” With Me you must have a hidden mystery, with Me you must always have need. In truth, black crow, you're a fine bird! You want to mate with a white falcon. The other man is the possessor of desire. Passion for the beauty of that night-brightening pearl cleanses his intellect of the ocean's terrors, so he does not give those meanings access to himself. Hour by hour and moment by moment that beauty discloses itself to him, so he becomes more en- tranced and more passionate. He goes head first into the ocean. If felicity assists him and success- giving becomes his friend, that night-brightening pearl will fall into the grasp of his seeking. If the opposite happens, the sharks will take his life as booty and his name will be written in the register of “I don't care.” The tongue of his state will say, “Each month two thousand of the passionate like me are killed, and not one lets out a sigh.”
يَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنْفِقُونَ ۖ قُلْ مَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ ۗ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ
📘 They ask thee what they should expend. Say: “Whatever good you expend should be for parents and kinsmen, orphans, the indigent, and the son of the road.” And whatever good you do, God knows it. Throwing away money in the path of the Shariah is beautiful, but it is not like throwing away the spirit in the field of the Haqiqah and becoming separate from all others at the moment of contem- plation. Keeping to the stipulation of loyalty is beautiful, but not as much as becoming separate from self and stepping onto the carpet of limpidness. Someone asks, “What should we do with our property? How should we spend it?” The Shariah answers, “From 200 dirhams, 5 dirhams; from 20 dinars, one-half dinar.” Someone else asks and the Haqiqah answers, “You will not be with Him along with body and spirit.” Yes, the story of the wage-earners is one thing, the story of the recognizers something else. The wage-earner's recognition reaches recognizing the spirit, but the recognizer's recognition reaches throwing away the spirit. Wealth, gold, things-gamble them away for nothing. When the work reaches your spirit, gamble it away! Those fortunate Companions did not ask how to spend because they had not found their way to poverty, but in hopes that this caress would reach them from the Exalted Presence: “And whatever good you do, God knows it. Whatever you have given and will give, I who am the Lord know it and am aware of it.” This is just like Moses, when he was called during that pitch black night in the desert of the Mount: “O Moses!” In the pleasure of this address Moses was burned by the call. In his burning and yearning he said, “Who is speaking to me?” Moses knew, but he was drowned in the ocean of yearning for the vision of the Real. He was seeking someone to take his hand: “I have burned in this one call. Perhaps He will call out again, and maybe I will light up.” The command came, “O Moses! Do you not know who is calling you?” He said, “I know, but I am waiting for the caller to say, 'Surely I am God, Lord of the worlds' [28:30].” Here I am, My servant, and you're in My embrace, and whatever you have said I know. Ask of Me without shame or dread, and fear not, for surely I am God. Here there are two verses. The verse at the beginning of the section alludes to the worshipers' spending their wealth in order to reach recognition. The verse at the end of the section alludes to the recognizers' spending their own lives for the sake of struggle in order to reach the Recognized. It is His words,
كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ وَهُوَ كُرْهٌ لَكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 Prescribed for you is fighting though it be hateful to you. Yet it may happen that you hate a thing which is good for you; and it may happen that you love a thing which is bad for you; God knows and you know not. The engagement with fighting is difficult for the lower selves. [God] explained that the comforts of the lower selves are deferred muÌajjala because they follow the ordinance of discipline taÌdīb. It is the opposite for the comforts of the hearts which are immediate muʿajjala since they follow the property of drawing near taqrīb. Happiness lies in opposing mukhālafa the lower selves for anyone who conforms wāfaqa to them has abandoned the exemplary path al-maḥajjat al-muthlā. Likewise happiness lies in conforming muwāfaqa to the hearts for anyone who opposes khālafa them deviates from the highest way al-sunnat al-ʿulā. It is better to accept the good news of the Real's guarantee of ease than the anxious thoughts of the lower selves that warn of impending difficulty and harm.
يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ قِتَالٍ فِيهِ ۖ قُلْ قِتَالٌ فِيهِ كَبِيرٌ ۖ وَصَدٌّ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَكُفْرٌ بِهِ وَالْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَإِخْرَاجُ أَهْلِهِ مِنْهُ أَكْبَرُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ ۚ وَالْفِتْنَةُ أَكْبَرُ مِنَ الْقَتْلِ ۗ وَلَا يَزَالُونَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَرُدُّوكُمْ عَنْ دِينِكُمْ إِنِ اسْتَطَاعُوا ۚ وَمَنْ يَرْتَدِدْ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ فَيَمُتْ وَهُوَ كَافِرٌ فَأُولَٰئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
📘 They ask you about the sacred month and fighting in it. Say �Fighting in it is a grave thing; but to bar from God's way and disbelief in Him and the sacred mosque and to expel its people from it-that is graver in God's sight; and sedition is graver than slaying.� Among the acts of disobedience some are worse than others and more intractable. Bad manners at the door do not have the same consequences as they do on the [more intimate] carpet. When the error occurs through the lower self the effect upon [the lower self] is through the deferrred punishment which is burning iḥtirāq [in the hereafter]. When the heart errs the punishment is immediate through separation firāq. The effect of heedlessness on hearts is more serious than the harm caused to the lower selves by error for surely the lower self is kept from good fortune ḥaẓẓ but the heart is kept from the Real ḥaqq. They will not cease to fight against you until they turn you from your religion if they are able; and whoever of you turns from his religion and dies disbelieving-their works have failed in this world and the hereafter. Those are the inhabitants of the fire abiding therein. The allusion in this is to the people of heedlessness when they seek to lure you away and want to turn you toward their heedlessness. They will only be content when you break the pact of your spiritual desire irāda by returning to your previous state. Anyone who breaks fasakha his pledge to God deforms masakha his heart.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أُولَٰئِكَ يَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَ اللَّهِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
📘 Surely those who have faith, those who emigrate, and those who struggle in God's path- it is they who hope for God's mercy, and God is the Forgiving, the Ever-Merciful. After faith, He spoke of emigration. Emigration is of two sorts: one outward, the other inward. Outward emigration has two sides: One side is to emigrate from one's home, homeland, and means and to go forth seeking knowledge. The other side is what comes to be known by seeking. Any traveling that is outside of these two has no weight or worth. The Prophet alluded to this with his words, “People are knowers or learners; the rest of the people are rabble.” You should not say that the seeker of knowledge and the seeker of the Known have one level. The seeker of knowledge is himself traveling, and the seeker of the Known is being pulled by the Real. He who is himself traveling dwells in suffering, distress, and hunger, like Moses in the jour- ney in which he was seeking knowledge: “Bring us our food. We have certainly met with weari- ness on this journey of ours” [18:62]. Another time, when he set off seeking the Known, he was confirmed to such a degree by the Real's protection and pulling that he stayed thirty days waiting for the Real's speech, and he was not aware of being tired or hungry. The master Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said, “The caressing of the seekers of knowledge reaches a place such that tomorrow, when they rise up from the dust, they will be mounted on the feathers of an- gels, according to the Prophets words, 'Surely the angels will put down their wings for the seeker of knowledge, approving what he is doing.'” Then Abū ʿAlī said, “Since the seekers of knowledge will be mounted on the feathers of angels, how can anyone imagine what the seekers of the Known will be mounted on?” Did we but know that the visit is true, we would make our face an earth so that You might approve. * Beautiful idols walk on forbidden ground. I will make my eyes the ground-come stroll on my eyes! This then was the explanation of outward emigration. Inward emigration is that one goes from the soul to the heart, from the heart to the secret core, from the secret core to the spirit, and from the spirit to the Real.
۞ يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ ۖ قُلْ فِيهِمَا إِثْمٌ كَبِيرٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَا أَكْبَرُ مِنْ نَفْعِهِمَا ۗ وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنْفِقُونَ قُلِ الْعَفْوَ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ
📘 They ask thee about wine and gambling.... And they ask thee what they should expend. God has servants on the earth who drink the wine of recognition and are drunk from the cup of love. There is no more than a whiff of this wine's reality in this world, and nothing but a show of that drunkenness, for this world is a prison, and what can a prison put up with? Today there is no more than that. Nonetheless, wait until tomorrow, the assembly of repose and ease [56:89], the arena of union with the Beloved, when the servants will be gazing on the Real. Hope for union with you has added to my life. What can union itself be, when hope does that!? A man in turmoil entered the shop of a wine merchant with one dirham. He said, “Give me wine for this dirham.” The merchant replied, “There's no wine left.” The man said, “I'm already in turmoil. I can't tolerate wine's reality. Show me a drop so I may smell it-you'll see how drunk I become and what turmoil I'll stir up.” Glory be to God! What is this lightning that has shone from the Beginningless! It has burnt up the two worlds and nothing remains. To someone He gave the wine of bewilderment from the cup of awe, and he became drunk with bewilderment. He said, “I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand, O guide of those bewildered in Thee!” * The work is difficult-how can I make it easy? The pain has no cure-how can I find a remedy? I've become secure from the headache of empty words- what can I do with the stories of the drunkards? To someone else He gave the wine of recognition from the storeroom of hope. At the top of the street of yearning he kept on saying in hope of union, “One day luck will enter the door of my house, one day the sun of elation will rise over me. One day You will glance in my direction, one day this grief of mine will come to an end!” To someone else He gave the wine of union from the cup of love. He showed him the way to the carpet of bold expansiveness and gave him a spot on the leaning place of intimacy.
الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فِرَاشًا وَالسَّمَاءَ بِنَاءً وَأَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَكُمْ ۖ فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ أَنْدَادًا وَأَنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 He who made for you the earth a carpet and the heaven a building, and who sent down from heaven water by which He brought forth fruits for you as provision. So do not set up peers for God knowingly. The wonders of power and the marvels of wisdom in earth and heaven are evidence of a Lord and Creator and witness to His oneness, knowledge, and ability. He placed those seven green domes upon the wind, one on top of one another, without pillar or joint, as a mark of His power. He placed these seven dust-colored hills on top of the water as a clarification of His wisdom. About the one He says, [“We set in heaven constellations] and We adorned them for the gazers” [15:16] and about the other He says, [“And earth,] We laid it out-what excellent spreaders!” [51:48]. Look then at this likeness: two doves, one black and one white, which have come forth within the space of the blue dome. On the wings of one is Then We effaced the sign of the night [17:12], and on the wings of the other We made the sign of the day, giving sight [17:12]. The black was born of the white, and the white appeared from the black: He rolls up the night in the day, and He rolls up the day in the night [39:5]. He makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night [22:61]. How pure and faultless is the God who brought forth the brightness of day from the pitch black night and made the darkness of the pitch black night appear from the brightness of day! More wondrous than this is that He placed the brightness of knowing in the center point of the black blood of the heart and the brightness of seeing in the center point of the eye's pupil. Thus will you know that He is the perfectly powerful, the bountiful and bounteous bestower. This bright day is the mark of the compact of good fortune, and this dark night is the likeness of the days of tribulation. He is saying, “O you who have the good fortune of ease in the day's brightness, do not feel secure, for the darkness of tribulation's night is upon its tracks.
فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ ۗ وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْيَتَامَىٰ ۖ قُلْ إِصْلَاحٌ لَهُمْ خَيْرٌ ۖ وَإِنْ تُخَالِطُوهُمْ فَإِخْوَانُكُمْ ۚ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ الْمُفْسِدَ مِنَ الْمُصْلِحِ ۚ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَأَعْنَتَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
📘 They ask you about wine khamr and divinatory arrows. Say: �In both is great sin and profit for men; but the sin in them is greater than the usefulness.� Khamr is whatever intoxicates the mind. Just as khamr is specifically prohib- ited so also drunkenness sukr is prohibited by the words of the Prophet ﷺ �Khamr itself is prohibited and drunkenness from any drink.� From the point of view of the allusions [in the verse] anyone who is drunk from the drink of heedlessness deserves the same as the one who drinks khamr. Just as the one who is drunk is prohibited from praying so the one who is possessed by the drunkenness of heedlessness is veiled from intimate com- munications muwāṣalāt and the clearest testimonial evidence of ecstatic finding wujūd. Anyone who does not think this is true should test it. The notion of gambling can be found in most of the transactions of the people of heedlessness when they follow the way of stratagem and decep- tion and lie in what they say. Wholehearted commitment to truthfulness and equitable dealings is rare and precious. And they will ask you what they should expend. Say: �Comfortably� al-ʿafw. So God makes clear His signs to you that you might reflect on this world and the hereafter. It is said that al-ʿafw is what is in excess of your needs. This is for the elect who take from the surplus of their wealth according to their capacities. As for the elect of the elect their way is �preference� īthār which is to prefer others over themselves even if they are in need of what they give and even though the One they prefer is unseen. They will ask you about orphans. Say: �To set their affairs aright; and if you intermix with them they are your brothers; Setting their state aright in teaching them discipline and manners taÌdīb is more perfect than setting aright their wealth. Patience in bearing with them by giving counsel and abandoning one's weariness in guiding them is better than being permissive to the point that it could be said that one did not uphold one's obligation toward them. God knows well him who works corruption from him who sets aright; and had He willed He would have harassed you. Surely God is Mighty Wise.� He deals with everyone according to the intentions quṣūd that dwell in a person's heart not according to the external things one acquires in vari- ous ways.
وَلَا تَنْكِحُوا الْمُشْرِكَاتِ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنَّ ۚ وَلَأَمَةٌ مُؤْمِنَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ مُشْرِكَةٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ ۗ وَلَا تُنْكِحُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنُوا ۚ وَلَعَبْدٌ مُؤْمِنٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ مُشْرِكٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكُمْ ۗ أُولَٰئِكَ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى النَّارِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ يَدْعُو إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ وَالْمَغْفِرَةِ بِإِذْنِهِ ۖ وَيُبَيِّنُ آيَاتِهِ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ
📘 Do not marry idolatresses until they believe; a believing slave girl is better than an idolatress though you may admire her. And do not marry idolaters until they believe. A believing slave is better than an idolater though you may admire him. Those call to the fire; and God calls to paradise and pardon by His leave; and He makes clear His signs to the people so that they might remember. It is better to hold to the rope of religion and cling to the protection of Muslims than to be satisfied with someone [outside the faith] on a path that leads to disbelief. A concession in the law exists for this action but the deeper suggestion is to refrain and waive the right to choose it. This concerns the women of the Book with whom it is permissible to have mari- tal relations. As for polytheists it is absolutely prohibited to have marital relations with them. It is obligatory to cut off relations with those in this category-this is an irreversible decree.
وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْمَحِيضِ ۖ قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى فَاعْتَزِلُوا النِّسَاءَ فِي الْمَحِيضِ ۖ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّىٰ يَطْهُرْنَ ۖ فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ فَأْتُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَمَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ
📘 They will ask you about the monthly period. Say: �It is an ailment; so part with women in the monthly period and do not approach them until they are pure; when they have cleansed themselves then come to them as God has commanded you.� Not everything which is a cause for embarrassment and aversion is some- thing the servant freely chooses for it might be among the imperfections which are not attributed to the servant but rather stem from a decree of the Real. Among these is what God has ordained for the daughters of Adam in [relation to] this condition. Moreover they were commanded to withdraw from the prayer carpet during the times of this condition since the prayer carpet is a place of intimate conversation with one's Lord. So setting a time in which the place of conversation is to be avoided is a decree from God not [because of any] sin of theirs. In this is an allusion for it is said that even if they cannot pray which [requires] being present through the body they are not prevented from perpetual remembrance dhikr in the heart and tongue. That [dhikr] is an address on the carpet of nearness. The Prophet ﷺ said relating from God most high �I sit among those who remember Me.� Truly God loves those who repent and He loves those who cleanse themselves. It is said that He loves those who repent from sins dhunūb and those who cleanse themselves from defects ʿuyūb. It is said that [it refers to] those who repent from error and those who cleanse themselves from imagining that their salvation is through repentance. It is said that [it refers to] those who repent from doing forbidden things and those who cleanse themselves from familiar things and considerations [of anything but God]. It is said that [it refers to] those who repent by seeking the water of for- giveness and those who cleanse themselves by pouring the water of shame [upon themselves] through the [human] attribute of brokenness. It is said that [it refers to] those who repent from error and those who cleanse themselves from heedlessness. It is said that [it refers to] those who repent from witnessing the repen- tance and those who cleanse themselves from imagining that anything is by error rather than by the decree that originates from God most high.
نِسَاؤُكُمْ حَرْثٌ لَكُمْ فَأْتُوا حَرْثَكُمْ أَنَّىٰ شِئْتُمْ ۖ وَقَدِّمُوا لِأَنْفُسِكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ مُلَاقُوهُ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 Your women are your tillage, so come to your tillage as you like. The servant has a soul and a heart. The soul is from the low world, and its root is water and dust. The heart is from the high world, that is, the lordly subtlety, and its foundation is pure light. The soul's station is absence, and the heart's station is witnessing. MuṣṬafā alluded to this with his words, “There is no heart that is not between two fingers of God.” God gave the soul, which stays absent, the same living quarters as its similars, and He made this a favor. He said, “Your women are your tillage, so come to your tillage as you like.” In another place He said, “Marry the women who seem goodly to you” [4:3]. In another place He said, “That you may rest in them, and He placed between you love and mercy” [30:21]. Finding one's own shares and inclining toward similars in this manner is the portion of the soul, which remains in the lowland of jealousy. As for the heart, it has the station of contemplation, so it is forbidden to incline toward any others or to come down to any creature. Until it cuts itself off from creation and makes its own secret core pure of other than the Real, it will not come under these words: “He loves those who make themselves pure” [2:222]. The Lord of the Worlds loves those who are pure in this manner. He calls them men when He says, “In it are men who love to make themselves pure, and God loves those who make themselves pure” [9:108]. Know also that in this house of the decree, vile things are of two sorts. One is vileness of entity, which can never become pure by washing. If you put a corpse into the ocean a thousand times, it will never become pure, for the impurity belongs to its own entity. The other is vileness of attribute. At root something is pure, but an impurity has reached it. If you wash it, it becomes pure. This impurity, however, is of two sorts. One is flimsy, so it becomes pure with a single water. The other is heavy, so it must be washed with water and dust to become pure.
وَلَا تَجْعَلُوا اللَّهَ عُرْضَةً لِأَيْمَانِكُمْ أَنْ تَبَرُّوا وَتَتَّقُوا وَتُصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 Do not make God a hindrance in your oaths to be pious and God-fearing; and to put things right between people; surely God is All-Hearing Knower. Keep the mention of your Lord free of the banality of any worldly concerns. It is said �Do not make the mention of God into a net to catch the debris of this world.�
لَا يُؤَاخِذُكُمُ اللَّهُ بِاللَّغْوِ فِي أَيْمَانِكُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ يُؤَاخِذُكُمْ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ حَلِيمٌ
📘 God will not take you to task for a slip in your oaths; but He will take you to task for what your hearts have earned; and God is Forgiving Forbearing. What the tongue says inadvertently does not have much importance either for good or bad but what is hidden in the recesses of the heart ḌamāÌir and contained in its inner secrets sarāÌir in [terms of] genuine intentions and strong resolutions-that will be taken into account. If it is good there will be a beautiful recompense jazāÌun jamīl and if it is bad there will be prolonged distress ʿanāÌun Ṭawīl.
لِلَّذِينَ يُؤْلُونَ مِنْ نِسَائِهِمْ تَرَبُّصُ أَرْبَعَةِ أَشْهُرٍ ۖ فَإِنْ فَاءُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
📘 For those who forswear their women, a wait of four months. But if they revert, God is forgiving, ever-merciful. In terms of allusion, these verses contain an eloquent admonition and complete advice concern- ing the observation of the rightful dues of the Real: God gives so much weight and gravity to the rightful due of the people that He sends a decisive command concerning it and instills dread into those who put it aside. Hence it is even more appropriate to preserve the rightful due of God and to dread putting it aside. In one of the reports it is mentioned that tomorrow at the resurrection a youth will be brought who had neglected the rightful dues of God. In the attribute of awe and exaltedness the Exalted Lord will address him: “Had you no shame? Had you no fear of My anger and harshness such that you neglected My rightful due and you paid it no reverence and respect? Take him to hell, for he is worthy of fire, and fire is worthy of him.” Ibn ʿAbbās narrated that the Prophet said, “God says, 'I will not look after the rightful due of My servant until the servant looks after My rightful due.'” In the scriptures has come, “I honor those who honor Me and I scorn those who scorn My command.” Look at the vengeance He takes from the servant because of His rightful due, even though His rightful due is built on leniency, and He passes over most of it. As for the rightful dues of created things, in these no leniency is shown, so God's vengeance in them is more. So much is this so that it is said that if someone has the reward of seventy prophets but has one plaintiff whom he has cheated of half a penny, he will not enter paradise until that plaintiff is satisfied with him. So, the rightful dues of the creatures must be preserved, and one must strive mightily to observe them, especially the rightful dues of women and spouses, on whose behalf the Lord of the Worlds acts as deputy in this verse, requesting their husbands to take care of them. MuṣṬafā said, “The best of you is the best of you to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wife.
وَإِنْ عَزَمُوا الطَّلَاقَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 But if they resolve upon divorce; surely God is Hearing Knowing. If he no longer wants the right of companionship and has confirmed his resolve to separate from her surely God is Hearing Knowing aware of his state and his secret. If any remorse comes to him he should not cover it up by denying356 the divorce for God ������ knows that he has divorced her. When separation is difficult [God] provides solace for the woman say- ing [He is] Hearing that is �We hear the one who is desolated by [the words of her husband] and this is a comfort for her from the Real ������.�
وَالْمُطَلَّقَاتُ يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ ثَلَاثَةَ قُرُوءٍ ۚ وَلَا يَحِلُّ لَهُنَّ أَنْ يَكْتُمْنَ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ فِي أَرْحَامِهِنَّ إِنْ كُنَّ يُؤْمِنَّ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ۚ وَبُعُولَتُهُنَّ أَحَقُّ بِرَدِّهِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ إِنْ أَرَادُوا إِصْلَاحًا ۚ وَلَهُنَّ مِثْلُ الَّذِي عَلَيْهِنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۚ وَلِلرِّجَالِ عَلَيْهِنَّ دَرَجَةٌ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
📘 Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three periods. He commanded divorced women to wait out of respect for spousal rela- tions. This means �If the relationship has been cut off between the two of you observe the condition of fulfilling [the waiting period] for the sake of what occurred in the past in the relationship. Do not put others quickly in place of [the former spouse]. Be patient until the allotted period has passed.� Do you not see that the bride whose marriage was not consum- mated is not commanded to undergo a waiting period since there were no spousal relations between the two of themḍ And it is not lawful for them to hide what God has created in their wombs if they believe in God and the Last Day. This means that even if the tie between the two of you has been severed do not sever what God has established in the parental relationship. Their mates have a better right to restore them This means that the one with the prior relationship [the husband who ini- tiated the divorce] has a better right to restore the breach in the marriage [before the wife's marrying again]. in such time if they desire to set things right; This means that the [husband's] intention to return should be to set things right in the estrangement that has occurred not to prolong the waiting period for her if he has decided to divorce her after he has taken her back. women shall have rights similar to those due from them with justice; This means if he has a right over her for what he has expended in wealth she has a right in the situation for [her] past service. but their men have a degree above them; God is Mighty Wise. [The man has the degree] in merit faḌīla but she has an advantage mazīya in weakness and human vulnerability.
الطَّلَاقُ مَرَّتَانِ ۖ فَإِمْسَاكٌ بِمَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ تَسْرِيحٌ بِإِحْسَانٍ ۗ وَلَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَأْخُذُوا مِمَّا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ شَيْئًا إِلَّا أَنْ يَخَافَا أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ ۖ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا فِيمَا افْتَدَتْ بِهِ ۗ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَعْتَدُوهَا ۚ وَمَنْ يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ
📘 Divorce is twice, then retention with honor or setting free with beautiful doing. This is a recommendation to spread out the divorce so that they will not hurry to complete sepa- ration.19 Spreading out the divorce is recommended because the reality of separation is reprehen- sible. Although divorce is permitted in the Shariah, God hates it, for it is the cause of separating and of cutting the ties of familiarity and union. God's Messenger said, “The most hateful of per- mitted things to me is divorce.” The exalted Qur'an praises people who do not cut bonds and do not seek for separation. It says, “Those who join what God has commanded to be joined and fear their Lord” [13:21]. In the Highest Dominion, He created angels who are half snow and half fire. Through His own power He brought these two opposites together and kept them that way. Their glorification is this: “Glory be to Him who makes fire familiar with snow! O Lord, make the hearts of your faithful servants familiar with each other!” A pir of the Sufis said, “I was walking in the desert. I saw a person I did not recognize, water standing before him, and plants growing from the water. I asked him who he was and he said that he was Abū Murra [the Father of Bitterness].20 I asked him what the water was. He said, 'It is my tears, and these green things and plants are growing up from my tears.' I asked him why he was weeping. He said, 'I weep in the days of separation for the days of union. In the days of separation the murmur of union is the ease of the hearts of the deprived. Leave me to weep for myself, for there is no one in the world more miserable than I.'” I said, “My heart wants to be Your comrade, so I will be worthy of thanks and applause.” By God, I did not think, O Spirit of the world, that all my hopes would come to this. Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī had a wife whom he divorced. Her dower was 40,000 dirhams, so he sent it to her so that her heart would be happy. She put that wealth in front her and began to weep: “'Paltry goods from a departed lover!' What use to me are the goods of the world when my companion is not at my side and my friend is tired of me!” When a viper strikes someone's liver they give him the antidote, not candy.
وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ وَادْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
📘 If you are in doubt about what We have sent down on Our servant, then bring a surah the like of it. The previous verse was an affirmation of tawḤīd, an argument against the Arab associaters. This verse is an affirmation of prophecy, an argument against the Folk of the Book and the Dhimma. The formula of the Shahadah comprises two sides: the affirmation of tawḤīd and the affirmation of prophecy. As long as the servant does not acknowledge and believe in both and does not act as demanded by both, he has not entered into the circle of the submission. Affirming prophecy is to know that MuṣṬafā is the chosen of the Real and the best of creatures. You accept his prophecy with spirit and heart. You take his words, deeds, customs, and conduct as your leader and guide. You know in reality that his words are the revelation of the Real, his expla- nation the road of the Real, his decree the religion of the Real, and his utterances and conveyance of the message in the state of life and death the argument of the Real. Adam was still inside the curtain of water and clay when the secret of MuḤammad's created disposition had bound its waist before the Exalted Threshold and the gaze of the Real's gentleness had reached his spirit. This is alluded to in his words, “I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay.” Then bring a surah the like of it. This spreads the carpet of the Qur'an's exaltedness from the folds of its holiness. Thus the non-privy will place the hand of rejection on their breasts and He may remove the mask of its beauty for those burnt by passion. Then you will see the unmasked beauty of the Qur'an's face- when it shows its face, speak with the tongue of remembrance. [DS 495]
فَإِنْ طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا تَحِلُّ لَهُ مِنْ بَعْدُ حَتَّىٰ تَنْكِحَ زَوْجًا غَيْرَهُ ۗ فَإِنْ طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا أَنْ يَتَرَاجَعَا إِنْ ظَنَّا أَنْ يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ يُبَيِّنُهَا لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 If he divorces her she shall not be lawful to him after that until she marries another husband. If he divorces her then neither of them would be at fault [if they] return to each other A man finds it unbearable for his wife to marry another so [God] prevents him from choosing separation with the intention of keeping her from remarrying. He explains that once he has separated from her she will not be lawful for him until she does what he would find unbearable and that is a second marriage. So [this will make him] cautious as much as he is able in [initiating] divorce. Then He said �If he divorces her� meaning the spouse �then neither of them would be at fault [if they] return to each other� meaning if she remarries the first husband. Here the allusion is that love's hold on the heart makes what would otherwise be hard to endure easy for if after separating the spouses regret their lost union and then feel the greatest remorse there is no fault in their returning to each other. But the woman in this circumstance is protected from her husband by the threat of another husband for the husband would himself be making that possible [if he were to divorce her three times]. if they think that they will maintain God's bounds. Those are God's bounds which He makes clear to a people who have knowledge. This means that after they know how much they need each other as com- panions they will not separate again. The one who spoke for them said: I swore that if I were to meet you one more time I would never separate from you a second time.
وَإِذَا طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَبَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَأَمْسِكُوهُنَّ بِمَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ سَرِّحُوهُنَّ بِمَعْرُوفٍ ۚ وَلَا تُمْسِكُوهُنَّ ضِرَارًا لِتَعْتَدُوا ۚ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ فَقَدْ ظَلَمَ نَفْسَهُ ۚ وَلَا تَتَّخِذُوا آيَاتِ اللَّهِ هُزُوًا ۚ وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَمَا أَنْزَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَالْحِكْمَةِ يَعِظُكُمْ بِهِ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
📘 When you divorce women and they have reached their term then retain them honorably or set them free honorably; do not retain them in order to hurt [them]; whoever does that has wronged his soul; take not God's verses in mockery and remember God's grace upon you and the Book and the wisdom He has revealed to you to exhort you therewith; and fear God and know that God has knowledge of all things. The verse contains the command to goodly marital relations which means abandoning anger and stubborn bickering with the wife. So either release [her] without being rough min ghayri jafāÌ or practice true companion- ship as it should be carried out ʿalā sharṬi al-wafāÌ.
وَإِذَا طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَبَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ أَنْ يَنْكِحْنَ أَزْوَاجَهُنَّ إِذَا تَرَاضَوْا بَيْنَهُمْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ يُوعَظُ بِهِ مَنْ كَانَ مِنْكُمْ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ۗ ذَٰلِكُمْ أَزْكَىٰ لَكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 When you divorce women and they have reached their term do not debar them from marrying their [former] husbands when they have agreed together honorably. That is an admonition for whoever of you believe in God and the Last Day; that is purer for you and cleaner. God knows and you know not. The verse contains a prohibition for guardians against hurting [the women under their protection] abandoning the fierceness of the time of ignorance jāhiliyya and yielding to the decree of God to allow [divorced] women to marry if they wish it without indignation or rage. Rather [the mes- sage is] �since you were sufficiently pleased to betroth her to a mate it is prohibited to [then] oppress her.� Letting go of the [baser] human instincts by subjugating the lower self is a more difficult struggle [than the fierce ways of the time of ignorance] and a more sincere way of behaving for the sake of God.
۞ وَالْوَالِدَاتُ يُرْضِعْنَ أَوْلَادَهُنَّ حَوْلَيْنِ كَامِلَيْنِ ۖ لِمَنْ أَرَادَ أَنْ يُتِمَّ الرَّضَاعَةَ ۚ وَعَلَى الْمَوْلُودِ لَهُ رِزْقُهُنَّ وَكِسْوَتُهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۚ لَا تُكَلَّفُ نَفْسٌ إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَا تُضَارَّ وَالِدَةٌ بِوَلَدِهَا وَلَا مَوْلُودٌ لَهُ بِوَلَدِهِ ۚ وَعَلَى الْوَارِثِ مِثْلُ ذَٰلِكَ ۗ فَإِنْ أَرَادَا فِصَالًا عَنْ تَرَاضٍ مِنْهُمَا وَتَشَاوُرٍ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا ۗ وَإِنْ أَرَدْتُمْ أَنْ تَسْتَرْضِعُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذَا سَلَّمْتُمْ مَا آتَيْتُمْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۗ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
📘 Mothers shall suckle their children two whole years-for those who desire to complete the suckling. Great is that Lord who is unique in loving kindness and without peer in caressing servants. He be- stows in testing, He is loyal to assurances. If we call Him, He hears, and if we do not, He knows. He is generous, loving, love-showing, and love-increasing; gentle, defect-hiding, excuse-hearing, a good God. His bounty is beyond all bounty, His generosity beyond all generosity, His mercy greater than all mercies, His love not like other loves. The example given of utmost mercy is the mercy of mothers, but God's mercy toward His servants is more than that, and His love is not like their love. Do you not see that He commands mothers to give milk to their children for two complete years, He urges them to nurture them, and He counsels them to take care of them? He does not confine Himself to the love of mothers and leave it at that. This is so that you will know that God is more lovingly kind to the servant than a mother is to her child. Once MuṣṬafā was passing by when a woman with a child in her arms was baking bread. They had told her that God's Messenger would be passing. She came forward and said, “O Messenger of God! We have heard you say that the God of the world's inhabitants is more lovingly kind to His servants than a mother to her child.” The Messenger said, “Yes, that is so.” That woman became happy and said, “O Messenger of God! A mother would never toss her child into this oven.” MuṣṬafā wept. Then he said, “God chastises in the Fire only those who refuse to say, 'There is no god but God.'” Kaʿb ʿUjra said that one day God's Messenger said to his companions, “What do you say about a man slain in God's path?” They said, “God and His Messenger know best.” He said, “He is in the Garden.” Then he said, “What do you say about a man concerning whom two just men have said that they knew nothing of him but good?” They said, “God and His Messenger know best.” He said, “He is in the Garden.” Then he said, “What do you say about a dead man concerning whom two just witnesses say that they never saw any good from him?” The Companions said, “He is in the Fire.
وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا ۖ فَإِذَا بَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا فَعَلْنَ فِي أَنْفُسِهِنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ
📘 And those of you who pass away leaving wives they shall wait by themselves for four months and ten. When they have reached their term then you would not be at fault regarding what they may do with themselves honorably; God is aware of what you do. Because the right of the dead is more important since his separation is not by choice the period [for the widow] to complete used to be longer. In the beginning of Islam the waiting period after death was one year. However it reverted to four months and ten days [the time necessary] to verify that no sperm of the husband is present in the womb. When the waiting period comes to an end [the widow] is permitted to marry another man. No one's fidelity lasts to the end of life as it is said: Just as faces decay in the ground so does the grief of [women].
وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا عَرَّضْتُمْ بِهِ مِنْ خِطْبَةِ النِّسَاءِ أَوْ أَكْنَنْتُمْ فِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ ۚ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ سَتَذْكُرُونَهُنَّ وَلَٰكِنْ لَا تُوَاعِدُوهُنَّ سِرًّا إِلَّا أَنْ تَقُولُوا قَوْلًا مَعْرُوفًا ۚ وَلَا تَعْزِمُوا عُقْدَةَ النِّكَاحِ حَتَّىٰ يَبْلُغَ الْكِتَابُ أَجَلَهُ ۚ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ فَاحْذَرُوهُ ۚ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ حَلِيمٌ
📘 You would not be at fault regarding the proposal you present or hide in your hearts to women. God knows that you will be mindful of them; but do not make arrangements with them secretly unless you speak honorable words. This permits seeking affection and laying the foundation for [marital] union. It forbids doing prohibited sinful acts or preparing for such acts. And do not resolve on the knot of marriage until that which is written has reached its term; and know that God knows what is in your souls; so be fearful of Him; and know that God is Forgiving Forbearing. That is the waiting period for the first [marriage] is required to avoid any disrespect for the deceased.
لَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً ۚ وَمَتِّعُوهُنَّ عَلَى الْمُوسِعِ قَدَرُهُ وَعَلَى الْمُقْتِرِ قَدَرُهُ مَتَاعًا بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۖ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُحْسِنِينَ
📘 You would not be at fault if you divorce women whom you have not touched nor appointed any obligation for them; yet make provision of com- forts for them honorably the one of ample means according to his means and the needy man according to his means-an obligation on the virtuous. If you have initiated366 the union with your mates but then change your mind [before the consummation] there is no fault on you if you choose separation for there is only One from whom it is not permissible to choose to separate. The companionship of human beings with one another is not obligatory but rather is described at most as permissible. But367 because your name and reputation are now part of theirs half of the determined amount [of the dowry] must belong to them since separation-however it comes about-is difficult. So [God] has established the required compensa- tion for [the woman] who is made to drink from the cup of separation. If there was no determined amount the contract still requires the gift mutaʿ because her being made to drink from the cup of separation without [some compensatory] comfort is a terrible thing for her to suffer.
وَإِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ وَقَدْ فَرَضْتُمْ لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً فَنِصْفُ مَا فَرَضْتُمْ إِلَّا أَنْ يَعْفُونَ أَوْ يَعْفُوَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ عُقْدَةُ النِّكَاحِ ۚ وَأَنْ تَعْفُوا أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ۚ وَلَا تَنْسَوُا الْفَضْلَ بَيْنَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
📘 And that you pardon is nearer to godwariness. And forget not bounty among yourselves. Surely God sees what you do. Godwariness lies in pardon, and paradise lies in godwariness, just as He says: “The next world with thy Lord belongs to the godwary” [43:35]. The folk of realization have said that godwariness has a beginning and an end. The beginning is what He says: “And that you pardon is nearer to godwari- ness,” and the end is what He says: “And forget not bounty among yourselves.” Its beginning is that you recognize what is rightfully due to you from your brother, but then you pardon it and let it go. This is the way station of submission and the conduct of the worshipers. Its end is that you recognize what is rightfully due to him from you and you prefer him over yourself. As much as you see disloyalty and offense from him, you offer him your apology. This is the station of tawḤīd and the description of the state of the sincerely truthful. In its meaning they have sung, “When we are ill, we come to you and tend to you. When you sin, we come to you and apologize.” To this the Prophet alluded when he said, “Shall I point you to the best character trait of the folk of this world and the next? You join with him who cuts you off, pardon him who does you wrong, and bestow on him who deprives you.”
حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰ وَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ قَانِتِينَ
📘 Guard over the prayers, and the middle prayer, and stand before God devoutly. In the tongue of allusion to guard over the prayer is that, when the servant comes into the presence of the prayer, he comes with awe, and when he leaves, he leaves with reverence. As long as he is in the prayer, he is described by courtesy. He keeps his body in the outward service, his heart in the realities of union, and his secret core along with his spirit in the ease of whispered prayer. “The praying person is whispering with his Lord.” Abū Bakr Shiblī said, “If I were given the choice to enter the prayer or to go into paradise, I would not chose that high paradise over the prayer. Even if paradise is joy and blessings, the prayer is secret whispering with the Patron of Blessings. That is the place of pleasure for water and clay, and this is the place of gazing for spirit and heart. That is roasted fowl in the garden of approval, and this is repose and ease [56:89] in the garden of the Beloved.” For the sake of gazing stroll once into the Beloved's garden, see the Beloved scattering spirit beneath your feet. MuṣṬafā gave no station the mark he gave to the prayer when he said, “'The delight of my eyes was placed in the prayer.' Amongst the caresses and beauties, the brightness of my eyes lies in being occupied with Him and whispering secretly with Him.” Here is my heart-look into it and see: is there any goal other than You? There was a man called Abū ʿAlī Siyāh, who was unique in his era. Whenever anyone went to see him, he would say, “I'm a carefree man. I have no occupation. The brightness of my eyes lies in seeing a man of His road or talking about Him with someone.” Every night I talk to my heart about You. I seek Your scent from the dawn breeze. The knower of the Tariqah, ʿAbdallāh Anṣārī, said, “O God, O lovingly kind, O helper! Exalted is he who has one breath with You! May I have a breath in which no one mixes, a breath that after- wards has no veil. For me that one breath is enough in the two worlds.
فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ فَرِجَالًا أَوْ رُكْبَانًا ۖ فَإِذَا أَمِنْتُمْ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ كَمَا عَلَّمَكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 And if you are in fear then standing or mounted. But when you are secure then remember God as He taught you what you knew not. That is �Do not abandon intimate conversations with Me at their [desig- nated] times in the way I have made possible for you for truly I am the One who gives power over you to the enemies you fear. But when you withdraw in your hearts through Me their hands will be unable to reach you since I have appointed victory for you over them. Then when the fear is gone from you and you are secure return to what you have established [in prayers] and exert your utmost in the times of your devotion in My presence in private or in public.�
فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَلَنْ تَفْعَلُوا فَاتَّقُوا النَّارَ الَّتِي وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ ۖ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَ
📘 And if you are in doubt concerning what We have revealed to Our servant then bring a sūra like it; and call your witnesses besides God if you are truthful. And if you do not and you will not then fear the fire whose fuel is men and stones prepared for disbelievers. He covered the eyes of outsiders so that they did not see His beloved ﷺ and they wandered in the wadis of conjecture because they had lost the light of solicitude. When the Messenger brought signs to them and made miracles appear it only increased their doubts and suspicions. This is the way of those who have turned away from the Real ������. The illumination of proofs only increases their blindness to the truth. God most high said But signs and warners do not avail a folk who will not believe [10:101]. In order to bring them to admit the proof He informed them of their inabil- ity to compete with the miracle He gave them in the QurÌān [a miracle] which was triumphant over humankind from the first to the last. He made them acknowledge that even if they were to make common cause among themselves and strengthen themselves with others like them and exert their utmost efforts and stratagems they would not be able to bring a sūra like any sūra of the QurÌān. He said �If you do not� and then stated that they could not and would not do it for He said �and you will not.� It is as if He said �Look to yourselves and be wary of the idolatry that leads to the punishment of the fire whose fuel is men and stones.� If stones with all their hardness cannot withstand this fire how can men with their weakness bear itḍ When the hearts of the believers became terribly concerned from hearing mention of the fire He strengthened them and said �prepared for disbelievers.� In that is good news for the believers. This is the way of the Real ������. When He causes fear in His enemies he brings glad tidings to His friends. Just as the deception of the disbelievers vanishes when it encounters the miracles of the prophets ḍ similarly the claims of the confused disappear when the lights of the truthful appear. The mark of the one who makes false claims is the return of driving cries rujūʿ al-zajr to the heart. The mark of the one with truthful intent is the occurrence of the [divine] subjuga- tion wuqūʿ al-qahr of the heart. It is a rare individual who can separate and distinguish between [these two types of occurrences in the heart].
وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا وَصِيَّةً لِأَزْوَاجِهِمْ مَتَاعًا إِلَى الْحَوْلِ غَيْرَ إِخْرَاجٍ ۚ فَإِنْ خَرَجْنَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي مَا فَعَلْنَ فِي أَنْفُسِهِنَّ مِنْ مَعْرُوفٍ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
📘 And those of you who die leaving wives make testament for their wives provision for a year; but if they go forth you would not be at fault regarding what they may do with themselves honorably; God is Mighty Wise. The waiting period after the death of the husband in the beginning of Islam was an uninterrupted year according to the words and actions of the Arabs. With respect to that the one who spoke for them said: Until the end of the year then �peace be upon both of you.� Whoever weeps for an entire year has absolved themselves of any guilt. Then this was abrogated [and made] four months and ten days since the mourning period inevitably ends. The one who spoke for them said: He said �If you die I cannot live.� I said �You are being hypocritical so be silent. What living thing do you see that dies from love for something which is deadḍ�
وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۖ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ
📘 There shall be provision for divorced women honorably-an obliga- tion on those who fear. The allusion is that you [men ]should not combine separation with depriva- tion thereby doubling the difficulty for them [women].
كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
📘 So God makes clear His signs for you so that you might understand. �[These are] guideposts dalāÌil so learn refined behavior through what has been pointed out to you-you will prosper by that which you come to understand from the allusions ishārāt of My decree.�
۞ أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ خَرَجُوا مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ وَهُمْ أُلُوفٌ حَذَرَ الْمَوْتِ فَقَالَ لَهُمُ اللَّهُ مُوتُوا ثُمَّ أَحْيَاهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَشْكُرُونَ
📘 Have you not seen those thousands who went forth from their habi- tations fearful of deathḍ God said to them �Die!� Then He gave them life. Truly God is bounteous [dhū faḌl] to people but most people are not thankful. When [the children of Israel] deemed God's power to restore [them] unlikely He showed [His power] to them directly in their own selves. The outward disclosure of that however did not benefit those who had not sharpened their insight regarding divine unity tawḥīd. Anyone whose insight has been strengthened will not be harmed by a lack of these direct forms of evidence for they have already realized through their faith in the unseen the truth of what they have been told.
وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 So fight in God's way and know that God is Hearing Knowing. This means �If pain touches you and a cry rises up from you know that God hears your cry knows your states and sees your affairs.� The verse brings about an easing of the pain they endure. They said: While most people want ease and comfort I wish to complain to you for then you will hear.
مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ أَضْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً ۚ وَاللَّهُ يَقْبِضُ وَيَبْسُطُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
📘 Who is it that will lend to God a beautiful loan, and He will multiply it for him many times? And God contracts and expands, and to Him you shall be returned. In this verse the generous Lord, He of tremendous and celebrated name, the lovingly kind, the caressing, the holder-majestic is His unity and holy His sanctum-caresses His servants, both the rich and the poor. He caresses the rich by asking loans from them, for loans are asked of friends. YaḤyā Muʿādh said, “I wonder at anyone who still has wealth, when the Lord of the Throne wants to borrow it.” A sound hadith says, “God descends and says, 'Who will supplicate Me that I may respond to him?' Then He spreads His two hands and says, 'Who will lend to one who is neither lacking nor wrongdoing?'” What do you know of the generosity and largesse found in this asking for a loan? This is a largesse that you might say is a painting on the spirit. From it the tree of joy is in fruit and in it the eyes of revelry are awake. He is saying, “Who is it that will give a loan to Him who is neither a wrongdoer that he might take it away, nor a poor man not able to pay it back?” Anyone who rec- ognizes the worth of this declaration will put forth the bounteous wealth of spirit and heart and say, “I will exert my heart and spirit with none but You. My heart is Your property-I will not intervene! If with an allusion You ask for my spirit, I will send it at once without hesitation.” One day ʿAlī Murtaẓā went home, and Ḥasan and Ḥusayn were weeping before FāṬima Zahrā. ʿAlī said, “O FāṬima, what happened to the brightness of my eyes, the fruit of my heart, and the joy of my spirit that they are weeping?” FāṬima said, “O ʿAlī, it seems that they are hungry, for a day has passed and they have eaten nothing.” She had placed a pot on the fire, so ʿAlī said, “What do you have in the pot?” She said, “There is nothing in the pot except plain water. I put it on the fire to keep the children happy, for they think I am cooking something. ” ʿAlī's heart became constricted. He had a cloak that he had put aside. He took it to the bazaar and sold it for six dirhams and bought some food. He returned and told FāṬima. She said, “You have succeeded O Abu'l-Ḥasan! May you remain in good.” ʿAlī went to go back to the mosque of the Messenger and saw a nomad who was selling a camel. He said, “O Abu'l-Ḥasan! I am selling this camel. Buy it!” ʿAlī said, “I can't. I don't have the price.” The nomad said, “O Abu'l-Ḥasan! I will sell it to you until the time when spoils arrive or a gift comes to you from the House of Wealth.” ʿAlī bought the camel for sixty dirhams and set off in front of it. Another nomad came to him and said, “O ʿAlī, sell this camel to me.” He said, “I will sell it.” He asked, “How much?” He answered, “For as much as you want.” He said, “I will buy it for 120 dirhams.” ʿAlī said, “I have sold it to you,” and took 120 dirhams from him. He went back to his house and said to FāṬima that he would give sixty dirhams to that nomad and they would use the other sixty. He went out looking for the nomad. He saw MuṣṬafā and he said, “O ʿAlī, where are you going?” ʿAlī told him his story. God's Messenger became happy and congratulated him. He said, “O ʿAlī, that was not a nomad. That was Gabriel who sold it, and Michael who bought it. And the camel was one of the she-camels of paradise. This is that loan you gave to God when you were kind to a poor man after God had said, 'Who is it that will lend to God a beautiful loan?'” As for God's caressing the poor in this verse, it is that, when God wants a loan, He wants it for them. Unless someone is dear to you, you do not want a loan for him. His caressing of the poor is more complete and of higher rank than His caressing of the rich. This is because when you ask for a loan, although most of the time you ask from friends, it does happen in the time of constraint that you ask from someone who is not a friend. The person for whom you ask the loan, however, is nothing but a friend and dear to you.
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الْمَلَإِ مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مُوسَىٰ إِذْ قَالُوا لِنَبِيٍّ لَهُمُ ابْعَثْ لَنَا مَلِكًا نُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ هَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِنْ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ أَلَّا تُقَاتِلُوا ۖ قَالُوا وَمَا لَنَا أَلَّا نُقَاتِلَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَقَدْ أُخْرِجْنَا مِنْ دِيَارِنَا وَأَبْنَائِنَا ۖ فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقِتَالُ تَوَلَّوْا إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِنْهُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالظَّالِمِينَ
📘 Have you not seen the council of the children of Israel after Moses when they said to a prophet of theirs �Send for us a king and we will fight in God's way.� He said �Might it be that if fighting is prescribed for you you will not fightḍ� They said �Why should we not fight in God's way when we have been expelled from our habitations and our childrenḍ� Yet when fighting was prescribed for them they turned their backs except a few of them; and God has knowledge of the evildoers. They approached the matter as one of free choice ikhtiyār demanding that their prophet ask permission for them to fight. When they were granted that for which they were themselves responsible they stopped short out of laziness takāsul and changed their course toward the homelands of desertion takhādhul and indifference taghāful. It is said that outwardly they spoke with toughness and seriousness about fighting to defend their possessions and their dwellings when they said �Why should we not fight in God's way when we have been expelled from our habitations and our childrenḍ� But they did not achieve their objective because their resolve was not purely for the right of God. If they had said �Why should we not fight in the way of God for He has commanded us and made [this] an obligation on usḍ He is our Chief and Protector and His command is binding on us� then perhaps they would have fully achieved what they had set out to do.
وَقَالَ لَهُمْ نَبِيُّهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ بَعَثَ لَكُمْ طَالُوتَ مَلِكًا ۚ قَالُوا أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ عَلَيْنَا وَنَحْنُ أَحَقُّ بِالْمُلْكِ مِنْهُ وَلَمْ يُؤْتَ سَعَةً مِنَ الْمَالِ ۚ قَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاهُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَزَادَهُ بَسْطَةً فِي الْعِلْمِ وَالْجِسْمِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ يُؤْتِي مُلْكَهُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 Then their prophet said to them �Verily God has raised up Saul for you as king.� They said �How can he be king over us when we have better right than he to kingship seeing he has not been given amplitude of wealthḍ� He said �God has chosen him over you and has increased him broadly in knowledge and body jism. God gives the kingship to whom He will; and God is Embracing Knowing. They forgot [God's] right of free choice ikhtiyār and viewed the situation instead with the eye of the external world. They deemed it unlikely that Saul could be a king because he was poor and without property. [God] explained to them that merit is by the choice of the Real and that if [Saul] lacked wealth �God has increased him in knowledge and has favored him over you by his knowledge and body jism.� It is said that He meant that [Saul] was praiseworthy in the qualities of the self nafs not large in [his] physical frame binya for as it is said in the adage �So and so is a name without a body fulān ism bi-lā jism� that is a man without substance.
وَقَالَ لَهُمْ نَبِيُّهُمْ إِنَّ آيَةَ مُلْكِهِ أَنْ يَأْتِيَكُمُ التَّابُوتُ فِيهِ سَكِينَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَبَقِيَّةٌ مِمَّا تَرَكَ آلُ مُوسَىٰ وَآلُ هَارُونَ تَحْمِلُهُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 Their prophet said to them, “The sign of his kingship is that there will come to you the ark within which is tranquility from your Lord.” Whenever someone finds a drink from the cup of recognition on the carpet of the religion's good fortune, the cupbearer of that drink is the sultan of tranquility. The exalted lodging place of the sultan of tranquility is the capital city of the heart: He it is who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful [48:4]. The subtle reality of the heart is the dwelling place of the attribute of eternity: “Surely the hearts are between two fingers of the All-Merciful.” What a great difference there is between two groups of people! The tranquility of one group was in the ark, and the ark was under the determination of the Children of Israel, sometimes here and sometimes there, sometimes like this and sometimes like that. The tranquility of the other group is in their hearts, in the grasp of the Real's attributes. The Adamite has no hand in it, the angel no access to it. He comes between a man and his heart [8:24]. Shiblī said, “The curtains were taken down and the veils lifted in the realities of the secret core, and many unseen things were unveiled to my secret core. I saw hell like a roaring dragon and rapacious lion. It was playing with the people and pulling them to itself with its tail. It saw me and displayed its mightiness. It wanted its share from me. I gave it all of my outward organs and parts and had no fear of their burning. I had no concern for outward burning because of my inner burning.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “All fires burn the body, but the fire of friendship burns the spirit. No one can be patient in face of that spirit-burning fire.” If He burns you, say “Burn!”, if He caresses, say “Caress!” It's best for the passionate man to be put between water and fire. Shiblī said, “When I gave my makeup and form to the fire, the turn of the heart arrived. The fire wanted my heart. I said, 'I will toss it away without fear.' A voice came to my secret core, 'O Shiblī, leave the heart alone, for the heart is not yours, nor is it under your determination.
فَلَمَّا فَصَلَ طَالُوتُ بِالْجُنُودِ قَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مُبْتَلِيكُمْ بِنَهَرٍ فَمَنْ شَرِبَ مِنْهُ فَلَيْسَ مِنِّي وَمَنْ لَمْ يَطْعَمْهُ فَإِنَّهُ مِنِّي إِلَّا مَنِ اغْتَرَفَ غُرْفَةً بِيَدِهِ ۚ فَشَرِبُوا مِنْهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِنْهُمْ ۚ فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَهُ هُوَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ قَالُوا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا الْيَوْمَ بِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِ ۚ قَالَ الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلَاقُو اللَّهِ كَمْ مِنْ فِئَةٍ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةً كَثِيرَةً بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ
📘 And when Saul went forth with the hosts he said �God will try you with a river; whoever drinks of it is not of me and whoever tastes it not he is of me except for him who scoops up with his hand. The allusion in this verse is that God ������ tests human beings in their association with others with this world and with the lower self. There are some whose association with these things is limited to that which is required for [them to earn a] basic livelihood and what is necessary for their salvation and security. There are others who go beyond the limit of what is required and extend their association with things of the world self and creation for the sake of carnal desire and their own preference. There is nothing from God in that which involves doing a prohibited thing. There is nothing from this path Ṭarīqa in that which involves holding on to more than what is needed. But they drank of it except a few of them; Likewise the elect in every moment are few in their number but sublime in their worth. and when he crossed it with those who believed they said �We have no power today against Goliath and his troops.� They viewed the situation with the eye of the external world and were overcome with mortal fright. God fortified their hearts telling them that the Real ������ helps His friends if He wills it. Those who thought they would meet God said �How often a small company has overcome a numerous one by God's leave; and God is with the patient.� [The victory is] not by them but by the permission of God through what He has willed and through His aid and His help. God is with the patient through help support and strength.
وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ ۖ كُلَّمَا رُزِقُوا مِنْهَا مِنْ ثَمَرَةٍ رِزْقًا ۙ قَالُوا هَٰذَا الَّذِي رُزِقْنَا مِنْ قَبْلُ ۖ وَأُتُوا بِهِ مُتَشَابِهًا ۖ وَلَهُمْ فِيهَا أَزْوَاجٌ مُطَهَّرَةٌ ۖ وَهُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
📘 And give good news to those who have faith. This verse is a caress for the friends, giving them hope for everlasting largesse and bliss, and an en- couragement to the faithful, inciting them to obey and to seek increase of blessings. The previous verse warns the strangers against confusion in the heart and associationism on the tongue, and it threatens with the fire of punishment and the harshness of being cut off from the Real. The person of faith is he who becomes frightened and without ease when he hears the first verse and thinks about the chastisement of hell. He becomes happy when he hears the second verse, he makes his heart fast and his hope strong, and he brings ease into his heart. The Lord of the Worlds praises both the frightened and the one at ease. Concerning the frightened He says, “The faithful are only those whose hearts quake when God is remembered” [8:2]. Concerning the one at ease He says, “Those who have faith and whose hearts are serene in the remembrance of God” [13:28]. The custom of the Generous Lord is that whenever He sends a verse of fear with which He frightens the servants, after it He sends down a verse of hope and mercy to give ease to their hearts so that they will not despair. And give good news to those who have faith. Let there be good news for all those who are today in the playing field of service, for tomorrow they will be in the assembly of repose and ease [56:89]. Not everyone who reaches the paradise of approval will reach the generous gift of repose and ease. The paradise of approval is the furthest limit of the pleasure of the worshipful servants, and repose and ease is the kiblah of the spirits of the lovers. The paradise of approval is the High Chambers and the Abode of Peace. Repose and ease in the Presence of At-ness is the gift for the spirit of the passionate. Everyone who watches over his actions will reach the paradise of ap- proval; everyone who watches over his breaths will reach repose and ease. Who can explain this repose and ease and how can it be given expression!? When something does not come to the tongue, how can it be explained? A wind begins to blow from the World of the Unseen that is called “the wind of bounty.
وَلَمَّا بَرَزُوا لِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِ قَالُوا رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَانْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ
📘 So when they went forth against Goliath and his troops they said �Our Lord pour out upon us patience and make firm our feet and grant us victory over the disbelieving folk!� So when they went forth against Goliath and his troops [the hosts of Saul] exonerated themselves of all power and strength and turned to God seek- ing His succor asking for His aid and trusting in His help. They said �Our Lord pour out upon us patience and make firm our feet. First they sought firmness and patience for the sake of the sufferings they had previously endured and then they said �and grant us victory over the disbelieving folk!� The most important of their concerns was patience and standing up to the enemy and only after that [were they concerned for] help for themselves. Patience [in enduring sufferings] is the right of the Real ḥaqq al-ḥaqq while help is their portion. They stepped forward to assert His right ������ and to succeed for His sake and then to find their worldly portion from [His] help. Moreover [the hosts of Saul] indicated that they were seeking help against [the enemy] not out of revenge for what had been taken from them but because they [the enemy] were disbelievers enemies of God. The [hosts of Saul] stood in every way for God through God. Because of that they were helped and found victory.
فَهَزَمُوهُمْ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَقَتَلَ دَاوُودُ جَالُوتَ وَآتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَعَلَّمَهُ مِمَّا يَشَاءُ ۗ وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ اللَّهِ النَّاسَ بَعْضَهُمْ بِبَعْضٍ لَفَسَدَتِ الْأَرْضُ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ ذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ
📘 And they routed them by the leave of God and David slew Goliath; and God gave him the kingship and wisdom and He taught him such as He willed. God frightened the enemies with Saul whom He had given such a large body. But at the time of the fighting He brought the victory about through the hands of David. As the story goes [David] was of middling stature not large in body a compact person. He had no weapon with him but a slingshot; the victory was his because the help of God ������ was with him. And they routed them by the leave of God so that nothing not even a trace remained of them. David killed Goliath. Because of Goliath's bulk and size David's victory over him was unimaginable but as the one who spoke for them said: He met me with his sword drawn and said to me One of us is gone. Had God not repelled people some by means of others the earth would have surely been corrupted; but God is bounteous to all worlds. If mankind were to make common cause and agree with one another alto- gether the weak would be destroyed by the victory of the strong. But He keeps some occupied by others so as to deflect their evil from other people.
تِلْكَ آيَاتُ اللَّهِ نَتْلُوهَا عَلَيْكَ بِالْحَقِّ ۚ وَإِنَّكَ لَمِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
📘 These are the verses of God We recite to you in truth and assuredly you are one of the Messengers [of God]. �You did not have knowledge [O Muḥammad] regarding these long ago beings from the past nor was this something you devised. Rather you came to know of them through information given by God ������.�
۞ تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ۘ مِنْهُمْ مَنْ كَلَّمَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَهُمْ دَرَجَاتٍ ۚ وَآتَيْنَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَيَّدْنَاهُ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ ۗ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا اقْتَتَلَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ وَلَٰكِنِ اخْتَلَفُوا فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ آمَنَ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ كَفَرَ ۚ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا اقْتَتَلُوا وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يُرِيدُ
📘 Those messengers some We have preferred above others; there are some to whom God spoke and some He raised in rank. And We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear proofs and confirmed him with the Holy Spirit. In the message they were united but they differed in the specific details. Each one has lights and their lights have places where they are cast. Among them is one who is the most sublime in terms of light and most perfect in rank and intensity. Their virtues are not entitlements based on their actions and states but rather are a goodly decree that came to them ḥukmun bi-l- ḥusnā adrakahum and a beautiful succession that reached them in turns wa-ʿāqibatun bi-l-jamīli tadārakathum. And had God willed those who came after them would not have fought against one another after the clear proofs had come to them; but they fell into variance and some of them believed and some disbelieved and had God willed they would not have fought against one another but God does whatever He desires. They are made to turn about by the eternal will and have been stripped of free choice; [instead there is the divine choice] around which everything circles madār and by which is the crossing over iʿtibār. Servanthood is the tight- ening of the belt of service khidma and the witnessing of prior fate qisma.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لَا بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلَا خُلَّةٌ وَلَا شَفَاعَةٌ ۗ وَالْكَافِرُونَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ
📘 O you who believe expend of what We have provided you with before there comes a day in which there shall be neither commerce nor friendship nor intercession. And the disbelievers-they are the evildoers. This means [one should] take advantage of the help [one is] granted-the ability to act virtuously-before [one's] strength flags and one's allotted time passes.
اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ
📘 God, there is no god but He, the Living, the Self-Standing. Slumber takes Him not, nor sleep. To Him belong whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who will in- tercede with Him save by His leave? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they encompass nothing of His knowledge save as He wills. His Footstool embraces the heavens and the earth, and He is the High, the Tremendous. God is He who has divinity and lordhood, God is He who has unity and self-sufficiency. His fix- ity is unitary, His being self-sufficient, His subsistence beginningless, and His brilliance eternal. God is the name of a lord whose essence is everlasting and whose attributes are eternal. His subsistence is beginningless and His splendor endless. His beauty is self-standing and His majesty constant. He is magnanimous and renowned, great in measure and deed, great in name and word, beyond intelligence and before when, and greater than any measure. O majestic God who is the Enactor and the good sweetheart, the creator of the world and the guardian of the creatures, keeper of enemies and companion of friends, the hard cash of hopes and enough for assurances, the receiver of every plaintiff and the forgiver of every offense, the kiblah of the desirer and the remembrance of the recognizer's heart! In remembrance of You I pass my days without You, in my eyes a picture of Your form. God is the remembrance of the hearts of the friends, God is the witness of the heart of the recogniz- ers, God is the joy of the secret core of the distracted, God is the healing of the hearts of the ill, God is the lamp of the breast of the tawḤīd-voicers, God is the light of the heart of the familiars and the balm of the pain of the burnt. Passion for You in my heart is like the light of certainty, Your name upon my eyes like the seal on a ring. In my nature and aspiration until the day of resurrection love for You will be like the spirit and loyalty to You like religion. The Pir of the Tariqah Junayd said, " If someone says God with his tongue when other than God is in his heart, God will be his adversary in the two abodes. " If someone remembers God with his tongue and delights in His name and then busies his heart with love for another, then-by the maj- esty and exaltedness of the Lord God-tomorrow the whip of rebuke will reach him in the station of harshness, and his adversary will be God. On the night of the miʿrāj He said to the master, " 'O MuḤammad! I wonder how anyone with faith in Me can depend on other than Me. O MuḤammad! Were they to gaze on the subtleties of My kindness and the wonders of My artisanry, they would not worship other than Me': What a wonder is someone who finds Me and then seeks for someone else! How can He who recognizes Me busy himself with other than Me? " When an eye sees You, it is relieved of pain. When a spirit finds You, it is exempt from death. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, O worthy of generosity and caresser of the world! There is no sorrow along with Your union and no grief along with Your remembrance. You are the plaintiff and the interceder, the witness and the judge. As long as I breathe along with Your love, I will be free of the bonds of existence and nonexistence, released from the bother of Tablet and Pen-cups of happiness placed in hand again and again in the session of intimacy! " There is no god but He, a God other than whom there is no worthy object of worship. In the two worlds who else is worthy of Lordhood? There is none to take the hand of the wounded other than the signet of His beauty and gentleness. There is no caresser of the orphans other than the edict of His generosity. He is the Lord God to whose loyalty are bound the hearts of the friends, for whose encounter are wishing the spirits of the yearners, and from the cups of whose trial the spirits of the passionate are drunk in love. The ease of the wounded comes from His name and mark, the joy of the recognizers from His remembrance and message. How beautifully spoke that distracted one of the times: " When will my luck smile at me from Your playing field? When will separation from You strike its tent from my spirit's desert? My ease is Your message, my foot in Your snare, Your prison my spirit's garden because of Your name.
لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ ۖ قَدْ تَبَيَّنَ الرُّشْدُ مِنَ الْغَيِّ ۚ فَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالطَّاغُوتِ وَيُؤْمِنْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ اسْتَمْسَكَ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقَىٰ لَا انْفِصَامَ لَهَا ۗ وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 There is no compulsion in religion. The arguments are clear and the proofs plain and evident. Rectitude has become clear from error; The night is distinguished by its darkness from the day and its light. The eternal truths ḥuqūq [of the Real] are given facts while the basic limits ḥudūd [of created things] are subject to other causes. [The truths of the Real] are [known] through the property of timeless eternity naʿt al-qidam while [the limits of created things] are [known] through the attribute of privation waṣf al-ʿadam. so whoever disbelieves in the false deity The false deity is anything that distracts one from his Lord. and believes in God Belief is the life of the heart ḥayāt al-qalb through God. has laid hold of the most firm handle Laying hold of the most firm handle is holding to the command and pro- hibition al-amr wa-l-nahy which is traveling the path of al-MuṣṬafā ﷺ. unbreaking; God is Hearing Knowing. Anyone who realizes the truth of it inwardly and holds to it outwardly will win in the two abodes and will be happy in both worlds.
اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُخْرِجُهُمْ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَوْلِيَاؤُهُمُ الطَّاغُوتُ يُخْرِجُونَهُمْ مِنَ النُّورِ إِلَى الظُّلُمَاتِ ۗ أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
📘 God is the friend of those who have faith. Their friend [walī], their patron [mawlā], their ruler [wālī], and their caretaker [mutawallī]-all are alike in meaning. He is saying, " God is the lord of the faithful, their caretaker and helper, their guide and open-hearted friend. " In a report it has come that God's Messenger said, " If someone were to destroy the eminent, great Kaabah, take apart its stones, and set it on fire, his disobedience would not be as much as if he were to denigrate one of God's friends. " A nomad was present. He said, " O Messenger of God! Who are these friends of God? " He replied, " All of the faithful are God's beloved friends. Have you not recited the verse, 'God is the friend of those who have faith?' " The equal of this verse is where He says, " That is because God is the patron of those who have faith, and the unbelievers have no patron " [47:11]. He is the friend and caretaker of the faithful, not only in this world, but also in the next, as He says: " We are your friends in this world's life and in the next world " [41:31]. In the story of Joseph, He quotes his words, " Thou art my friend in this world and the next " [12:101]. There is a great difference between these two verses-We are your friends and Thou art my friend-though anyone who does not have the eyes to see is excused. We are your friends comes from togetherness itself, but Thou art my friend alludes to dispersion. This is not because the friend is superior to the prophet, for the end of the friend's work is but the beginning of the prophet's work. However, the weak are shown greater benevolence, and the incapable are given more caresses, for they are not so bold as to claim familiarity. They see themselves as tainted, so they do not have the tongue to speak. Whoever is more helpless is closer to the Friend. Whoever is more broken is more worthy of love: " I am with those whose hearts are broken for Me. " It has been reported that on the Day of Resurrection, one of the broken and burnt will be taken to the Presence.
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رَبِّهِ أَنْ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ إِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّيَ الَّذِي يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ قَالَ أَنَا أُحْيِي وَأُمِيتُ ۖ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْتِي بِالشَّمْسِ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَأْتِ بِهَا مِنَ الْمَغْرِبِ فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 Have you not seen him who disputed with Abraham concerning his Lord that God had given him the kingshipḍ When Abraham said �My Lord is He who gives life and makes to die� he said �I give life and make to die.� Abraham said: �God brings the sun from the east; so bring it from the west.� Then the disbeliever was confused; and God guides not the folk who do evil. The Real ������ hastened the punishment of separation furqa for His ene- mies before He punished them with burning ḥurqa. This punishment [of separation] was in actuality more powerful in its effect if they had had the eye of insight [to see this]. The Real ������ relates that Abraham ���� ������ moved from one sound proof with the accursed enemy to another which was clearer not because there was anything wrong with the [first] proof but because of the shortcomings in the understanding of the disbeliever. The touchstone of one whose sight is blocked from recognizing the truth is the wasting of time without any useful benefit. It is not about the quality of the proof for a matter about which there is no question.
أَوْ كَالَّذِي مَرَّ عَلَىٰ قَرْيَةٍ وَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا قَالَ أَنَّىٰ يُحْيِي هَٰذِهِ اللَّهُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۖ فَأَمَاتَهُ اللَّهُ مِائَةَ عَامٍ ثُمَّ بَعَثَهُ ۖ قَالَ كَمْ لَبِثْتَ ۖ قَالَ لَبِثْتُ يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ ۖ قَالَ بَلْ لَبِثْتَ مِائَةَ عَامٍ فَانْظُرْ إِلَىٰ طَعَامِكَ وَشَرَابِكَ لَمْ يَتَسَنَّهْ ۖ وَانْظُرْ إِلَىٰ حِمَارِكَ وَلِنَجْعَلَكَ آيَةً لِلنَّاسِ ۖ وَانْظُرْ إِلَى الْعِظَامِ كَيْفَ نُنْشِزُهَا ثُمَّ نَكْسُوهَا لَحْمًا ۚ فَلَمَّا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ قَالَ أَعْلَمُ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
📘 Or such as he who passed by a city that was all in ruins to its roofs he said �How shall God give life to this now that it is deadḍ� So God made him die for a hundred years then he raised him up; He said �How long have you tarriedḍ�; he said �I have tarried a day or part of a day�; He said �Nay you have tarried a hundred years. Look at your food and drink it has not spoiled; and look at your donkey so that We would make you a sign for the people. And look at the bones how We shall set them up and then clothe them with flesh.� So when it was made clear to him he said �I know that God has power over all things.� This was not a question of denial a matter of ignorance or an indication of doubt in divine power for this report is about Ezra ʿUzayr the prophet ���� ������ and it is not possible for the prophets [���� ������] to doubt or be ignorant. Rather it was a question of wondering about something extraordinary. In this conversation [Ezra] wanted to be more certain so God showed him that within his [own body] by making him die and then bringing him to life and then reviving his donkey while he watched and he became more and more certain. Asking for certainty from God and using the tactic of pos- ing difficulties are practices of those who are curious to know. Because of that God excused Ezra in this conversation and the increased certainty he sought was made possible for him. Then he said �I know that God has power over all things� in giving life and causing death that is �My knowl- edge has been increased by what I saw. He showed me weighty signs which increased my certainty.� His food and drink did not change in this long period even as his donkey died and his bones decayed.
۞ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَسْتَحْيِي أَنْ يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًا مَا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا ۚ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَٰذَا مَثَلًا ۘ يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا ۚ وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلَّا الْفَاسِقِينَ
📘 God is not ashamed to strike a similitude even of a gnat or anything above it. For God most high being ashamed would mean the relinquishment tark [of His free agency]. When He describes Himself as being ashamed of something it means He does not do that and when it is said �He is not ashamed� it means He does not mind doing that. Creation in relation to the existence of the Real is in actuality less than a speck of dust in the air habāÌ fī hawāÌ because this is the perishing of one limited thing in another. Therefore the two-the throne and the gnat-are the same in His power. The creation of the throne is not too troublesome or difficult for Him and the creation of the gnat is not too insignificant or easy for him. He ������ is too holy to be attached to difficulty or ease. Since the matter can be described in this way He is not ashamed to strike a similitude of the gnat just as He is not ashamed to strike a similitude of the throne and what is below it. It is said that one aspect of the similitude of the gnat is the fact that when it is hungry it becomes strong and flies but once it is satiated it splits open and dies. Similarly Surely mankind goes too far for he thinks himself self-sufficient [96:6-7]. It is said that or anything above it means a [larger] flying insect dhubāb. [Here] one aspect of the allusion is the insolence of the fly in that it keeps returning no matter how much it is driven away. If that [quality] were to be in the lion no human being would be safe from him. But when He created power in the lion He created in him an aversion to humankind. When He created insolence in the fly He created weakness in him calling attention through this to the perfection of His wisdom and the effective- ness of His power. as for the believers they know it is the truth from their Lord; but as for the disbelievers they say �What did God desire by this as a similitudeḍ� As for those for whose eyes of inner consciousness have been opened they do not look to others or to traces or effects āthār unless it is to take heed iʿtibār or to increase the effectiveness of the faculty of insight ibtiṣār.
وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ أَرِنِي كَيْفَ تُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ ۖ قَالَ أَوَلَمْ تُؤْمِنْ ۖ قَالَ بَلَىٰ وَلَٰكِنْ لِيَطْمَئِنَّ قَلْبِي ۖ قَالَ فَخُذْ أَرْبَعَةً مِنَ الطَّيْرِ فَصُرْهُنَّ إِلَيْكَ ثُمَّ اجْعَلْ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ جَبَلٍ مِنْهُنَّ جُزْءًا ثُمَّ ادْعُهُنَّ يَأْتِينَكَ سَعْيًا ۚ وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
📘 When Abraham said to his Lord, “Show me how Thou givest life to the dead.” He said, “Dost thou not have faith?” He said, “Yes indeed, but that my heart may be serene.”... And know that God is exalted, wise. In the language of unveiling and in keeping with the tasting of the lords of the realities, this verse has another intimation and explanation. They say that Abraham was yearning for the Real's speech and burning for His address. His burning had reached the limit, the army of his patience had been put to flight, and the fire of his love was shooting up flames. He said, “O Lord, show me how you bring the dead to life.” He said, “O Abraham, dost thou not have faith? Do you not have faith that I bring the dead to life?” He said, “I do, but my heart has been thrown into turmoil by the wish to hear Your speech and by burning passion for Your address. I want You to talk.” Dost thou not have faith? “The goal was exactly that You would talk and ease would enter my heart.” My ease is Your message and my feet are in Your snare. The story is told that a man had fallen for a young woman and wanted to speak with her, but she would not talk and was unwilling to do so. The afflicted man became helplessly captivated by her, hoping to speak with her. He knew that she had a liking for jewels. He went and gave everything he had for one precious gem. He went and placed a stone in front of her in order to break the gem. The object of his passion did not have the capacity to put up with breaking. She said, “Poor man, what are you doing?” He said, “I am doing it so that you will say, 'What are you doing?'” No rest or ease remains in my heart- call me names if you have no message. It has been said that with these words Abraham was asking for the life of the heart and the serenity of the secret core. He knew that as long as a heart is not alive, serenity will not come down into it, and as long as serenity has not come down into it, he would not have reached the final goal of the recognizers. The final goal of the recognizers is the repose of intimacy, the witnessing of the heart, and the constancy of love; the tongue in remembering, the heart in secret whispering, the spirit in joy; the tongue in remembrance, the heart in reflection, the spirit with love; the tongue as spokesman, the heart with explication, and the spirit in face-to-face vision. It was said, “O Abraham, life is found in death and subsistence in annihilation, so go and kill four birds outwardly as We command in order to show reverence for Our command and to make manifest your servanthood.” Inwardly He is telling him to obey these commands: “Hang the peacock of finery on the gal- lows: Take no ease in the blessings of this world or the finery of this world. “Don't be held back by nightingale and peacock- with this you have only calls, with that only color. “Kill the crow of avarice: Be not avaricious for that which does not remain and quickly comes to an end. “Why are you passionate for the companion who took Alexander's life? Why are you in love with the loveless by whom Darius lost his kingdom? [DS 53] “Break the rooster of appetite: Let no appetite enter your heart lest you be held back from Me. “If you come from the field of appetite to the portico of intellect, you'll see yourself like Saturn in the seventh sphere. [DS 705] “Kill the vulture of wishes: Do not stretch out wishes and do not fix your heart on this life of play and diversion. Then you may reach the goodly life [16:97]. O Abraham, the goodly life is what you want: the heart's life and the secret core's serenity!” It has been said that by asking this question, Abraham was seeking vision, just as Moses did. Abraham asked for vision by intimation, not explicitly. Hence the answer was also by intimation, that is, His words, “God is exalted: O Abraham, I heard your asking and I know what you desire, but know that in reality God is exalted. Finding Him is exalted and seeing Him is exalted.” Moses asked explicitly, not through intimation, so he heard the answer explicitly: “Thou shalt not see Me” [7:143]. It has also been said that when Abraham said, “O Lord, show me how You bring the dead to life,” a call came to his secret core: “You also, show Me how you bring the living Ishmael to death.
مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنْبَتَتْ سَبْعَ سَنَابِلَ فِي كُلِّ سُنْبُلَةٍ مِائَةُ حَبَّةٍ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يُضَاعِفُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 The likeness of those who expend their wealth in the way of God is as the likeness of a grain of corn that sprouts seven ears in every ear a hundred grains; so God multiplies for whom He will; God is Embracing Knowing. The compensation for [those who expend their wealth in the way of God] is the garden. The compensation of those who expend their spir- its in the way of God is the Real ������. What a difference between the compensation for one who expends his wealth and finds his reward and the [compensation for] one who expends his state and finds nearness! Expending wealth in His way [happens] by [giving] alms ṣadaqa and expending [one's] states in His way [happens] through constant sincerity ṣidq413 and by negating every worldly concern or portion so that you are pleased with the flowing of His decree over you without any frowning of the heart. The one who spoke for them said: I want to be with him but he wants me to depart. So I leave want I want for what he wants. There are two types of expenditure: the expending of worshipers ʿābidūn and the expending of ecstatics wājidūn. When worshipers give grain it multiplies for them seventy times to what is beyond reckoning. As for the ecstatics it is as it is said: There is nothing good we can bring that they will accept and if we do harm for them there is no erasure.
الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ لَا يُتْبِعُونَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا مَنًّا وَلَا أَذًى ۙ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
📘 Those who expend their wealth in the way of God then do not follow up their expenditure with a reminder of their generosity and injury their wage is with their Lord and no fear shall befall them neither shall they grieve. The reminder of generosity is proclaiming what you did. The injury is point- ing out your beneficence to the one who receives it. It is said that they expend what they expend but they most assuredly do not say anything about their actions or works. It is said �How can you give something while seeking to maintain your control416 and rights over itḍ� It is said that they do not remind others of what they have done for them but rather bear witness to the favor of God [who] grants them success in that [act of generosity].
۞ قَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ صَدَقَةٍ يَتْبَعُهَا أَذًى ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَنِيٌّ حَلِيمٌ
📘 Honorable words and forgiveness are better than voluntary almsgiving followed by injury; and God is Independent Forbearing. This means that words spoken to the one who is poor and deprived- responding to his overture without showing censure-are better and more perfect than the alms of one who is proud of what he does and then imposes an obligation for it. It is said that an acknowledgment from you to God of your weakness and sin and God's forgiveness for you in response to these words is better than alms adulterated with reproach and accompanied by injury.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالْأَذَىٰ كَالَّذِي يُنْفِقُ مَالَهُ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ وَلَا يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ۖ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ صَفْوَانٍ عَلَيْهِ تُرَابٌ فَأَصَابَهُ وَابِلٌ فَتَرَكَهُ صَلْدًا ۖ لَا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ
📘 O You who have faith, do not void your charity by counting it a favor and causing dis- comfort. Ibn ʿAbbās said, “Do not void your charity by counting it a favor toward God.” God is saying, “O you have faith, who have placed your hands in the chains of Our servanthood and have clung to the rope of Our protection! The path of servanthood is not that of gazing on yourself and counting your obedience a favor to Us, for everything you do comes from Our success-giving and Our desire. When your heart was opened up, We opened it. When you found success, We gave it. When you gave comfort to the poor, We willed that. We made all of that happen, so all should be counted as Our favor. All acting is Ours, and all attending to things is Ours.” BarrāÌ ibn ʿāzib said, “On the Day of the Moat I saw God's Messenger when he was saying these words of Ibn RawāḤa: “O God, if not for You, we would not have been guided, we would not have given charity, we would not have prayed. So send down tranquility upon us, and firm up our feet for the encounter.” He is saying, “O God, were it not for Your solicitude, how could we have found the way to the street of tawḤīd? Were it not for Your success-giving, how could we have had the ability to do good works?” When a poor wretch counts obeying God a favor to Him, this is because he has lost the path of servanthood. He gives weight to his own obedience and sees it as large, so he does not turn the eyes of his heart and head away from it. In the path of chivalry, seeing one's own obedi- ence is idol-worship, and looking back at it is duality itself. If you are martyred a hundred times a day in God's path you'll still be an idol-worshiper if you see yourself in the midst. [DS 708] It has also been said that do not void your charity by counting it a favor and causing discomfort means to void your charity by laying favors on those who ask. He is saying, “Do not ruin your charity by counting it a favor to the poor.
وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ اللَّهِ وَتَثْبِيتًا مِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ كَمَثَلِ جَنَّةٍ بِرَبْوَةٍ أَصَابَهَا وَابِلٌ فَآتَتْ أُكُلَهَا ضِعْفَيْنِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يُصِبْهَا وَابِلٌ فَطَلٌّ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
📘 But the likeness of those who expend their wealth seeking God's good pleasure and to confirm themselves is as the likeness of a garden upon a hill; a torrent smites it and it yields its produce twofold; if no torrent smites it then soft rain [falls upon it] and God sees what you do. Would any of you wish to have a garden of date palms and vines with rivers flowing beneath it for him there is in it all manner of fruit then old age smites him and he has seed but they are weak; then a whirlwind with fire smites it and it is consumed. So God makes clear the signs to you so that you might reflect. These are numerous signs that God mentions by way of striking similitudes for the sincere one and the hypocrite-while the one spends in the way of God the other spends his wealth in vain. While [the sincere] will obtain honor and compensation khalaf for themselves [the hypocrites] will receive only rejection in the present and nothing but ruin talaf in the end. While the effort of these remains worthy of thanks mashkūr those leave behind destruction thubūr and come to a blazing flame. The works of these thrive their wealth grows their states rise high before God and their end will be the communion [of lovers]. The works of those will come to nothing. Their states will be of loss their hopes sealed by misfortune and their curse doubled for them. It is said that the similitude of these is like the one who planted seed; his property thrived and his surplus grew. His branches grew high and his benefit multiplied. The similitude of those is like the one whose bargaining failed; his commodity [was] stolen and his stratagem came to naught in old age. His tribulations continued one after the other in every way and in every time. How can these two be equal as examplesḍ Do they have any resemblance to one anotherḍ
أَيَوَدُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ تَكُونَ لَهُ جَنَّةٌ مِنْ نَخِيلٍ وَأَعْنَابٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ لَهُ فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ وَأَصَابَهُ الْكِبَرُ وَلَهُ ذُرِّيَّةٌ ضُعَفَاءُ فَأَصَابَهَا إِعْصَارٌ فِيهِ نَارٌ فَاحْتَرَقَتْ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ
📘 But the likeness of those who expend their wealth seeking God's good pleasure and to confirm themselves is as the likeness of a garden upon a hill; a torrent smites it and it yields its produce twofold; if no torrent smites it then soft rain [falls upon it] and God sees what you do. Would any of you wish to have a garden of date palms and vines with rivers flowing beneath it for him there is in it all manner of fruit then old age smites him and he has seed but they are weak; then a whirlwind with fire smites it and it is consumed. So God makes clear the signs to you so that you might reflect. These are numerous signs that God mentions by way of striking similitudes for the sincere one and the hypocrite-while the one spends in the way of God the other spends his wealth in vain. While [the sincere] will obtain honor and compensation khalaf for themselves [the hypocrites] will receive only rejection in the present and nothing but ruin talaf in the end. While the effort of these remains worthy of thanks mashkūr those leave behind destruction thubūr and come to a blazing flame. The works of these thrive their wealth grows their states rise high before God and their end will be the communion [of lovers]. The works of those will come to nothing. Their states will be of loss their hopes sealed by misfortune and their curse doubled for them. It is said that the similitude of these is like the one who planted seed; his property thrived and his surplus grew. His branches grew high and his benefit multiplied. The similitude of those is like the one whose bargaining failed; his commodity [was] stolen and his stratagem came to naught in old age. His tribulations continued one after the other in every way and in every time. How can these two be equal as examplesḍ Do they have any resemblance to one anotherḍ
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْفِقُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ وَمِمَّا أَخْرَجْنَا لَكُمْ مِنَ الْأَرْضِ ۖ وَلَا تَيَمَّمُوا الْخَبِيثَ مِنْهُ تُنْفِقُونَ وَلَسْتُمْ بِآخِذِيهِ إِلَّا أَنْ تُغْمِضُوا فِيهِ ۚ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ
📘 O you who believe expend of the good things you have earned and of what We have produced for you from the earth and seek not the corrupt of it for your expending; for you would never take it yourselves without closing your eyes to it; and know that God is Independent Laudable. Let everyone consider what he expends on his own account and what is produced by the command of his Lord. That which is brought out against you is from your account book dīwān: That which has been designated for your worldly portion are the precious things you possess and that which has been designated for your Lord are the things of little value from your assets. That which is [given by you] for God's sake is but a morsel while that which is [given by God] for your sake is of the utmost value and [is] the most perfect in blessing. Then see how He forgives you and even accepts it from you. Nay look how He compensates you. Nay look how He praises you for it look how he ascribes it to you. Everything from Him is a favor but He ascribes it to you as an act. Therefore His gift is entrusted to you and the gift is called a reward. He expands you by giving you success from [His] kindness. Then [your expansion] spreads out into the world by [His] beneficence.
الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ يَعِدُكُمْ مَغْفِرَةً مِنْهُ وَفَضْلًا ۗ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 Satan promises you poverty and commands you to indecency, and God promises you forgiveness from Him, and bounty. Satan promises you poverty because of his poverty, and God promises you forgiveness because of His generosity. Satan himself is poor toward the Real, so he promises poverty, for that is what he has and that is what his hands reach. His harvest was burned, so he wants the harvest of others to burn as well. The Lord of the Worlds, who is forgiving and servant-caressing, promises forgiveness and gener- osity. Yes, everyone does what is worthy of him, and the pot pours what it has inside. Each acts according to his own manner [17:84]. The Lord's invitation is what He says: “He invites you so that He may forgive you some of your sins” [14:10]. Satan's call is what He says: “He invites his party only so that they may be among the companions of the Blaze” [35:6]. Satan invites to avarice and eagerness for this world, and that in reality is poverty. God invites to contentment and seeking the afterworld, and that is nothing but wealth. The respect due to wealth in the religion is greater, for in this world, the person is content and has no need for the creatures, whispering secretly with the Real in his heart. In the next world he will dwell in the scented garden of bounty and generosity and the ocean of face-to-face vision, drowned in the Greatest Light. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “Wealth is three things: wealth of property, wealth of disposi- tion, and wealth of heart. “Wealth of property is three things: The lawful is a tribulation, the unlawful a curse, and the excessive punishment. “Wealth of disposition is three things: contentment, satisfaction, and chivalry. “Wealth of heart is three things: an aspiration greater than this world, an object of desire better than the next world, and a yearning for the vision of the Patron.”
يُؤْتِي الْحِكْمَةَ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَمَنْ يُؤْتَ الْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِيَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا ۗ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ
📘 He gives wisdom to whomsoever He wills. It has been said that wisdom has a reality and a fruit. The reality of wisdom is recognizing an affair as suited for the affair, putting a thing in its own place, recognizing everyone in his own frame- work, seeing the end of every statement at its beginning, and recognizing the inwardness of any statement from its outwardness. The fruit of wisdom is balancing interaction with people between tenderness and cajolery, balancing interaction with oneself between fear and hope, and balancing interaction with the Real between awe and intimacy. Wisdom is a light. When its ray shines upon you, it adorns the tongue with right remem- brance, the heart with right thought, and the bodily members with right activity. Then when you speak, you speak with wisdom, snatching away hearts and making spirits your prey. When you reflect, you reflect with wisdom, flying like a falcon, roaming in the highest Dominion, and making a nest only in the Presence of At-ness. May I be a ransom for the men dwelling in the Unseen, their secret cores roaming in all that is there! * Give the strong wings of wisdom to the peacock of the Throne and here in this place of the snare you'll see its nest in joy. If you stroll toward the Holy Presence with exaltedness, you'll see steeds coming forth from the city of the Lord. [DS 706] Yes indeed. And when someone like this acts, he acts with wisdom-coming together with the palisades of the Beloved's approval, sacrificing his desire to God's desire, seeing his intimacy in remembering Him, keeping his gaze in accordance with His gaze, resting in his remembrance no matter what arrives; sometimes burned by passion for Him in the playing field of majesty in the station of need, sometimes at ease with His gentleness in the garden of union on the throne of joy. At times those black locks raise the swords of severity, at times those sweet lips light the candles of gentleness. O You whose perfection has paid purses to the losers at dice! O You whose beauty has sewn the wallets of the destitute!
الَّذِينَ يَنْقُضُونَ عَهْدَ اللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مِيثَاقِهِ وَيَقْطَعُونَ مَا أَمَرَ اللَّهُ بِهِ أَنْ يُوصَلَ وَيُفْسِدُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ
📘 Those who break the covenant with God after its solemn binding and who cut what God has commanded to be joined; and who do corruption in the land-they shall be the losers. In this the allusion is to the state of one who has traveled the way of spiri- tual desire irāda then returned to what ordinary people have. Although he claimed to be willing to abandon his lower self he proved insincere when things became serious. He gave up allusions to reality ishārāt al-ḥaqīqa for concessions to the sharīʿa rukhaṣ al-sharīʿa. Just as the return of one who travels the way with his [outward] self nafs is not praiseworthy so long as a dirham remains in his bag so the return of one who seeks with his heart qalb is not pleasing so long as a breath nafas remains in his spirit rūḥ: Verily those who have died to the religion of whims find the decree of death a sweet watering place. And who cut what God has commanded to be joined: The cords of the Real are joined through the cutting of the cords with creation. The joining of what belongs to Him is not completed without cutting what belongs to you. When the matter is the reverse it is the opposite. Among that which the servant has been commanded to join is the protection of the sacred relationship of the people of this path. One expends sincere concern to achieve [this joining] rather than offering favors. [The servants' outward] efforts of concern are dedicated mawqūfa to connecting the cords of this path and arranging its conditions while their hearts are directed maṣrūfa in expectation of the guardianship of God most high for His people. The corruption of this path in the land [happens] when [elders on the path] do not pay attention to the small details of the affairs [of those less advanced on the path]. They make themselves too busy to guide an aspirant murīd with their words and too busy to sharpen the aim of a seeker qāṣid with their concerned efforts. This is some of what they neglect that displeases the Real ������. Part of breaching the covenant [happens] when your innermost self turns away from witnessing Him for even a moment. Part of the cutting off of what you have been commanded to join [takes place] when even a breath appears of your worldly concerns at any moment [causing you to not] uphold His right. Part of your corruption in the land is any hour which passes you in which you do not see Him. Surely that is the manifest loss the grave trial and the vast calamity.
وَمَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ مِنْ نَفَقَةٍ أَوْ نَذَرْتُمْ مِنْ نَذْرٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُهُ ۗ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ أَنْصَارٍ
📘 And whatever expenditure you expend and whatever vow you make surely God knows it. For the evildoers they have no helpers. He has promised His punishment to some people His reward to others and His knowledge to others. [Those promised punishment or reward] are ordinary people and [those promised knowledge] are the elect. God most high said �And submit patiently to the judgment of your Lord for surely you fare before Our eyes� [52:48]. There is nothing that causes the servant to fall from the eyes of God like opposing the covenants with Him in the heart. So let the aspirant be very wary of letting his soul err in that.
إِنْ تُبْدُوا الصَّدَقَاتِ فَنِعِمَّا هِيَ ۖ وَإِنْ تُخْفُوهَا وَتُؤْتُوهَا الْفُقَرَاءَ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ ۚ وَيُكَفِّرُ عَنْكُمْ مِنْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ
📘 If you proclaim your voluntary almsgivings it is a fine thing; but if you conceal them and give them to the poor that is even better for you; and it will absolve you of your evil deeds. God is aware of what you do. �If you reveal your companionship ṣuḥba with Us and make it public you have behaved generously and well. But if you protect Our secret from the intrusion of intermediaries between us you have kept the conditions of love widād and have raised up the lofty edifice of communion wuṣla.�
۞ لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۗ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِأَنْفُسِكُمْ ۚ وَمَا تُنْفِقُونَ إِلَّا ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُونَ
📘 You are not responsible for guiding them; but God guides whomever He will. And whatever good you expend is for yourselves; for then you are expending desiring only God's face and whatever good you expend shall be repaid to you in full and you will not be wronged. �[O Muḥammad] yours is the praiseworthy station al-maqām al-maḥmūd the firmly tied banner al-liwāÌ al-maʿqūd the noble degrees al-rutab al-sharīfa the high waystations al-manāzil al-ʿaliyya and the pleasing practices al-sunan al-marḌiyya. You are the leader of those who come first and those who come last. No one comes close to you and certainly [no one] equals you. But you are not responsible for their guidance. Guidance is among the special characteristics of Our right and not a sliver of it is given to another. O Muḥammad you call them but We guide them.�
لِلْفُقَرَاءِ الَّذِينَ أُحْصِرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ ضَرْبًا فِي الْأَرْضِ يَحْسَبُهُمُ الْجَاهِلُ أَغْنِيَاءَ مِنَ التَّعَفُّفِ تَعْرِفُهُمْ بِسِيمَاهُمْ لَا يَسْأَلُونَ النَّاسَ إِلْحَافًا ۗ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ
📘 [It is] for the poor, who are constrained in the path of God and are not able to travel in the earth. The ignorant man counts them as rich because of their self-restraint. Thou shalt rec- ognize them by their mark-they do not ask of the people imploringly. And whatever good you expend, surely God knows it. This is a description of the state of the poor among the Companions and a clarification of their conduct. Until the day of resurrection, this is the balm of the hearts of the burnt and broken. Their first attribute is that they are constrained in the path of God, that is, they have halted at God's decree. They have constrained their souls to obey Him, their hearts to recognize Him, their spirits to love Him, and their secret cores to see Him.23 They have settled down in God's decree and approved of it, they have welcomed His command, they have kept their souls in obedience, they have occupied their hearts with recognition, their spirits have come to be at ease in love, and their secret cores have remained in anticipation of vision, for the Exalted Lord says about them, " They are unable to travel in the earth. " They are so busy with the Real that they attend neither to the creatures nor to themselves. They take no steps in seeking daily provision, nor do they put their hearts into acquisition and trade. This is exactly what He says: " whom neither trade nor buying diverts from the remembrance of God " [24:37]. They are chevaliers whose watchword is God's remembrance and whose blanket is God's love. They have repose and settledness at the threshold of serving Him and their aspiration is free of others. They are the beauty of paradise and the adorn- ment of the abode of settledness [40:39]-a few of the Emigrants and a few of the Helpers. The ignorant man counts them as rich because of their self-restraint. You would say that they are without need and you would number them as wealthy, for, despite the defectiveness of their state and the constraint of poverty, they never ask, whether from creatures or from the Real. Not asking from creatures is precisely trust, and trust is the level of their abode. Not asking from the Real is the reality of approval, and the field of approval is their way station.
الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
📘 Those who expend their wealth night and day, secretly and openly, shall have their wage with their Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they grieve. As long as they have any wealth, they do not slacken from expending it for an hour, night and day. When the wealth is exhausted, they do not slacken from witnessing Him for a moment, night and day.24 This is as they say: Wealth, gold, things-gamble them away for nothing. When the work reaches your spirit, gamble it away! Spending wealth in the road of the religion according to the Shariah is the work of the faithful, and throwing away the spirit in the contemplation of the majesty and beauty of the Patron in respect of the Haqiqah is the work of the chevaliers. This is the effort of servanthood by the servants. What then is worthy of God and the divine generosity toward the servants?!
الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ الرِّبَا لَا يَقُومُونَ إِلَّا كَمَا يَقُومُ الَّذِي يَتَخَبَّطُهُ الشَّيْطَانُ مِنَ الْمَسِّ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا الْبَيْعُ مِثْلُ الرِّبَا ۗ وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا ۚ فَمَنْ جَاءَهُ مَوْعِظَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِ فَانْتَهَىٰ فَلَهُ مَا سَلَفَ وَأَمْرُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ وَمَنْ عَادَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
📘 Those who devour usury shall not rise again except as one whom Satan has made prostrate from touch; that is because they say �Trade is like usury�: God has permitted trade and forbidden usury. Whoever receives an admonition from his Lord and desists he shall have his past gains and his affair is committed to God; but whoever reverts-those are the inhabitants of the fire abiding therein. Those who turn away from the command giving themselves license from their own interpretation taÌwīl have neither secure independence in the present moment lā istiqlālun lahum fī l-ḥāl nor recovery in the end wa- lā intiʿāshun fī l-maÌāl. They lose in their current life khasirū fī ʿājilihim and have no profit in their future wa-lam yarbaḥū fī ājilihim. Those who heed the calls of admonition curb the bridle of their whims and do not give free rein to persist [in prohibited actions] are granted respite for the present. However if they return to these blameworthy states let them wait for the swiftest uprooting and sudden chastisement.
يَمْحَقُ اللَّهُ الرِّبَا وَيُرْبِي الصَّدَقَاتِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ أَثِيمٍ
📘 God effaces usury but He augments voluntary almsgivings with inter- est. God loves not any guilty ingrate. The behaviors He has permitted are connected to good things fa-maqrūnun bi-l-khayrāt and are accompanied by blessings wa-maṣḥūbun bi-l-barakāt while [behaviors] that arise from [personal] whims come to naught-loss is the end of the affair of one [who follows his own whims].
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
📘 Those who have faith and do wholesome deeds, who perform the prayer and give the alms tax, shall have their wage with their Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they grieve. In other words, “Enough for those who come to be Ours will be what they find with Us, for We leave not to waste the wage of those who do beautiful deeds [18:30].” “When someone has recourse to the gate of Our generosity, We give him shelter in the shade of Our blessings. When the dust of Our path falls on someone, the darkness of separation from Us will not fall upon him. When someone takes one step toward Us, he will find a gift with Us.” In other words, “When someone joins with Us, he will escape from the night attack of severance.” Or: “When someone binds his heart to Our generosity, he will pack his bags from the room of sor- rows.” Or: “When someone sees Us, his spirit will laugh. He who reaches himself will reach Us. Nothing can be said about what he who reaches himself will see and hear.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, all Your caresses are for our sake, for in each breath ap- pears so much burning with the light of Your solicitude. Who has a patron like You? Where is a friend like You? With the attributes that You have, nothing else is fitting. All this is the mark, and the celebration is tomorrow. This indeed is the message, and the robe of honor is in place.” The robe of honor is what He said: “shall have their wage with their Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, neither shall they grieve.” Wait until tomorrow, when He gives out the generous wage and tremendous caress that He has with Himself, the boundless blessings and everlasting triumph, in the assembly of repose and ease [56:89] and the appointed time of union with the Beloved. When will my luck smile at me from Your playing field? When will separation from You strike its tent from my spirit's desert? What wonderful work is the work of the poor! Gabriel, with six hundred peacock wings, could not take one step beyond the Lote Tree along with that paragon of the world.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 O you who believe fear God and give up the usury that is outstand- ing if you are believers. Being content with what is promised mawʿūd by the Lord is better for the one who submits than attaching one's heart to what the lower self seeks maqṣūd. What you seek maqṣūd is from the deceptions of the lower self while what you are promised mawʿūd is guaranteed by the Real.
فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا فَأْذَنُوا بِحَرْبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ۖ وَإِنْ تُبْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ رُءُوسُ أَمْوَالِكُمْ لَا تَظْلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ
📘 But if you do not then be warned of war from God and His Messenger. Yet if you repent you shall have your principal sums not being unjust and no injustice being done to you. Those who willfully persist have no weight or measure miqdār before Us no standing or degree of dignity akhṬār.
كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنْتُمْ أَمْوَاتًا فَأَحْيَاكُمْ ۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
📘 How do you disbelieve in God, seeing that you were dead, and He brought you to life. Then He shall make you dead, then He shall bring you to life. By way of allusion He is saying, " O you who have lost the end of your own thread! O you who have fallen into the well of your own mortal nature! If you want the road clearer than this, why do you not go forward? If you want the field wider than this, why do you not mount up? If you want the candle brighter than this, why are you falling off the path? O you over whom so many years have passed and you have still not caught a scent! O you who have sat at so many tables and are still hungry! O you who have worn a thousand clothes and are still naked! O Muslim! The playing field is open, where are the mounted riders? The tribunal is open, where are the plaintiffs? The physician is present, where are the ill? The beauty is unveiled, where are the passionate? " You were dead, and He brought you to life. " You were dead, but I brought you to life. Why do you not look? You were ignorant, but I made you knowers. Why do you not perceive? I showed you the road, why do you not go? " It wants a man to catch the scent- otherwise, the world is full of the east wind's fragrance. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, how can the servant overcome the beginningless decree? When he does not have, what can he do? What is the servant's effort? The work is done by what You want. How can the servant save himself with his own effort? " Then He shall make you dead, then He shall bring you to life. It is said that death is of three sorts: death by the curse, death by regret, and death by generous gift. Death by the curse belongs to the disbelievers, death by regret to the disobedient, and death by generous gift to the godwary. Life also is of three sorts: first the life of fear, then the life of hope, then the life of love. The life of fear appears in kindness, the life of hope appears in service, and the life of love appears in remembrance.
وَإِنْ كَانَ ذُو عُسْرَةٍ فَنَظِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ مَيْسَرَةٍ ۚ وَأَنْ تَصَدَّقُوا خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ ۖ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 And if any man should be in difficulty then [let there be] respite till things are easier; but that you should give a voluntary almsgiving is better for you did you but know. When the insolvency of a detained man is determined before the judge it is not permissible to continue his detention. If the proof of the man's insolvency is demonstrated that [proof] is taken in security for what is due his adversary. But he is in a period of respite and delay. In that the Lord does not judge us but with His knowledge of our difficulties and weakness and the sincerity of our need for Him and our dedication to Him He is merciful with us. His words �till things are easier� [relate to] the poor insolvent man [who] has no way to obtain anything for himself except through what God ������ appoints for him as the portion of debtors. Income accrues to those who have the goods and the contract. What does the insolvent [per- son] have to do with itḍ What does the insolvent [person] have to do with profit in trade from the transformation of capital and what is done with itḍ What is left for the insolvent [person]ḍ The jurists say he must seek work if he is healthy. If he is weak then this [statement that he must seek work] applies only if he has enough physical strength. As for those who are bankrupt in vigor just as one is bankrupt in wealth what way remains for him except what his Protector appoints for himḍ
وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا تُرْجَعُونَ فِيهِ إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ ثُمَّ تُوَفَّىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ
📘 And fear a day wherein you shall be returned to God and every soul shall be paid in full what it has earned; and they shall not be wronged. There are two kinds of return: [a return] for the bodily and lower selves in the future at the time of death and [a return] for the innermost selves and hearts at every breath. [The latter is] a reckoning-a payment in ready cash versus a promise [regarding the future]. The payment in ready cash for His claim [at every breath] is more fitting than what will come at the resurrection by His promise. He said to ordinary people �And fear a day� and He said to the elect �and fear Me� [2:41].
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا تَدَايَنْتُمْ بِدَيْنٍ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى فَاكْتُبُوهُ ۚ وَلْيَكْتُبْ بَيْنَكُمْ كَاتِبٌ بِالْعَدْلِ ۚ وَلَا يَأْبَ كَاتِبٌ أَنْ يَكْتُبَ كَمَا عَلَّمَهُ اللَّهُ ۚ فَلْيَكْتُبْ وَلْيُمْلِلِ الَّذِي عَلَيْهِ الْحَقُّ وَلْيَتَّقِ اللَّهَ رَبَّهُ وَلَا يَبْخَسْ مِنْهُ شَيْئًا ۚ فَإِنْ كَانَ الَّذِي عَلَيْهِ الْحَقُّ سَفِيهًا أَوْ ضَعِيفًا أَوْ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ يُمِلَّ هُوَ فَلْيُمْلِلْ وَلِيُّهُ بِالْعَدْلِ ۚ وَاسْتَشْهِدُوا شَهِيدَيْنِ مِنْ رِجَالِكُمْ ۖ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَامْرَأَتَانِ مِمَّنْ تَرْضَوْنَ مِنَ الشُّهَدَاءِ أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا الْأُخْرَىٰ ۚ وَلَا يَأْبَ الشُّهَدَاءُ إِذَا مَا دُعُوا ۚ وَلَا تَسْأَمُوا أَنْ تَكْتُبُوهُ صَغِيرًا أَوْ كَبِيرًا إِلَىٰ أَجَلِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ أَقْسَطُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَأَقْوَمُ لِلشَّهَادَةِ وَأَدْنَىٰ أَلَّا تَرْتَابُوا ۖ إِلَّا أَنْ تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً حَاضِرَةً تُدِيرُونَهَا بَيْنَكُمْ فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَلَّا تَكْتُبُوهَا ۗ وَأَشْهِدُوا إِذَا تَبَايَعْتُمْ ۚ وَلَا يُضَارَّ كَاتِبٌ وَلَا شَهِيدٌ ۚ وَإِنْ تَفْعَلُوا فَإِنَّهُ فُسُوقٌ بِكُمْ ۗ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۖ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ اللَّهُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
📘 O you who believe when you contract a debt one upon another for a stated term write it down; and let a writer write it down between you justly; and let not any writer refuse to write it down as God has taught him; so let him write and let the debtor dictate; and let him fear God his Lord and not diminish anything of it. And if the debtor be a fool or weak or unable to dictate himself then let his guardian dictate justly. And summon to bear witness two witnesses men; or if the two be not men then one man and two women such witnesses as you approve of so that if one of the two women errs; the other will remind her; and let the witnesses not refuse whenever they are summoned; and be not disdainful to write it down small or great with its term; that is more equitable in God's sight more upright for testimony and nearer that you will not be in doubt unless it be trade carried out there and then that you give and take between you then you will not be at fault if you do not write it down. And take witnesses when you are trading with one another. And let not either writer or witness be pressed; and if you do that is sinfulness in you. And fear God. God teaches you and God knows all things. And if you are upon a journey and you do not find a writer then a pledge in hand. But if one of you trusts another let him who is trusted deliver his trust and let him fear God his Lord. And do not conceal the testimony; whoever conceals it his heart is sinful; and God knows what you do. God ������ commands created beings to act with sincerity ṣidq. He teaches them the particulars of their transactions with one another and teaches them to adopt caution and bear witness [as explained in this verse] so that no injury will occur between them. That is in accordance with His mercy toward them and follows from His kindness to them so that they will not be adversaries. He commands that rights be strengthened by writing and tak- ing witnesses and commands [this] witnessing from the outset and through the execution [of the transaction].
۞ وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ وَلَمْ تَجِدُوا كَاتِبًا فَرِهَانٌ مَقْبُوضَةٌ ۖ فَإِنْ أَمِنَ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا فَلْيُؤَدِّ الَّذِي اؤْتُمِنَ أَمَانَتَهُ وَلْيَتَّقِ اللَّهَ رَبَّهُ ۗ وَلَا تَكْتُمُوا الشَّهَادَةَ ۚ وَمَنْ يَكْتُمْهَا فَإِنَّهُ آثِمٌ قَلْبُهُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ
📘 O you who believe when you contract a debt one upon another for a stated term write it down; and let a writer write it down between you justly; and let not any writer refuse to write it down as God has taught him; so let him write and let the debtor dictate; and let him fear God his Lord and not diminish anything of it. And if the debtor be a fool or weak or unable to dictate himself then let his guardian dictate justly. And summon to bear witness two witnesses men; or if the two be not men then one man and two women such witnesses as you approve of so that if one of the two women errs; the other will remind her; and let the witnesses not refuse whenever they are summoned; and be not disdainful to write it down small or great with its term; that is more equitable in God's sight more upright for testimony and nearer that you will not be in doubt unless it be trade carried out there and then that you give and take between you then you will not be at fault if you do not write it down. And take witnesses when you are trading with one another. And let not either writer or witness be pressed; and if you do that is sinfulness in you. And fear God. God teaches you and God knows all things. And if you are upon a journey and you do not find a writer then a pledge in hand. But if one of you trusts another let him who is trusted deliver his trust and let him fear God his Lord. And do not conceal the testimony; whoever conceals it his heart is sinful; and God knows what you do. God ������ commands created beings to act with sincerity ṣidq. He teaches them the particulars of their transactions with one another and teaches them to adopt caution and bear witness [as explained in this verse] so that no injury will occur between them. That is in accordance with His mercy toward them and follows from His kindness to them so that they will not be adversaries. He commands that rights be strengthened by writing and tak- ing witnesses and commands [this] witnessing from the outset and through the execution [of the transaction].
لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ وَإِنْ تُبْدُوا مَا فِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَوْ تُخْفُوهُ يُحَاسِبْكُمْ بِهِ اللَّهُ ۖ فَيَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
📘 To God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Whether you show what is in your souls or you hide it, God will bring you to account for it. To God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth as ownership, origina- tion, creation, and devising. He gave them existence from nonexistence, so He owns them with the ownership of exaltedness and powerfulness, not the ownership of gaining and earning. He does in them whatsoever He wills [3:40] and He decrees whatsoever He desires [5:1]. He is saying that everything in the heavens and the earths is owned by God, an ownership of existence-giving and exaltedness, not an ownership of earning and inheritance. It is the owner- ship of the Adamites that is gained by the ruling property of commerce and gift, or acquisition and inheritance. Hence the ruling property that establishes ownership makes the rightful due of what is owned necessary for them. As for God's ownership, it comes by way of bringing nonbeing into being, by creation after nonbeing, and by making new from the outset. Thus His ownership is not like anyone else's ownership, nor does anyone have any ruling property over Him in that. What He does with what He Himself created He does by reason of His own lordhood. From Him it is justice, not injustice. Injustice is when someone does something that is not his to do. But it is God's to do whatever He does because He is creator, enactor, and king. Majestic is His ruling power, tremendous His rank, exalted His magnificence, realized His word, and high His reality beyond the perception of intellects! To God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. He did not say this so that you would attach your heart to it and occupy yourself with it, but so that you would attach your heart to its creator and see its artisan. This is the same as He said: “Do not prostrate yourselves to the sun and the moon, but prostrate yourselves to God, who created them” [41:37]. When He created heaven and earth, He created them as the gazing place of the common people, so that they would look at the artisanry and from it reach the Artisan.
آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۚ كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِنْ رُسُلِهِ ۚ وَقَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ
📘 The Messenger has faith in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the faithful. Each one has faith in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers: “We make no distinc- tion among any of His messengers.” They say, “We hear and we obey! Thy forgiveness, our Lord! And to Thee is the homecoming.” God takes no soul to task beyond its capacity. It shall have what it has earned, and against it shall be what it has acquired. “Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget or make mistakes. Our Lord, put not upon us a burden such as that Thou hast put on those before us. Our Lord, and do not burden us with what we do not have the strength to bear. And pardon us, and forgive us, and have mercy upon us. Thou art our Patron, so help us against the people of the unbelievers.” This is a declaration of the greatness and eminence of the Messenger at the moment of contemplation. He said, “The Messenger has faith.” He did not say, “Thou hast faith.” This is how masters and kings are addressed in the manner of declaring their greatness. It is exactly like what He said about Himself at the beginning of the Surah of Opening: “Praise belongs to God.” He did not say, “Praise belongs to Me.” This was to declare His own greatness and to make manifest His exaltedness and majesty. The Messenger has faith. Now that He has mentioned faith, the Uprising, the Garden, the Fire, the prayer, the alms tax, retaliation, fasting, hajj, struggle, marriage, divorce, menstruation, the waiting period, expenditure, foster relationship, forswearal, divorce initiated by the wife, in- heritance, charity, vows, buying, selling, usury, debts, and ransom; and He has mentioned the stories of the prophets and the signs of His power, God completes the surah by mentioning that His prophet and the faithful assent to the truthfulness of all of it. Hence He says, The Messenger has faith in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the faithful. This is praise and laudation of the Prophet, who explained these rulings and delivered the message, and of the faithful, for we have recognized, accepted, and held firm to all the rulings, boundaries, stories of the prophets, and marks of God's power and tremendousness that were mentioned.
لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ ۗ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَا إِنْ نَسِينَا أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَا إِصْرًا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِ ۖ وَاعْفُ عَنَّا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا ۚ أَنْتَ مَوْلَانَا فَانْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ
📘 The Messenger has faith in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the faithful. Each one has faith in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers: “We make no distinc- tion among any of His messengers.” They say, “We hear and we obey! Thy forgiveness, our Lord! And to Thee is the homecoming.” God takes no soul to task beyond its capacity. It shall have what it has earned, and against it shall be what it has acquired. “Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget or make mistakes. Our Lord, put not upon us a burden such as that Thou hast put on those before us. Our Lord, and do not burden us with what we do not have the strength to bear. And pardon us, and forgive us, and have mercy upon us. Thou art our Patron, so help us against the people of the unbelievers.” This is a declaration of the greatness and eminence of the Messenger at the moment of contemplation. He said, “The Messenger has faith.” He did not say, “Thou hast faith.” This is how masters and kings are addressed in the manner of declaring their greatness. It is exactly like what He said about Himself at the beginning of the Surah of Opening: “Praise belongs to God.” He did not say, “Praise belongs to Me.” This was to declare His own greatness and to make manifest His exaltedness and majesty. The Messenger has faith. Now that He has mentioned faith, the Uprising, the Garden, the Fire, the prayer, the alms tax, retaliation, fasting, hajj, struggle, marriage, divorce, menstruation, the waiting period, expenditure, foster relationship, forswearal, divorce initiated by the wife, in- heritance, charity, vows, buying, selling, usury, debts, and ransom; and He has mentioned the stories of the prophets and the signs of His power, God completes the surah by mentioning that His prophet and the faithful assent to the truthfulness of all of it. Hence He says, The Messenger has faith in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the faithful. This is praise and laudation of the Prophet, who explained these rulings and delivered the message, and of the faithful, for we have recognized, accepted, and held firm to all the rulings, boundaries, stories of the prophets, and marks of God's power and tremendousness that were mentioned.
هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ ۚ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
📘 He it is who created for you all that is in the earth, then He went up to heaven and propor- tioned it as seven heavens, and He is knower of everything. In another place He said, “He subjected to you whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, all together, from Him” [45:13]. He is saying, “I created everything in the empire of the earth for you and subjected it to you. My bestowal is not tiny, My generosity toward those who are burnt for Me is not trivial. There will never be any backsliding in My caressing you. Nor is it as if I limited Myself to the empire of the earth, for I also set up the heavens for your gaze, for the pleasure of your eyes, and as a storehouse for your daily provision. My servant! When you step into the street of My covenant, you do not know what good news reaches the heaven-dwellers and the earth-dwellers and how they congratulate each other. I know, for I know everything and reach everyone.” And He is knower of everything. In this verse there is a subtle point. He did not say, “Who created you for all that is in the earth.” He said, “Who created for you all that is in the earth.” In other words, “I created every- thing that is in the empire of the earth and the heavens for your sake, and I created you for My sake.” Do you not see that He said specifically to Moses, “I chose thee for Myself” [20:41], and generally to the creatures, “I created the jinn and mankind only to worship Me” [51:56]? It was MuṣṬafā who understood the worth of this declaration and gave thanks for this one of His blessings. On the night of proximity and generosity when he was taken to the heavens, all of creation and the empires of the two worlds were scatted at the feet of his truthfulness. That paragon did not look at it from the corner of his eye. He said, “I was not created for this.” The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]. Hail to him! Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī, who beautifully traveled in the road of MuṣṬafā's Sunnah and beautifully observed courtesy toward the Presence, said, “I kept on crossing perils until I found the empires.
الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ
📘 Those who have faith in the Unseen and perform the prayer and spend of what We have provided them. They love God without having seen Him. They attest to His uniqueness and they believe in His oneness in Essence and attributes. They hold firm to His Messenger without having seen him, they accept his messengerhood, and they walk straight on the road of his Sunnah. After five hundred years of blackness on whiteness, they accept him with spirit and heart. The message he conveyed, the reports he gave of the World of Dominion, the Lote Tree of the Final End, the Gardens of the Refuge, the Throne of the Patron, the outcome of this world-they bear witness to its truth and they believe in all of it. They are the ones whom MuṣṬafā called his brothers: “Oh, the yearning to encounter my brothers!” And perform the prayer. They do the prayer such that you would say they are gazing on God and whispering secretly with Him, confirming the truth of the Prophet's words, “Worship God as if you see Him, for if you do not see Him, surely He sees you.” He also said, “When the servant stands for the prayer, he is before the eyes of the All-Merciful. When he looks around, God says, 'Child of Adam! At whom are you looking? Are you looking at someone better for you than I? Child of Adam! Look at Me, for I am better for you than the one at whom you are looking.'” Strive at the time you come to the prayer to keep your thoughts in the prayer and to turn your heart away from the bazaar. Have courtesy, turn your heart away from blessings, and know the worth of whispering secretly with the Patron of Blessings. For it is person of low aspiration and meanness who finds secret whispering with the Patron of Blessings and then busies his heart with the blessings. And spend of what We have provided them. He adds to the attributes of the godwary, saying that the caresses He has placed upon them and the blessings He has given them-they undertake to show gratitude for these blessings and, by the command of the Shariah, they caress the poor, give comfort to them, and consider them the Real's deputies in receiving charity. This indeed is the road of Muslims generally, who discharge the obligatory or add something to it voluntarily. As for the road of the folk of the Haqiqah in this regard, it is something else. Whatever they have they give away and still consider themselves to have fallen short. Someone asked Shiblī, “Of two hundred dirhams, how much alms tax is mandatory?” He said, “Are you asking about yours or mine?” He said, “I did not know that my alms tax is one thing and yours something else. Explain that to me.” He said, “If you give it, five dirhams is mandatory. If I give it, the whole two hundred, with five more as a token of gratitude.” It is mandatory for the common people of the community to discharge the obligatory act of alms tax. The outcome of their work is that they say, “Lord God, are You approving and satisfied with what we have given?” The fruit of the deed of the elect, who give away all their possessions, is that God says, “My servant, are you approving and satisfied with Me in what you have done?” How far apart are the two! The description of the state of Abū Bakr gives witness that this is so. After he had given away all of his possessions, he came one day into the Prophet's presence draped in a white blanket with a pin of date-palm sticking out from the front of the blanket. Gabriel descended and said, “O MuḤammad, God sends you His greeting and says, 'What is it with Abū Bakr that his cloak is pierced by a pin?” He said, “O Gabriel, he spent his possessions before the conquest.” He said, “God says, 'Give him My greetings and ask him if he approves of Me in this poverty of his, or is he angry?'” He said, “What, should I be angry with my Lord? I approve of my Lord.” It has been said that the servant stands upright and straight in his states through three things: heart, body, and possessions. As long as he does not have faith in the Unseen, his heart will not go straight in the religion and neither clarity nor familiarity will appear in him. As long as he does not discharge the obligatory prayers, the soundness and straightness of his body will not be set right with continuity. As long as he does not separate the alms tax from his possessions, these posses- sions will not settle down with him.
وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 And when thy Lord said to the angels, “Surely I am setting in the earth a vicegerent,” they said, “What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there, and shed blood, while we glorify Thy praise and call Thee holy?” He said, “Surely I know what you do not know.” There was a world at ease. No heart burned with passion and no breast was deluded by mad fervor. Then the ocean of mercy began to boil. The treasuries of obedient deeds were full, and no dust of lassitude had settled on the foreheads of the obedient in their obedience. The banner of their boast- ful claim, “We glorify Thy praise,” was raised to Capella. All those in the cosmos who had any subtle substance began craving for their own selves. The majestic Throne was looking at its own tremendousness and saying, “Perhaps the script of these words is written for me.” The Footstool was looking at its own amplitude-“Perhaps this sermon is being read in my name.” The eight paradises gazed on their own beauty-“Maybe this rulership will be given to us.” None wanted anything to do with dust. Each fell into delusion, each caught by mad fervor. Suddenly, from the Presence of Exaltation and Majesty, this report was given to the world of the angels: “Surely I am setting in the earth a vicegerent.” It was not that He was consulting with the angels. Rather, He was laying the foundation of Adam's exaltation and tremendousness. He was not asking for help, but spreading the carpet of Adam's dignity. He was saying, “The ruling property of My severity has acted. I have commanded the pen of generosity to write out an inscription from the beginning of the world's ledger to its end. This resolution is written for the inhabitants of both worlds, from the top of the Throne to the bottom of the Carpet: 'The dust-dwelling Adam is granted chieftainship over all the empires. His exalted breast will be bright with the light of recognition. In him the subtleties of My generosity and the artifacts of My bounteousness will become apparent.'” This exalted declaration caused the hearts of the proximate angels to quake with awe. They said, “What is this all about? He has not yet been created.” The exalted Qur'an was beating the drum of his vicegerency at the threshold of his beauty even though he had not yet entered into the bonds of creation. The majesty of predetermination was reporting on the basis of the hidden affairs of the Unseen: “You must not come around the field of Adam's good fortune, for you do not recognize the secret of his innate disposition. No falcon of anyone's mind has sat upon the branch of Adam's good fortune! No eye of anyone's insight has grasped the beauty of Adam's limpid sun!” Where did this eminence come from? From whence did this good fortune arise? It came from the fact that Adam was the oyster shell of the mysteries of lordhood and the treasury of the jewels of the empire. How many precious pearls and royal sparklers were placed in that oyster shell! Along with every pearl He arranged a black bead on the string. Along with the pearl of every prophet He placed a black bead as its counterpart: With a pearl like Adam the chosen was a bead like Satan the wretched; with a pearl like Abraham the bosom friend was a bead like Nimrod the rebellious; with a pearl like Moses of ʿImrān was a bead like Pharaoh the unaided; with a pearl like Jesus son of Mary was a bead like the tribe full of misguidance and transgression; with a pearl like MuṣṬafā the Arab was a bead like Abū Jahl full of ignorance. When the angels heard this terrifying declaration, settledness and repose fled from them and they lost the composure of their intellects and their patience. They all spoke up with questions and said, “What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there, and shed blood? O Lord! O King! O Magnanimous! O Creator! This dust-dwelling Adam will stain the embroidered robe of proximity with disobedience. He will pull his head out from the collar of obedience. You have created us from holiness and declaring holy! You have adorned our breasts with reciting the for- mula of tawḤīd and glorifying! You have made all these our means!” It is said that a fire appeared from the hidden affairs of the Unseen and incinerated a tribe of the angels. This declaration was made with the attribute of exaltedness: “Surely I know what you do not know.” “You who are gazers, just keep on gazing! What do you have to do with the secret treasuries of the divinity? How can you intervene in the hidden affairs of Our unseen lordhood? It is We who know the preparations of Our divinity and the hidden affairs of the mysteries of Our lordhood. How can insignificant minds, the sciences and intellects of anyone other than Us, defective under- standings and newly arrived insights, find a way to the mysteries of Our divinity? With Him are the keys to the Unseen-none knows them but He [6:59]. “In the beginningless We decreed that We would light the lamp of the realities of recognition in the breast of the dust-dweller Adam, turn over to him the edict of rulership, and plant the flag of the earthly empires in his soldierly heart. “You who are the proximate angels of the Empire, be serving-boys, spread the carpet in front of the throne of Adam's good fortune, and prostrate yourselves before him! “You who circumambulate Our Throne, ask forgiveness for the not-yet-committed sins of Adam's progeny, who have not yet come into existence! Ask for safety in their going forth, and say, 'Peace be upon them, peace be upon them,' so that when they come into existence, their feet will not slacken on the carpet of servanthood. “You who are in charge of the veils, weep for the folk of heedlessness among Adam's progeny so that We may conceal their disobedience with Our forgiveness because of your weeping! “You who are the folk of the cushions, take up this pure water whose waves are lapping around Our Throne with water-bags of light and, when they lift up their heads thirsty from the earth on the Day of Resurrection, provide water for them! “You who are the sinless of the Lote Tree of the Final End, wait until the Greatest Fright ap- pears at the resurrection, when awe and punishment's holding and grasping, taking and seizing, all come forth, and then give the faithful among them security from that Fright and convey to them Our greeting of Peace! “We have commanded all this so that you angels may come to know the eminence of these dust-dwellers and make no protest at Our decree.” There is a sound report that the Supreme Plenum and the proximate angels of the Exalted Threshold said, “O Lord, You have given the dust-dwellers the low world. Give us the high world, for we are the birds of the Presence and the peacocks of the Exalted Threshold.” The answer came to them, “I will not make the wholesome progeny of him whom I created with My own two hands like those to whom I said, 'Be!', so they came to be. “I am the intimate of passion, and you're just passing by unaware of the tale and state of the passionate. Why do you grieve for the ugliness of My beloved? Come into My eyes and gaze upon him.”
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلَائِكَةِ فَقَالَ أَنْبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاءِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
📘 And He taught Adam the names all of them; then He presented them to the angels and said �Now tell Me the names of these if you speak truly.� The general expression ʿumūm in His saying names necessarily implies comprehensiveness while the connection of this word to all of them indicates all-inclusiveness and verification [of the meaning of each]. Just as He taught [Adam] the names of created things-all of them according to what is articulated in the tafsīr of Ibn ʿAbbās and others-He also taught him the names of the Real ������. But He only disclosed to [the angels] the locus He chose for knowledge of the names of created things and by that [disclosure] the measure of [Adam's] superiority over them. As for [Adam's] uniqueness in knowing His names ������ that was a secret of which no angel who is near malak muqarrab was aware. One who does not have a rank equal to Adam in knowing the names of created things-what hope could there be in his approaching the names of the Real and grasping the secrets of the unseenḍ Since being selected to know the names of created things makes it proper for the angels to prostrate before him what is one to think about being selected to know the names of the Real ������ḍ What is owed to one who is honored with thatḍ It is said that the special status of the angels is in [their] glorification and sanctification [of God]. These acts of obedience are appropriate for created beings for surely obedience is the mark of servants and servants alone. [On the other hand] knowledge in general is a kind of commenda- tion madḥ that is absolutely necessary in describing the Real ������ one that is not appropriate for anything other than Him. Among the category of created beings there is no one more perfect in honoring Him than the one who honors Him through His own explanation of His attributes. It is said that He honored [Adam] privately with what He taught him and then explained His selection of him and His giving him precedence on the day of the public revealing [of Adam to the angels]. It is said [that in the words] then He presented them the [word] �then� thumma is a particle of extension or delay.
قَالُوا سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ
📘 They said �Glory be to You! We know not except what You have taught us. Surely You are the Knower Wise.� [The angels] offered praise before they made their apology and declared the truth of His judgment over any objection they might have. It means �We have no knowledge of that which You have asked us about and there is no blame that can be directed to You for charging those who are incapable with something You know they cannot do. Surely You are the Knower Wise that is what You do is true and sincere there is none who can pass judgment over You and there is no foolishness nor ugliness from You.�
قَالَ يَا آدَمُ أَنْبِئْهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا أَنْبَأَهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ لَكُمْ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ غَيْبَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَأَعْلَمُ مَا تُبْدُونَ وَمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ
📘 He said �Adam tell them their names�; And when he had told them their names He said �Did I not tell you that I know the unseen in the heav- ens and the earthḍ And I know what you reveal and what you were hiding.� Among the traces of the divine solicitude to Adam ���� ������ is that when He said to the angels Now tell Me [2:31] they were seized with a fear of speaking especially since He asked that they tell Him something that with their type of knowledge [they] did not comprehend. But because of the information Adam ���� ������ had [God] directed him to inform [the angels] saying �tell them their names� and Adam was not overly fearful of speaking to them. When Adam ���� ������ informed them of the names that they did not know [because of the type of knowledge they had] his merit became apparent to them and He said �Did I not tell you that I know the unseen in the heavens and the earthḍ� meaning �[I know] the different types of knowledge of creation which you do not.� �And I know what you reveal regarding [your] acts of obedience and [what you] hide in believing in [your] superiority over Adam ���� ������.� When the Real ������ wanted to choose Adam He protected him taught him and showed him the effects of his care until [Adam] said what he said [about the names]. When He wanted to execute His decree ḥukm regarding him He caused forgetfulness to enter him so that he forgot His covenant in the presence [of God] and transgressed His limit. God most high said And We made a covenant with Adam before but he forgot and We did not find in him any constancy [20:115]. The moment favored by the [divine] solicitude promoted knowledge and goodness completely while the moment in which the [divine] decree took effect returned him to the state of forgetfulness and disobedience. Thus are the decrees of the Real ������ in what they make come and go. The worshiper is made lowly by His decree and He is the doer of what He desires [11:107 85:16]. When they imagined [that they could] obtain preference for themselves by their glorification and sanctification He informed them that the carpet of majesty is too holy to be adorned by the obedience of those who obey or to be defiled by the errors of [those who] stubbornly deny. Their returning to prostration before Adam made manifest [God's] lack of need for the agreement wifāq or opposition khilāf [of created beings].
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ
📘 And when We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before Adam!” Majestic and all-compelling is the God of the world and the world's folk, the Enactor, the renowned knower of the hidden, the eternal in beautiful doing and tremendous in rank, never ignorant of what He knows, never regretful for what He bestows, never at a loss over what He has done. He is a Lord who adorns what He disapproves for some and makes ugly what He approves for others. He created the despairing Iblis from fire, gave him a place in the Lote Tree of the Final End, and sent the proximate angels of the Presence to seek knowledge from him. Despite such distinction and level, He wrote out the inscription of wretchedness for him and bound his waist with the sash of the curse. He pulled Adam up from dark dust, made the Higher Plenum the bearers of his throne, clothed him in the cape of exaltedness, placed the crown of generosity on his head, and said to the proximate angels of the Presence, “Prostrate yourselves before Adam!” It has come in the traditions that Adam was placed on a throne that had seven hundred legs, the distance of one leg to another a seven-hundred year journey. The command came: “O Gabriel, O Michael, you chiefs of the angels! Lift up Adam's throne and carry it around the heavens so that his eminence and rank may be known to those who said, 'What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption therein, and shed blood?'” [2:30]. Then they placed that throne before the Majestic Throne. The command came to the angels, “All of you go to Adam's throne and prostrate yourself before Adam.” The angels came and gazed upon Adam, and they all became drunk with his beauty. A face adorned by the God of heaven has no need for a hairdresser's touch. They saw a beauty without end, the crown of “He created Adam in His form” on his head, the garb of “I have blown into him of My spirit” [15:29] on his body, the embroidery of the solicitude of “He loves them, and they love Him” [5:54] on the sleeve of his sinlessness. Though we're strangers and our hearts are upset, we're serving-boys of that world-adorning face. Concerning the description of Adam, Wahab ibn Munabbih said, “When God created Adam, He created him in the most beautiful form and dressed him in the ornaments of the Garden. He put rings on ten fingers, anklets on his legs, and dressed him with bracelets on his arms. He attended to the crown and diadem on his head and forehead and gave him as title the most beloved of names to Him. He said to him, 'O Abū MuḤammad! Go around the Garden and look to see if anyone is similar to you or if I created any creature more beautiful than you.' “So Adam wandered around in the Garden and became conceited. He strode proudly in the Garden. God deemed that beautiful in him, so He called to him from beyond the Throne: 'Be conceited, Adam, for the likes of you are conceited. I loved something, so I created it solitary for the Solitary.' Then God conveyed that conceit to his offspring. It is arrogance in the ignorant, pridefulness in kings, and ecstasy in the friends.” Good fortune in the spirit and the world is not a game, and felicity is not to be bought. Iblis saw the suffering of the passing days and the toil of the work, but Adam went to paradise. Iblis had obedience without cease, but Adam received this address:
وَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنْتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَٰذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 Dwell thou and thy spouse in the Garden! It has been said that once Iblis met Adam and said, “Know that you have been given a white face and I a black face. Do not be deluded, for our likeness is that of an almond tree planted by a gar- dener. The tree bears fruit, and the fruit is taken to a grocery shop. Some of it is sold to a customer who is a happy man, and some to a customer who is afflicted. The afflicted man blackens the face of the almonds and scatters them on the casket of his dead one. The happy man mixes them with sugar and distributes them with their white faces in his happiness. O Adam! I am the black al- monds scattered over caskets, and the almonds distributed by happiness are the work of your good fortune. But you should know that the gardener is one, and we have drunk water from the same stream. If someone should fall to the work of roses, he will smell roses, and if someone should fall into the gardener's thorns, his eyes will be struck by them.” I said, “In my passion I will be like Your hair, always before Your face.” I thought wrongly and fell far away- I'll be the slaveboy of Your street's watchman. Dhu'l-Nūn Miṣrī said, “I was in the desert and saw Iblis, who had not lifted his head from prostra- tion in forty days. I said, 'Poor wretch, after disownment and the curse, what is all this worship?' “He said, 'O Dhu'l-Nūn, though I have been dismissed from servanthood, He has not been dismissed from lordhood.'” O lovely one, my times and yours are in turmoil, talk of us has filled my city and yours. Union was apportioned in the beginningless, and now separation has come and the talk is of you and me. Sahl ibn ʿAbdallāh Tustarī said, “One day I came across Iblis. I said, 'I seek refuge in God from you.' “He said, 'O Sahl, if you are seeking refuge in God from me, I am seeking refuge in God from God. O Sahl, if you say that you are seeking help against the hand of Iblis, I say that I am seeking help against the hand of the All-Merciful. ' “I said, 'O Iblis, why did you not prostrate yourself before Adam?' “He said, 'O Sahl, let go of these foolish words with me. If I have a road to the Presence, tell me. Do you not want to lay the pretext on me? O Sahl, just now I was at the grave of Adam. I made one thousand prostrations there and placed the dust of his grave on my eyes. In the end I heard this call: “Don't take the trouble. We don't want you.”'” I appear to You as so despoiled that all my obedience is taken as sin. If this story did not turn out like the moon, it is because my carpet's color is black . Sahl said, “Then he gave me a writing and told me to read it, and as I began to read it he disap- peared from my eyes. On it was written this: “Though I erred, destiny did not. Blame me if you want, Sahl, or leave me be.” Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī said, “I asked God to show Iblis to me. I found him in the sanctuary at Mecca and began talking with him. He was speaking clever words. I said, 'O wretch, with all this clever- ness, why did you keep back from the Real's command?' “He said, 'O Abū Yazīd! That was a command of trial, not of a command of desire. If it had been a command of desire, I would never have kept back.' “I said, 'O wretch, is it opposition to the Real that has brought you to these days?' “He said, 'Come now, Abū Yazīd! Opposition is one opposite against another opposite, but God has no opposite. Conformity is one similar with another similar, but God has no similar. Do you think that my conformity with Him is from me and my opposition to Him from me? Both are from Him, and no one has any power over Him. And I, despite what has come to be, hope for mercy, for He has said, “My mercy embraces everything” [7:156], and I am a thing.' “I said, 'That is followed by the condition of godwariness.' “He said, 'Come now! The condition is for him who does not know the outcomes of affairs, but He is a Lord from whom nothing is hidden.' Then he disappeared from before me.”
فَأَزَلَّهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ عَنْهَا فَأَخْرَجَهُمَا مِمَّا كَانَا فِيهِ ۖ وَقُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ ۖ وَلَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُسْتَقَرٌّ وَمَتَاعٌ إِلَىٰ حِينٍ
📘 Then Satan made them slip therefrom. Look at this wonder: First He caressed the servant and put all his little jobs in order, then He sent him into tumult and overthrew what He had done for him, and then He rebuked him. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, You show your friends to the enemies and You turn the poor ones over to heartache and grief. You make them ill, and then You take care of them Your- self. You make them helpless, and then You heal them Yourself. “You made Adam out of dust, and then You acted so beautifully toward him. You placed his happiness at the top of the ledger and made him the guest in paradise. You sat him in the garden of approval, You made a compact with him not to eat the wheat, and in Your unseen knowledge You hid the fact that he would in fact eat the wheat. Then You put him in prison, and You made him weep for years. Your all-compellingness does the work of compellers, Your lordhood does the work of lords. All of Your rebukes and war are aimed at Your friends.” The Pir of the Tariqah was asked, “What do you say: Was Adam more complete in this world or in paradise?” He said, “He was more complete in this world, for in paradise he fell into suspicion because of himself, but in this world he fell into suspicion because of passion.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Take care not to have the opinion that Adam was taken out of paradise because of his lowliness. It was not that. Rather, it was because of the grandeur of his aspiration. The petitioner of passion came to the door of Adam's breast and said, 'O Adam, the beauty of meaning has been unveiled, but you have stayed in the abode of peace.' Adam saw an infinite beauty, next to which the beauty of the eight paradises was nothing. His great aspiration tightened its belt and said: 'If you ever want to fall in love, you must fall in love with that.'” If there's no escape from feeding passion to the spirit I'll suffer passion's grief for the likes of You. The command came, “Adam, now that you have stepped into the street of passion, leave paradise, for it is the house of ease.
فَتَلَقَّىٰ آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
📘 Then Adam received from his Lord some words. Then He spoke with the lid on, not letting out the details, lest the secrets of love fall into the open and so that love's story would stay concealed. I said to her, “Halt [qifī].” She said, “Qāf.” She did not say, “I have halted,” thereby keeping the secret from the watchers. Nor did she say, “I will not halt,” thereby showing consideration for the lover's heart.3 Although the tongue of commentary does not speak of it, the folk of allusion say that it is likely that at the moment of farewell lovers say, “'When you depart from me, do not forget my covenant. Even if awareness of me dwindles one day, do not prefer another over me.'4 O Adam! Do not forget Our compact and do not choose anyone over Me.” The tongue of his state replied, “My heart is Your fellow-traveler and companion- how could it attach its love anywhere else? A heart for whom You are both spirit and awareness- how could it forget Your remembrance?”
قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ۖ فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ مِنِّي هُدًى فَمَنْ تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
📘 We said �Go down from it all together yet there shall come to you from Me guidance and whoever follows My guidance no fear shall befall them neither shall they grieve.� When one displays bad manners on the carpet one is shown the door. When Adam ���� ������ behaved badly at the fountain of nearness God most high said �Go down some of you an enemy to the other; and in the earth a dwelling shall be yours [2:36]-after you had a place of nearness for dwelling and enjoyment for a while.� They were enjoying ease but in the end they returned to want. They have recited: When they became poor they clung to poverty hoping for a reward. Even when things were easy for them they hastened to return to that state. At the same time that [God] expelled [Adam] from the garden and caused him to descend to the earth He gave him the glad tidings that He would return him to his [former] condition if his heart were inclined to return. He said �Yet there shall come to you from Me guidance and who- ever follows My guidance no fear shall befall them neither shall they grieve.�
وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
📘 As for the disbelievers who deny Our signs those shall be the inhabit- ants of the fire abiding therein.� Those who receive favors without gratitude and pay no heed to affirming taṣdīq and recognizing taḥqīq [the truth] will have a painful punish- ment in the end muÌajjal and a separation in the here and now muʿajjal.
وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ وَبِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ
📘 And those who have faith in what has been sent down to thee and what was sent down before thee and who are certain of the next world. This verse is also the attribute of the godwary and the affirmation of their faith in the Qur'an as well as in all the messages and marks that came down from heaven on the tongue of the prophets. The Lord of the Worlds praises them and approves of them because of that, and He accepts their faith. Every eminence and nobility possessed by past communities He gave to them and added to it, and every burden and hardship they had He lifted away from them. Those had longer days of practice, but this community has more reward for obedience. Those had a moment for repentance, but then the punishment of the Hour, but this community's opportunity for repentance of sins extends to the moment of death, and punishment belongs to the Will. Then too the Lord of the Worlds laid a favor on MuṣṬafā and said, “Thou wast not on the side of the Mount when We called out” [28:46]. O paragon, you were not present on that corner of the Mount when We were speaking of you to Moses and talking about your community.” Moses said, “Lord God, in the Torah I read the mention of a community extremely adorned, refined, and approved. They have beautiful conduct and flourishing secret cores. Who are they?” God said, “That is the community of MuḤammad.” Moses began to yearn for this community and said, “Lord God, is there any way You can show them to me?” He said, “No, for it is not the moment for them to come out. If you want, I will convey their voices to your ears.” Then God Himself let out a call in the world, “O community of MuḤammad!” Everyone who would be his community until the coming of the Hour said, “Here I am, obeying Thee!” Since He called them out, He did not send them back without a gift. He said, “I bestowed upon you before you asked from Me, and I forgave you before you asked Me to forgive you.” It is not surprising that God called out to Moses after he had come into existence and received the eminence of prophethood and messengership and whispered prayer at the edge of the Mount.
يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَوْفُوا بِعَهْدِي أُوفِ بِعَهْدِكُمْ وَإِيَّايَ فَارْهَبُونِ
📘 O children of Israel! Remember My blessings with which I blessed you. And be loyal to My covenant; I will be loyal to your covenant. And of Me have dread. This is an allusion to the Real's gentleness, generosity, and loving kindness toward the servants. He reminds them of His favor toward them: “I am the generous Lord, the thankful, the forgiver of the servants. I have come forth with kindness despite every disloyalty, I invite the servants to praise Me despite all their offenses, and I ask them to be grateful for My blessings.” This is why He says to the children of Israel, “Remember My blessings! O children of Israel, be grateful for My blessings and recognize your duty toward Me so that you will be worthy of increase and have good name and good fortune.” There is a great difference between the children of Israel and this community. To them He said, “Remember My blessings!” To this community He said, “Remember Me!” [2:152]. He gave them blessings and He gave this community companionship. He kept those away from Himself by the witnessing of blessings, and He kept these with Himself by stipulating love. The tongue of this state says, “I traveled to you seeking the highest things, but others traveled seeking a good life.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, the one who does the work is he who has work with You, the one who has a friend is he whose friend is the likes of You. How could he who has You in the two worlds leave You aside! The wonder is that he who has You weeps more than anyone else. He who has not found weeps at not having found-why then does he who finds also weep?” When the like of You is someone's friend, if he complains, that's disgraceful. And be loyal to My covenant; I will be loyal to your covenant. There are many verses like this in the Qur'an: “Supplicate Me; I will respond to you [40:60]. So remember Me; I will remember you [2:152]. My servant! Open a door so that I may open a door. Open the door of turning back so that I may open the door of good news: They turned back to God, and for them is good news [39:17]. Open the door of expending so that I may open the door of replacement: Whatever you expend, He will replace it [34:39]. Open the door of struggle so that I may open the door of guidance: Those who struggle in Us, We will guide them on Our paths [29:69]. Open the door of asking forgiveness so that I may open the door of forgiveness: And then asks forgiveness of God, he will find God forgiving, ever-merciful [4:110]. Open the door of gratitude so that I may open the door of increased blessings: If you give thanks, I will surely increase you [14:7]. My servant, come back to My covenant so that I may come back to your covenant: Be loyal to My covenant; I will be loyal to your covenant.” It has been said that God has many covenants with His servant and, in each covenant in which the servant has loyalty, the Lord of the Worlds has a loyalty as its counterpart. First is that the servant makes manifest the words of the Shahadah. Its counterpart from the Lord of the Worlds is the rightful due of blood and property. That is in His words, “When someone says 'No god but God,' his wealth and property are protected from Me.” The last is that if the servant keeps his gaze pure and watches over his thoughts, its counterpart from the Lord of the Worlds will be this: “I have prepared for My wholesome servants what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what has never passed into the heart of any mortal.” Between that beginning and this end are many intermediaries, and these are God's covenants with the servant in which the servant's part is deeds and words, and God's part is reward beyond reckoning. Among these intermediaries are these, as one of them has said: “Be loyal to My covenant by presence at the gate; I will be loyal to your covenant with great reward. Be loyal to My covenant by guarding the secrets; I will be loyal to your covenant with My beautiful acts of kindness. Be loyal to My covenant by not preferring any other to Me; I will be loyal to your covenant by not holding back My gentleness and good. Be loyal to My covenant with beautiful struggle; I will be loyal to your covenant with constant contemplation.
وَآمِنُوا بِمَا أَنْزَلْتُ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا مَعَكُمْ وَلَا تَكُونُوا أَوَّلَ كَافِرٍ بِهِ ۖ وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا وَإِيَّايَ فَاتَّقُونِ
📘 And believe in what I have revealed confirming that which is with you; and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And do not sell My signs for a small price; and fear Me. The allusion is to the fact that the belief of [the servant] is a combination of clear evidence bayān and his belief [that he reaches] through demonstra- tive proof burhān. The generality of believers believe through demon- strative proof based on reasoning istidlāl while the elite of the believers believe through clear evidence by virtue of being drawn near. The Real ������ has drawn near to them and so they believe in God. The final states of their belief are through eyewitnessing ʿiyān and that is for the elect of the elect. And be not the first to disbelieve in it: �Do not [be the ones to] introduce disbelief kufr as an ongoing practice sunna� for surely the responsi- bility of the initiator in what he practices is greater than the responsibility of the imitator in what he follows. And do not sell My signs for a small price: �Do not prefer your cheap worldly portion ḥaẓẓ over the grandeur of My truth ḥaqq.� And fear Me: Those who fear His punishment are many but those who are in awe of knowing and seeing Him are rare.
وَلَا تَلْبِسُوا الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُوا الْحَقَّ وَأَنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 And confuse not truth with falsehood. Be careful not to mix truth and falsehood. Do not put truthfulness together with lying, the ap- proved together with the unapproved. I do not say not to recognize falsehood. You must recognize it so as to avoid it, and you must recognize truth so as go after it. MuṣṬafā said, “O God, show us truth as truth and provide us with choosing it, and show us falsehood as falsehood and provide us with avoiding it.” Concerning the verse, “And confuse not truth with falsehood,” the masters of the realities have said that the meaning is that you should not mix together the share of the soul and the food of the heart, for the two do not get along. The owner of the heart is elated at the rightful due of truth, but the servant of the soul is bound by the share of the soul. How can the two come together? This world is trifling and the next world precious. How can the two get along? Friendship with the Cre- ator is beginningless and endless felicity, but friendship with the created is a ready bane. How can the two come together? God has not given any man two hearts in his breast [33:4]. God-worship and self-worship are opposites. How can the two be brought together in one makeup? Love for both self and the loving Friend won't reach you. Want either this or that-you won't reach both.
وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَارْكَعُوا مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ
📘 = And establish prayer and pay the alms and bow with those that bow. �Keep in mind the good manners of presence ḥaḌra for the preservation of good manners is the most perfect type of service khidma.� The allusion in giving alms zakāt is to the almsgiving of aspirations just as you fulfill the almsgiving of wealth. The one who spoke for them said: Everything has an almsgiving to be paid. The almsgiving of beauty is a mercy like Mine. Through the abundant increases in aspirations and the subtleties of vision He brings about in those who pursue and seek they are lifted up and their states become states of bewilderment. �And bow with those that bow following the traditions of the pious forefathers salaf in what they used to do avoiding the practice of isola- tion for being in a dense congregation ghumār is sounder than being separated from people.�
۞ أَتَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبِرِّ وَتَنْسَوْنَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ تَتْلُونَ الْكِتَابَ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
📘 Will you bid others to piety and forget yourselves while you recite the Bookḍ Do you not understandḍ �Will you rouse others to be foremost while you are content to lag behindḍ� It is also said �Will you call created beings to Us while you hang back from Usḍ Will you give drink to the delegations while you yourselves hold back from the waterḍ Will you vie with others arguing with them over particulars content in your bankruptcy with externalsḍ� It is said �Do you look to the weight of a speck or the measure of a grain in people while you tolerate the mounds of sand and mountains in yourselvesḍ� The one who spoke for them said: Do you look to the mote in my eye when you do not see the beam in your ownḍ It is also said �Do you give the choicest drink while you do not drink in turnḍ� �While you recite the Bookḍ Then you persist obstinately with clandes- tine claims denying the shameful thoughts faḌīḥāt al-khawāṬir and the unmistakable driving cries [to blameworthy things] ṣarīḥāt al-zawājir hidden in your hearts. Do you not understand that these are blameworthy qualities dhamīmun min al-khiṣāl and ugly acts qabīḥun min al-fiʿālḍ�
وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ
📘 And seek help in patience and the prayer, though it indeed is hard, except for the humble. The command came to him, “O Master, tell your community to have patience in their affairs so that they may reach what they desire. 'Patience is the key to relief.'” If someone does not have the patience of the Men, let him not come to the Men's playing field. You have not the legs of men-don't put on men's clothing! You have not the means of no means-don't brag of selflessness! [DS 491] Once that paragon of the world stepped into this playing field, he was not left for one hour without sorrow and grief. If he sat for a while cross-legged, the address came, “Sit like a servant!” If once he put a ring on his finger, the whip of rebuke would come down: “What, did you reckon that We created you aimlessly?” [23:115]. If once he placed his foot on the ground boldly, the command would come, “Walk not in the earth exultantly” [17:37]. When the work reached the limit and he was being tried from every corner, he sighed and said, “No prophet whatsoever has been tormented as I have been tormented.” The address came from the Exalted Presence, “O paragon! When someone's heart and spirit witness Me, will he complain of the burden of trial?” All the venom of grief in the treasuries of the Unseen was poured into one cup and placed in his hand, and then a curtain was lifted from his se- cret core: “O paragon! Drink all this venom while contemplating My beauty! And be patient with thy Lord's decree, for surely thou art in Our eyes [52:48].” The tongue of the state was saying, “Were the Beloved's hand to pour poison for me, poison from His hand would be sweet. * “Though Your hand is fire, it is my bed of roses. All that comes from You is sweet, whether healing or pain.” Though it indeed is hard, except for the humble. Humbleness is a stipulation of the prayer. It is a mark of the servant's need. The humble in the prayer are praised by the Real and chosen among the creatures. Prosperous are the faithful, those who are humble in their prayers [23:1-2]. Humble- ness in the prayer is both outward and inward.
الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلَاقُو رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
📘 who reckon yaẓunnūna that they shall meet their Lord and that to Him they are returning. It is said that the word �to think� ẓann is used here to mean �certainty� yaqīn which would be the most obvious [meaning]. What is meant by it is �reckoning� ḥusbān. Those who reckon with the reckoning of certainty ẓanna ẓann al-yaqīn are those who experience the communion [of lovers]. Those who reckon by the reckoning of guessing ẓanna ẓann al-takhmīn are those who experience separation. [The phrase] they shall meet their Lord mulāqū rabbihim is in a gram- matical form appropriate for the past present and future. Because the folk have recognized the truth of what will be according to the decrees of the unseen they have reached the point that it is as if the promise has already been determined for them and the unseen is present for them.
يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَنِّي فَضَّلْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ
📘 children of Israel remember My favor wherewith I favored you and that I have preferred you above all the worlds; He called the children of Israel to bear witness to the favor or bounty faḌl granted to them saying �and that I have preferred you faḌḌaltukum above all the worlds.� He called the Muslims from the community of Muḥammad ﷺ to bear witness to the favor or bounty of God Himself saying �Say: 'In the bounty of God and in His mercy in that let them rejoice'� [10:58]. What a difference between those who bear witness to the favor or bounty they receive and those who bear witness to the bounty of their Lord Himself! The servant's acknowledgment of the favor granted him implies gratitude but with the danger of self-conceit iʿjāb. But the servant's acknowledgment of the bounty of the Real-the One whose majesty is in His description and His beauty in the worthiness of His attribute-involves praise which leads to [God's] approval ījāb.
وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا لَا تَجْزِي نَفْسٌ عَنْ نَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَلَا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهَا شَفَاعَةٌ وَلَا يُؤْخَذُ مِنْهَا عَدْلٌ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ
📘 and fear the day when no soul for another shall give satisfaction and no intercession shall be accepted from it; nor any compensation ʿadl be taken neither shall they be helped. He causes fear in ordinary people by His acts for He said fear the day and fear the fire [2:24 3:131]. But He causes fear in the elect by His attributes for He said And say: �Act for God will surely see your actions and [so will] His Messenger� [9:105] and He said And you are not occupied with any busi- ness... but We are witnesses over you when you are engaged therein [10:61]. He causes fear in the elect of the elect by Himself for He said God warns you of His Self [3:28 3:30]. [The word] �compensation� ʿadl [here] means �ransom� fidāÌ. On the Day of the Resurrection no intercession will be heard except for the one whom the Real has commanded to intercede for Him. He has permitted it and He in actuality is the greatest intercessor even though the term �intercessor� is not applied to Him because it is without [divine] instruction tawqīf.133 It is said about it: Praise be to God in gratitude for everything good is with Him. The lover has become my intercessor to my intercessor to Him. The intercession of intercessors will not benefit those who have been hit by the calamity of fate. There will be no helpers for them nor ransom accepted from them even if they had the fill of the heavens and earths
وَإِذْ نَجَّيْنَاكُمْ مِنْ آلِ فِرْعَوْنَ يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ يُذَبِّحُونَ أَبْنَاءَكُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيُونَ نِسَاءَكُمْ ۚ وَفِي ذَٰلِكُمْ بَلَاءٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ عَظِيمٌ
📘 And when We delivered you from the folk of Pharaoh who were visiting you with evil chastisement slaughtering your sons and sparing your women; and for you therein was a tremendous trial from your Lord. Whoever has patience in God with the affliction of His enemies aʿdāÌihi God will compensate him with the companionship of His friends awliyāÌihi and He will grant him His beautiful gift ʿaṬāÌihi. The children of Israel were patient in enduring injury from Pharaoh and his people so He appointed prophets from among them and made them kings. He gave them what He had not given anyone in all the worlds. And for you therein was a tremendous trial from your Lord: It is said that [it was] a great blessing niʿmatun ʿaẓīma and a severe trial miḥnatun shadīda. In truth what [came] from God was externally a trial miḥna but it was really for the one who recognized it a blessing niʿma and a kindness minna.
أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
📘 Those are upon a guidance from their Lord. Here you have the great triumph and the worthy praise. Here you have good fortune without end and generous bounty without limit. He has opened up the door of perspicacity for them and put into effect the gaze of solicitude inside their hearts. He has lit up the lamp of guidance in their hearts so that what is unseen for others is apparent to them. What for others is a report is for them face-to-face vision. Anas ibn Mālik said that he went before ʿUthmān ʿAffān, having seen in the road a woman and considered her beautiful traits. ʿUthmān said, “One of you who has entered in upon me has the traces of adultery appearing in his eyes.” Anas said, “Is there revelation after God's Messenger?” He said, “No, but there is insight, proof, and truthful perspicacity. The Prophet said, 'Be wary of the perspicacity of the man of faith, for he gazes with the light of God.'” A pir was asked what perspicacity is. He answered, “Spirits that move about in the Dominion gazing on the meanings of the unseen things. Then they speak about the secrets of the Real with the speech of contemplation, not the speech of opinion and reckoning.” In this meaning someone sang, May I be a ransom for the men dwelling in the Unseen, their secret cores roaming in all that is there! In the Unseen their secret cores crave from the Real a locus of witnessing to which the people have no access. They encounter the holy spirit in their secret cores and in meaning they remain dwelling with it. They are men who have proximity and presence in the Unseen, while their souls have been slain by their finding. Sarī SaqaṬī was Junayd's master. One day he said to Junayd, “Speak to the people and give them advice, for it is time for you to speak.” Junayd said, “I did not see myself like that and saw no worthiness in myself. Then one night I saw MuṣṬafā in a dream, and it was the night before Friday. He said to me, 'Speak to the people!' That same night I got up and before morning went to the door of Sarī. I knocked at the door, and Sarī said, 'You will not assent to me before they tell you to do so?'” The next day Junayd sat in the congregational mosque and news spread in the city that he was going to speak.
وَإِذْ فَرَقْنَا بِكُمُ الْبَحْرَ فَأَنْجَيْنَاكُمْ وَأَغْرَقْنَا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَأَنْتُمْ تَنْظُرُونَ
📘 When We divided for you the sea and We delivered you and drowned Pharaoh's folk while you were beholding. The perceptive faculties baṣāÌir of the children of Israel had become diminished so He showed them miracles openly ʿayānan whereas the perceptive faculties of this community [Muslims] were sharp so He unveiled His signs to them secretly sirran. This is His ������ way sunna. For those who are sharper in the perceptive faculty the matter will be more subtle for them and the allusions within it more abundant. [The Prophet] ﷺ said �I was given the all-comprehensive words jawāmiʿ al-kalim and then the speech kalām was shortened for me.� When [the children of Israel] saw these manifest signs in the splitting of the sea and the drowning of the people of Pharaoh they were seized with doubt and said �They did not drown even though they were cast into the sea� but the children of Israel did see them drowning. On the other hand in this community because of their being foremost in their belief in the Messenger of God ﷺ and because of the power of their perceptive faculties one youth said �It is as if I was with the people of the garden exchanging visits and as if I was with the people of the fire clamoring to one another and as if I saw the throne of my Lord in plain sight.� What a difference [there is] between one who sees with his own eyes yet doubts and one who only hears [about something] and yet sees it like an eyewitness because of the power of his belief!
وَإِذْ وَاعَدْنَا مُوسَىٰ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً ثُمَّ اتَّخَذْتُمُ الْعِجْلَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَنْتُمْ ظَالِمُونَ
📘 And when We appointed for Moses forty nights then you took to your- selves the calf after him and you were evildoers. What a difference [there is] between one community and another! When Moses ���� ������ withdrew from the community for forty days they took the calf as their object of worship and were pleased with that. They said This is your God and the God of Moses but he has forgotten [20:88]. [On the other hand] the community of Muḥammad the Chosen ﷺ spent many years with their prophet. If they had heard anyone mention any form of [material] descrip- tion of what they worshiped they would not have spared their last breath and would have given their lives [before agreeing to such a comparison]. It is said that Moses ���� ������ entrusted his community to his brother saying Take my place with my people [7:142]. When he returned he found that they had fallen into temptation fitna. Our Prophet ﷺ relied on God and did not suggest anyone to lead the community. At the end of his life he said �the highest companions.� See how the Real attended to the care of [Muḥammad's] community in preserving their monotheism. By my life they may forfeit their [territorial] borders but they will not compromise their declaration of God's unity tawḥīd.
ثُمَّ عَفَوْنَا عَنْكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
📘 Then We pardoned you after that so that you might be thankful. The quickness [with which God] pardoned such a grave sin indicates the lesser weight of those who were pardoned. The words of God most high testify to that [in addressing the wives of the Prophet] Whoever of you commits manifest indecency the chastisement shall be doubled for her [33:30]. The children of Israel worshiped the calf so God most high said �Then We pardoned you after that.� To the community [of Muḥammad ﷺ] He said �and whoever does an atom's weight of evil shall see it� [99:8].
وَإِذْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ وَالْفُرْقَانَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
📘 And when We gave Moses the book and the discernment. He gave Moses' folk the discernment outwardly, and He placed the discernment in the inwardness of MuḤammad's folk in addition to their outwardness. The inner discernment is a light in the heart of the friends through which they separate truth from falsehood. It is alluded to in His words, “If you are wary of God, He will appoint for you a criterion” [8:29]. This is why MuṣṬafā said to Wābisa, “Ask for a pronouncement from your heart!” He also said, “Be wary of the perspicacity of the man of faith, for he gazes with the light of God.” When this discernment appears in someone's inwardness, his drinking and aspiration are purified of the dust of others; the walkway of his desire is protected from the debris of customs, the carpet of his days is shaken loose of the opacities of mortal nature, and the eyes of his moment are kept away from the hand of newly arrived things. Then, things that are reports for others are for him face-to-face vision; what had been the knowl- edge of certainty becomes the eye of certainty. No newly arrived thing enters existence in the empire without his heart being aware of it. MuṣṬafā was asked if this has a mark. He said, “When light enters the heart, the breast is expanded.” Its mark is that the breast is opened up to the divine light. When the breast is opened up, the aspiration becomes high, every sorrow is comforted, scatteredness turns into togetherness, the carpet of subsistence is spread, the rug of annihilation is rolled up, the corner of heartaches is closed off, and the door to the garden of union is opened. In joy and coquetry, he says with the tongue of the state, “In the quarter of hope, I have a delightful home, in the story of passion, I have a delightful problem. Why do you ask details about my heart, O spirit of the world? Know, in short, that I have a delighted heart.”
وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ يَا قَوْمِ إِنَّكُمْ ظَلَمْتُمْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ بِاتِّخَاذِكُمُ الْعِجْلَ فَتُوبُوا إِلَىٰ بَارِئِكُمْ فَاقْتُلُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ عِنْدَ بَارِئِكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
📘 When Moses said to his people, “O my people, you have wronged your souls by taking up the calf, so kill your own souls! That is better for you with your Creator.” Moses said to his people: “Take care not to suppose that your worship of the calf has harmed the majesty of the Self-Sufficient or that it is a defect for His kingship and lordhood. Rather, the harm and bad fortune belong to you. If something bad has happened, it has happened to you by your being held back from a Lord like Him. Otherwise, He has plenty of servants like you. Sahl ʿAbdallāh Tustarī said, “God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, and the exaltedness of the Lord God's speech made that mountain like carnelian. Moses' turned his gaze to himself: 'Who is like me? For the God of the world and the world's folk is talking to me without intermediary, and my standing place has turned into carnelian!' “God did not let that pass. He said, 'O Moses, look once right and left. What do you see?' “Moses looked around and saw a thousand mountains of carnelian like Mount Sinai, on each mountain a man in the form of Moses, wearing a blanket like him, a hat on his head, a staff in hand, and talking to the Lord of the universe.” The tongue of Moses' state was saying, “I fancied that you were one body with me. How could I know that you're everyone's familiar?” A poor man was seen whispering secretly with God and saying, “O God, approve of me as your lover. If You do not approve of me as a lover, approve of me as Your servant. If You do not ap- prove of my as a servant, approve of me as Your dog.” He was saying, “O Lord, accept me for friendship. If I am not worthy of friendship, accept me for servanthood. If I am not worthy of servanthood, accept me for doghood, so that I may be the dog of Your threshold.” O Friend, if you do not give me the forefront of respect, at least keep me outside the door like the dogs. So kill your own souls! That is better for you with your Creator. By way of inwardness, this is ad- dressed to the chevaliers of the Tariqah: “Cut off the heads of your souls with the sword of struggle so that you may reach Me.
وَإِذْ قُلْتُمْ يَا مُوسَىٰ لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً فَأَخَذَتْكُمُ الصَّاعِقَةُ وَأَنْتُمْ تَنْظُرُونَ
📘 And when you said �O Moses we will not believe you till we see God openly�; and the thunderbolt took you while you were beholding. Demanding to see the Essence without divine blessing is an open act of sacrilege which is one of the signs of distance and misery whereas attest- ing to the attribute of [divine] governance in the unveilings of might as linked to the kindnesses of nearness is one of the marks of communion and the tokens of felicity. Surely when they spoke from ignorance without any sense whatsoever of shame the convulsion and the thunderbolt blast overtook them.
ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَاكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَوْتِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
📘 Then We raised you up after you were dead so that you might be thankful. He returned them to consciousness after the blows of punishment over- whelmed them in order to fulfill the decree for them and to implement [God's] way of pardoning sin. One of the aspects of generosity is to lower the veil over the defects of servants.
وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْغَمَامَ وَأَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَىٰ ۖ كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ ۖ وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَٰكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ
📘 And We shaded you with clouds. This is an allusion to the Lord's gentleness and generosity. His loving kindness toward the ser- vants is such that the Lord of the Worlds says, “O hapless child of Adam! Why do you not love Me? For I am worthy of love. Why do you not trade with Me? For I am munificent and bounteous. Why do you not engage in transactions with Me? For I am a bestower who is ample in bestowal. My mercy is not tight, nor do I hold back blessings from anyone. “Look at what I did with the Children of Israel, how many blessings I poured down upon them, how much I caressed them in that empty desert! After they had turned away and disobeyed My command, I did not let them go to ruin. I commanded the mist to cast a shadow over them, I com- manded the wind to place roasted birds in their hands, I commanded the clouds to rain down manna and honey on them, I commanded the pillar of light to give them brightness on the nights when there was no moon. When a child came into existence from its mother in that empty desert, it came into existence with the set of clothes that it needed. Then, as the child grew up, those clothes never became too old for it, nor did they become dirty. In the state of that person's life, the clothes were his ornament, and in the state of his death, his shroud. What blessing was there that I did not pour down upon them? In what manner did I fail to caress them? Yet they did not know My measure, nor did they show gratitude for the blessings. “O hapless one! No one wants you the way I want you. When you come, no one will buy you the way I buy. When you sell yourself, others will buy only the faultless, but I buy the faulty. Others call out for the loyal, but I call out for the disloyal. If you come in old age, I will adorn the whole empire to honor you, and if you talk to Me in the fullness of youth, I will take you into My shelter tomorrow on the Day of Resurrection.” People disobey for a lifetime, then return in shame- We say to them, “Welcome, be at ease, greetings!”
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا ادْخُلُوا هَٰذِهِ الْقَرْيَةَ فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمْ رَغَدًا وَادْخُلُوا الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا وَقُولُوا حِطَّةٌ نَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ خَطَايَاكُمْ ۚ وَسَنَزِيدُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
📘 And when We said �Enter this city and eat freely therein wherever you will and enter it at the gate prostrating and say �exoneration� and We shall forgive you your transgressions and We shall give more to those who are virtuous.� The children of Israel persisted in neglecting that which they were com- manded to do to the point that they were entrusted to preserve [their] speech but they altered it and they were commanded [to take] a position of prostration upon entering [the city] but they did not. They exposed themselves to the arrows of the unseen and then were not able to with- stand the injury of their strikes lam yuṬīqū l-iṣābata bi-qarʿihā. They were exposed to unexpected punishments and could not hold up to the blows of their impact fa-lam yathbutū ʿinda ṣadamāt waqʿihā.
فَبَدَّلَ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا قَوْلًا غَيْرَ الَّذِي قِيلَ لَهُمْ فَأَنْزَلْنَا عَلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا رِجْزًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ
📘 Then the evildoers substituted a saying other than that which had been said to them; so We sent down upon the evildoers wrath from the heaven for their wickedness. They could neither ward off the opening of heaven above them with their stratagems nor avert the cords of affliction below them by relying on their usual states. They gnashed the teeth of remorse when the fangs of pain bit them. How could this have benefited them when the situation was hopelessḍ
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
📘 Surely it is the same for those who disbelieve whether thou warnest them or thou warnest them not; they will not have faith. From the beginning of the surah to this point is an allusion to the Lord's bounty and gentleness with familiars and friends. This verse alludes to His severity and justice toward the strangers and enemies. God has both bounty and justice. If He acts with justice, that is fitting, and if He is bounteous, that is suitable for Him. But not everything that is fitting in justice is suitable for bounty, whereas everything suitable for bounty is fitting for justice. He calls one to bounty, and the decree is His. He drives another to justice, and the will is His. What is good is that bounty rules over justice, and justice is caught in bounty's hand. Justice is silent before bounty, and the ring of union is in bounty's ear. Do you not see that justice travels along with Him, and happy is he whose refuge is bounty? The fruit of bounty is felicity and triumph, and the result of justice is wretchedness and estrangement. Both are deeds already done. “The Pen has dried on what will be until the Day of Resurrection.” It is a beginningless decree and a work discarded and finished. “When someone's lot has set him down, his eagerness will not stir him up.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, what will come of what You do not want? And when will he come whom you have not called? What does the unplanted get from water? What answer is given to the unworthy? What use to the bitter that sweet water is its neighbor? What gain to the thorn that the rose's fragrance is next to it? The apportioning has gone before, nothing to be added or taken away. What can be done? The Greatest Judge wants it this way. Satan lived in the highest horizon and performed thousands of acts of worship. What profit did it have, for he was not worthy. 'Since approval and wrath are beginningless attributes, there is no profit in shortened sleeves and determined steps.'” One day ʿUmar KhaṬṬāb came across Iblis. He seized him by the collar and said, “I have been seeking you for a long time.
۞ وَإِذِ اسْتَسْقَىٰ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ ۖ فَانْفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا ۖ قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَشْرَبَهُمْ ۖ كُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا مِنْ رِزْقِ اللَّهِ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ
📘 And when Moses sought water for his people We said �Strike the rock with your staff� and there exploded from it twelve fountains and each people came to know their drinking place �Eat and drink of that which God has provided and do not be degenerate in the earth seeking corruption.� One who is capable of extracting water from solid rock is capable of quenching thirst without water. But He made the trace or effect athar of the miracle manifest in [Moses] and connected him to the locus maḥall of calling for help. This in order for Moses to work with his self nafs in mov- ing the stone and give him responsibility in striking it with his staff. Thus there would be a measure of [human] effort involved in making His decree come to pass when he sought water for his people. Then the Real ������ wanted each people to follow a way sunna stick to their boundary ḥadd and not dispute with their companions. He singled out for each tribe a marker by which they would know their drinking place so that they would not go to each others' drinking places. When He had met their needs He bid them to be grateful to preserve the command and to stop choosing sin and so He said �and do not be degenerate in the earth seeking corruption.� The drinking places are different and each comes to their own so one drinking place is sweet and fresh another salty and bitter another clear and pure and another dried up with only a few drops. The water carrier for each people leads them and the scout of each party drives them on so the lower selves come to the watering places of desires and cravings the hearts come to the drinking places of piety and acts of obedience the spirits come to the watering places of unveiling and witnessing and the innermost selves come to the watering places of realities. The latter [innermost selves] are snatched from the being and outward markings al-kawn wa-l-marsūmāt [of humans] then from the sensory awareness and attributes al-iḥsās wa-l-ṣifāt [of humans] then annihilated in the reality of ecstatic finding and essence al-wujūd wa-l-dhāt.
وَإِذْ قُلْتُمْ يَا مُوسَىٰ لَنْ نَصْبِرَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامٍ وَاحِدٍ فَادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُخْرِجْ لَنَا مِمَّا تُنْبِتُ الْأَرْضُ مِنْ بَقْلِهَا وَقِثَّائِهَا وَفُومِهَا وَعَدَسِهَا وَبَصَلِهَا ۖ قَالَ أَتَسْتَبْدِلُونَ الَّذِي هُوَ أَدْنَىٰ بِالَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ ۚ اهْبِطُوا مِصْرًا فَإِنَّ لَكُمْ مَا سَأَلْتُمْ ۗ وَضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الذِّلَّةُ وَالْمَسْكَنَةُ وَبَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوْا وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ
📘 And when you said �Moses we will not endure one sort of food; pray to your Lord for us that He may bring forth for us of what the earth pro- duces-green herbs cucumbers garlic lentils onions�; He said �Would you exchange what is better with what is lowlierḍ� �Go down to a city you shall have what you demanded�; And abasement and wretchedness were cast upon them and they incurred God's wrath; that was because they used to disbe- lieve the signs of God and slay prophets without right; that was because they disobeyed and they were transgressors. They were not content with the goodness of [God] choosing for them nor were they patient in His managing what He desired for them in basic food and clothing. In their confusion they fell back to their customary behavior of eating impure food and finding contentment in a lower state so He returned them to the suffering of ignominy muqāsāt al-hawān and bound them to perpetual disappointment idāmat al-khidhlān. They went so far as to shed the blood of prophets and violated the sanctity of [God's] command with their lack of shame. They did not repent so He punished them for their ugly acts qabīḥ fiʿālihim and returned them to what He had chosen for their souls in their contemptible states khasāÌis aḥwālihim. When sincere counsel naṣīḥa did not succeed with them retribution and humiliation faḌīḥa overtook them. It is said that the children of Israel were divided in their aspirations and scattered in their objectives. They were not content to have just one food for themselves nor were they satisfied with one object of worship in their religion; [this was true] to the point that they said to Moses ���� ������ when they saw people worshiping idols �O Moses make for us a god just as they have gods� [7:138]. This is the attribute of the masters of separation arbāb al-tafriqa. Patience with the One al-wāḥid is hard. God most high said �And when you mention the Lord alone waḥdahu in the QurÌān they turn their backs in aversion� [17:46].
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالنَّصَارَىٰ وَالصَّابِئِينَ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
📘 Surely those who believe and those of the Jews and the Christians and the Sabaeans whoever believes in God and the Last Day and performs righteous deeds-their wage is with their Lord and no fear shall befall them neither shall they grieve. The diversity of [religious] paths in spite of the unity of the source does not prevent a goodly acceptance [for all]. For anyone who affirms the Real ������ in His signs and believes in what He has said concerning His truth and attributes the dissimilarity of [religious] laws and diversity that occurs in [the] name[s] [of religion] is not a problem in terms of who merits [God's] good pleasure. Because of that He said �Surely those who believe and those of the Jews.� Then He said �whoever believes� meaning if they fear [God] in [their] different ways of knowing [Him] all of them will have a beautiful place of return and an ample reward. The believer muÌmin is anyone in the protection amān of the Real ������. For anyone who is in His protection it is fitting that no fear shall befall them neither shall they grieve.
وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَكُمْ وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَكُمُ الطُّورَ خُذُوا مَا آتَيْنَاكُمْ بِقُوَّةٍ وَاذْكُرُوا مَا فِيهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
📘 And when We made a covenant for you and We raised above you the mount �Take forcefully what We have given you and remember what is in it so that you might preserve yourselves.� Then you turned away thereafter and but for God's bounty and His mercy toward you you would have been among the losers. He ������ made a covenant with all responsible beings and some responded willingly because He made Himself known to them and they declared His unity fa-waḥḥadūhu. Other people responded unwill- ingly because He veiled them so they did not want to recognize Him fa-jaḥadūhu. There is no proof more powerful than the eyewitnessing of the mount Ṭūr He raised above them which was a mountain jabal but they lacked the light of inner sight baṣīra and so the witnessing of physical vision baṣar did not benefit them. Then you turned away thereafter that is you returned to disobedience after witnessing the signs with your own eyes. If not for His decree in grant- ing respite and His forbearance through acts of grace He would punish you without delay and cause a great misfortune to descend upon you and your deeds would be entirely a loss.
ثُمَّ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ ۖ فَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ لَكُنْتُمْ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
📘 And when We made a covenant for you and We raised above you the mount �Take forcefully what We have given you and remember what is in it so that you might preserve yourselves.� Then you turned away thereafter and but for God's bounty and His mercy toward you you would have been among the losers. He ������ made a covenant with all responsible beings and some responded willingly because He made Himself known to them and they declared His unity fa-waḥḥadūhu. Other people responded unwill- ingly because He veiled them so they did not want to recognize Him fa-jaḥadūhu. There is no proof more powerful than the eyewitnessing of the mount Ṭūr He raised above them which was a mountain jabal but they lacked the light of inner sight baṣīra and so the witnessing of physical vision baṣar did not benefit them. Then you turned away thereafter that is you returned to disobedience after witnessing the signs with your own eyes. If not for His decree in grant- ing respite and His forbearance through acts of grace He would punish you without delay and cause a great misfortune to descend upon you and your deeds would be entirely a loss.
وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ الَّذِينَ اعْتَدَوْا مِنْكُمْ فِي السَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ
📘 And verily you know that there were those among you who transgressed the Sabbath and We said to them �Be apes despised!� The metamorphosis maskh of this community occurred in their hearts. When [the children of Israel] abandoned [God's] command and disdained the laws that were imposed on them the punishments came quickly in their disgrace metamorphosis and in the other things which are included in the [QurÌānic text]. Because of their violation of the covenant and rejection of the limit [imposed by God] the community was punished through the metamorphosis of their hearts and the alteration of their states. [God] most high said �And We shall confound their hearts and their eyes; just as they did not believe the first time� [6:110]. The punishments of hearts are far worse than the punishments of the bodily selves. About this they have recited: O you who ask me �How have you been after himḍ� I suffered that which tormented me while it made him happy. I kept strutting about in our togetherness and felt safe from the ruses of time. But the turning away from me went on until not a bit of what I had experienced remained.
فَجَعَلْنَاهَا نَكَالًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهَا وَمَا خَلْفَهَا وَمَوْعِظَةً لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
📘 And We made it an exemplary punishment for all the former times and for the latter and an admonition to those who fear. Thus the states of those who were tried by abandonment muniya bi-l- hijrān and branded with disappointment wusima bi-l-khidhlān became a lesson-to look at what happened to them is to choke on grief. The one who is reduced to misery after having had status becomes an object of scorn before every ignoble person. This is what remains for those who have been brought low after [experiencing] the wrath of kings and [being] shunned by chieftains: The youths surrounded and ganged up on me. From behind they called the dogs on me.
وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَنْ تَذْبَحُوا بَقَرَةً ۖ قَالُوا أَتَتَّخِذُنَا هُزُوًا ۖ قَالَ أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ
📘 And When Moses said to his people, “God commands you to sacrifice a cow.” This story of the cow of the Children of Israel in these verses and the mention of its attributes is one of the subtle points of wisdom and exalted pearls of the Qur'an. The Qur'an itself is the all-encom- passing ocean. Many are the kingly pearls and night-brightening gems found in the ocean's depths. You should read everything that the Exalted Lord said about the cow of the Children of Israel as an allusion to your own attributes. Then you will reach the station of worthiness to dive into this ocean and He will give you access to its deposited wonders and unseen pearls. Altogether the attributes that He clarified in these verses are three: first, neither old nor virgin [2:68]; second, golden, bright her color [2:69]; third, not abased to plow the earth [2:71]. First, neither old nor virgin. He says it should not be broken down and old, nor newly born and immature. In other words, the feet of these chevaliers will go straight in the circle of the Tariqah when the intoxication and greediness of youth no longer veil them, and when the weakness of old age does not hinder them. Do you not see that revelation reached MuṣṬafā when he was not a newly born youngster, nor had his days reached the worst state of life [16:70]? If there had been a state more complete, revelation would have reached him at its time. Whenever desire for God pairs itself with the intoxication of youth, there is fear of the high- waymen. It is rare that a youngster in his new desire remains secure from the highwaymen. If it does happen in the empire, it seldom does. This is why MuṣṬafā said, “Your Lord marvels at a young man who has no youthful fervor.” The second attribute is golden, bright her color, gladdening the gazers. When the chevaliers step into the field of the Tariqah in the state of the perfection of mortal nature and stand straight in it, the Unity will bring them into the color of love, and the color of love is colorlessness. It will wash them of anything mixed with colors-We shall strip away all the rancor that is in their breasts [7:43].
قَالُوا ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا مَا هِيَ ۚ قَالَ إِنَّهُ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ لَا فَارِضٌ وَلَا بِكْرٌ عَوَانٌ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ ۖ فَافْعَلُوا مَا تُؤْمَرُونَ
📘 And when Moses said to his people �God commands you to sacrifice a cow.� It was obligatory for them to execute the command directly but they wasted time with external appearances imagining that they had the leisure to linger in their digression from the obligation of the covenant. So their misery was doubled and the ignominy they had been warned about overtook them. When He said: �She is a cow neither old nor virgin middling between the two... � [2:68] it meant she would be neither young nor aged but some- where between the two. The allusion is to the fact that one who is suited for this path Ṭarīqa is one who is neither attracted by the impetuosity of youth and its drunkenness nor paralyzed by the weakness and frailty of old age. Rather he is alert; he has regained consciousness from his drunkenness yet retains some of the vigor of his youth.
قَالُوا ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا مَا لَوْنُهَا ۚ قَالَ إِنَّهُ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ صَفْرَاءُ فَاقِعٌ لَوْنُهَا تَسُرُّ النَّاظِرِينَ
📘 �... a golden cow bright in color gladdening to beholders.� They said �Pray to your Lord for us that He make clear to us what she may be; the cows are all alike to us; and if God wills we shall then be guided.� Just as her [bright] color would have been perceived by the eyes the allu- sion here is to those of the people of the story ahl al-qiṣṣa whose witnessing overwhelms the hearts [of others] because of that which is clothed with the garment of invincibility jabarūt and made to rise from the witness of the unseen. One notices that someone like this is oblivious to human states and is overtaken by the remembrance of the Real. Thus in the transmitted tradition: The friends of God are those who when they are seen God is remembered.
خَتَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِمْ ۖ وَعَلَىٰ أَبْصَارِهِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
📘 God has sealed their hearts. The seal of estrangement was placed on someone's heart, and he remained in unbelief. The seal of perplexity was placed on another's heart, and he remained in lassitude. That one was a stranger, driven away, the road lost, and this one was helpless, stuck in the road, kept back from the Friend by other than the Friend. Any talk that keeps you back from the road-let it be unbelief or faith. Any picture that holds you back from the Friend-let it be ugly or beautiful. [DS 51] Not everyone who escapes from unbelief joins with the Real, unless he has escaped from himself. Someone who escapes from unbelief reaches familiarity, but someone who escapes from himself reaches friendship. A thousand way stations stand between familiarity and friendship, and a thou- sand valleys between love and the Friend. In love for You I have never arrived at a way station in which the mind was not bewildered at the arrival.
قَالُوا ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا مَا هِيَ إِنَّ الْبَقَرَ تَشَابَهَ عَلَيْنَا وَإِنَّا إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَمُهْتَدُونَ
📘 �... a golden cow bright in color gladdening to beholders.� They said �Pray to your Lord for us that He make clear to us what she may be; the cows are all alike to us; and if God wills we shall then be guided.� Just as her [bright] color would have been perceived by the eyes the allu- sion here is to those of the people of the story ahl al-qiṣṣa whose witnessing overwhelms the hearts [of others] because of that which is clothed with the garment of invincibility jabarūt and made to rise from the witness of the unseen. One notices that someone like this is oblivious to human states and is overtaken by the remembrance of the Real. Thus in the transmitted tradition: The friends of God are those who when they are seen God is remembered.
قَالَ إِنَّهُ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ لَا ذَلُولٌ تُثِيرُ الْأَرْضَ وَلَا تَسْقِي الْحَرْثَ مُسَلَّمَةٌ لَا شِيَةَ فِيهَا ۚ قَالُوا الْآنَ جِئْتَ بِالْحَقِّ ۚ فَذَبَحُوهَا وَمَا كَادُوا يَفْعَلُونَ
📘 He said �He says she shall be a cow not broken to plow the earth or to water the tillage with no blemish on her.� They said �Now you have brought the truth�; and so they sacrificed her even though they very nearly did not. Just as this cow was not to have been broken in for work nor worn out for the purposes of profits there was to be no color in her inconsistent with the overall grandeur of her color. The allusion in this is to the people of divine friendship walāya who do not exert themselves with anyone or anything other [than God] which is to say that they do not seek to obtain anything through secondary causes and who do not rely in their hearts on external appearances and simulacra. They do not trust in their own choices and contrivance. They are not prey to the claims of desire nor game in the claws of the present world. Carnal desires do not rule them and no human authority controls them. They do not strive at all to obtain what they desire and are not concerned with attaining what they wish for. There is no mark of others upon them nor any sign of [their seeking anything through] secondary causes for they are supported by God annihilated from all else nay effaced as God turns them this way and that. God has conquered their hearts. Just as their object of worship maʿbūd is God so their only aim maqṣūd is God. Just as their aim maqṣūd is God so what they bear witness to mashhūd is God and what they have found mawjūd is God. Nay they are effaced in God and [only] God remains after them. The one who spoke for them recited: If you want me to be pleased and you to be pleased and to take the reins of our life together then look at the world through my eyes and listen with my ears and speak with my tongue. They said �Now you have brought the truth�; and so they sacrificed her even though they very nearly did not. They sought a stratagem for themselves but when their stratagems failed they submitted to the decree and were rid of the difficulties of the demands. If they had done what they were commanded to do [straight away] their misery would not have been doubled.
وَإِذْ قَتَلْتُمْ نَفْسًا فَادَّارَأْتُمْ فِيهَا ۖ وَاللَّهُ مُخْرِجٌ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ
📘 And when you killed a living soul and disputed thereon-and God disclosed what you were hiding One who is disloyal is afraid and out of fear that his secret will become manifest relies on concealment deception denial and evasion. His fault ʿawāruhu is inevitably discovered his secrets asrāruhu exposed and the coverings astāruhu fall because of the shame of his action. God most high said �and God disclosed what you were hiding.�
فَقُلْنَا اضْرِبُوهُ بِبَعْضِهَا ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يُحْيِي اللَّهُ الْمَوْتَىٰ وَيُرِيكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
📘 so We said �Smite him with part of it�; God brings to life the dead and He shows you His signs so that you might understand. God ������ wanted to give life to the dead man so that he could expose his killer through the testimony [of the slain] so He commanded them to kill one of their animals and made it the cause of bringing the slain man to life. The allusion here is to anyone who desires the life of his heart; he will only attain it by sacrificing his lower self since the heart of anyone who sacrifices his lower self through struggle mujāhadāt comes to life by the lights of witnessing mushāhadāt. Likewise when God wants someone's reputation to live forever He causes his reputation in this world to pass into obscurity.
ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الْأَنْهَارُ ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَاءُ ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
📘 Then your hearts became hardened after that, so they were like stones or even harder. And there are stones from which rivers come gushing, and among them are those that split and water comes forth from them, and among them are those that fall down in fear of God. In the case of the ignorant, the hardening of the heart is unkindness, lack of mercy, and distance from the path of the Real. In the case of the recognizers, the purifiers, and the limpid, hardening is the strength of the heart, the state of stability, the perfection of knowledge, and the state of limpid- ness. Abū Bakr used to show it from himself. Whenever he saw that someone was weeping and twisting in himself because of listening to the Qur'an, he would say, “I was like that until the hearts became hardened.” This hardening is an allusion to the perfection of the state of the recognizers and the majesty of the level of the sincerely truthful. At the beginning of the work and the outset of desire the beginners shout, wail, cry, and weep, for passion has not yet fully established its rulership. When the work reaches perfection, the limpidness of recognition becomes strong and the ruling power of passion fully establishes its rulership. Then that shouting and wailing are put aside, and joy and revelry arrive. With the tongue of their state they say, “At first when passion for that beauty was new my neighbors did not sleep at night because of my weeping. Now I weep less because my passion has increased- When fire takes over, there's little smoke.” There are stones from which rivers come gushing, and among them are those that split and water comes forth from them, and among them are those that fall down in fear of God. He made hard stones more excellent than cruel hearts and superior to them. He is saying, “Water comes from stone, and it becomes soft, and in fear of God it falls into the desert. But a cruel heart in the makeup of an estranged man does not moan in fear of God or weep in remorse, nor do mercy and tenderness enter into it.” The stories say that one of God's prophets was passing through a desert and saw a small stone from which was flowing a great deal of water, much greater than the measure of the stone.
۞ أَفَتَطْمَعُونَ أَنْ يُؤْمِنُوا لَكُمْ وَقَدْ كَانَ فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ يَسْمَعُونَ كَلَامَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُحَرِّفُونَهُ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا عَقَلُوهُ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 Are you then so eager that they should believe you seeing there is a party of them that heard God's word and then tampered with it and that after they had comprehended it knowinglyḍ He informed them of [the status] of their belief and related that after hearing the address of God ������ they engaged in tampering [with it] and altering [it]: �Why would they believe you when they already heard by means of the messageḍ How can those who do not remain in a state of faith imān after eyewitnessing ʿiyān believe by means of demonstrative proof burhānḍ That which does not hold true for the Real does not hold true for you. How can those who are not ashamed before the Real be ashamed before youḍ�
وَإِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَإِذَا خَلَا بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍ قَالُوا أَتُحَدِّثُونَهُمْ بِمَا فَتَحَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لِيُحَاجُّوكُمْ بِهِ عِنْدَ رَبِّكُمْ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
📘 And when they meet those who believe they say �We believe�; but when they go in private one to another they say: �Do you speak to them of what God has disclosed to you so that they may thereby dispute with you before your Lordḍ Have you no understandingḍ� Do they not know that God knows what they keep secret and what they proclaimḍ They encouraged one another among themselves to reject the Real and to hide the situation from the Muslims. But they did not know that God was informing His Messenger ���� ������ of their secrets and that a light the Real makes manifest cannot be extinguished by the efforts of anyone other than Him. When the tongue agrees but the mind162 objects it only increases separation.
أَوَلَا يَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ
📘 Do they not know that God knows what they keep secret and what they announce? This is the speech of the Lord who is worshiped by the tawḤīd-voicers, responds to those who call, knows the state of the servants, is aware of the apparent and hidden, and calls back those who have turned away. One He calls with explicit expressions, presenting Himself as the Nurturer. He says, “Be penitent toward your Lord!” [39:54]. Another He calls with His exalted allusions and turns the face of his heart away from others to Himself. He presents His lordhood and kingship to him and says, “Do they not know that God knows what they keep secret and what they announce?” For the recognizers, this is sufficient allusion. When the Lord of the Worlds says that He knows the secret cores and is aware of the hidden things, they sweep the dust of the others from their secret cores and give scatteredness no way into their hearts. When He says that He knows the apparent, they bring truthfulness to bear in their outward interaction with God's creatures. This is why the folk of allusion have said that He knows what they keep secret is a command to watchfulness between servant and Lord, and what they announce is a command to truthfulness in interactions and settling accounts with the creatures. In one of God's books has come, “If you do not know that I see you, that is a defect in your faith. If you do know that I see you, why do you make Me the lowliest of gazers upon you?” Equivalent to this verse is what the Exalted Lord says: “He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal” [40:19]. There are diverse treacheries in the eyes of the lookers, because the travelers are diverse. The treachery of the eyes of the worshipers is that in the dark night, when it is time for whis- pering to God, they fall asleep and the intimacy of seclusion is lost to them. The prophet David received the revelation, “O David, he who claims to love Me is a liar if night comes, and he goes to sleep on Me. Does not every lover love to be secluded with his beloved?” God praised Abraham for this attribute when He said, “When night darkened over him” [6:76].
وَمِنْهُمْ أُمِّيُّونَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا أَمَانِيَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ
📘 And among them are the unlettered. In this verse the attribute of unletteredness is a censure of the estranged and a mark of their short- coming. In the verse where He says, “Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet” [7:157], it is a praise of MuṣṬafā and a mark of his perfection. This alludes to the fact that having the same name does not mean being of the same kind. The congruence of names does not require the congruence of meanings. The position of the Folk of the Sunnah in affirming the attributes of the Real was established according to this rule: the agreement of one name with another does not bring about the agreement of meanings. God has attributes and descriptions fitting for Godhood, and creatures are far from that. Created things have created attributes, and God is pure of that. Do you not see that “exalted” is a name of God, and He called Joseph exalted [12:78]? God's exalted- ness is worthy of Him and the created thing's exaltedness is worthy of it. By the agreement of the Muslims and the attestation of most of the unbelievers, God is existent and the creatures are existent. But, the creatures exist by God's existence-giving, and God exists by His own abidance and His own being and subsistence. The Muslims agree that God is alive, and there are many living things among the created. The created thing is alive through breath and through appropriate and timely nourishment, but God is alive through His life and subsistence and through His firstness and lastness-without when, how many, or how. All the opponents of the Folk of the Sunnah say that God is maker and the created thing maker. But the created thing is maker through artifice, instrument, striving, and measure, and God is maker through power and wisdom-whatever He wants, as He wants, and whenever He wants. There are many similar things in the Qur'an. In short, God knows how He is, and He is just as He said He is, but the servant is incapable of knowing His howness. What God said about Himself should be accepted from the eyeteeth and assented to from the depth of the spirit. When someone fancies that having the same meaning is to be of the same kind, that is to go by the road of the road- less, and it is nothing but rebellion. Hoping to grasp God by imagination and seeking is absurd, and everything gained in this way will be faulty. Safety in the religion lies in accepting the mes- sage, approving of him who conveyed it, bowing the head, and putting aside seeking. Anyone who has this as his belief has gone on the right path, and his outcome will be as the Exalted Lord says:
فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَابَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَٰذَا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُوا بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا ۖ فَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَهُمْ مِمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ
📘 And there are some of them that are illiterate not knowing the scripture but only desires and mere conjectures. So woe to those who write the scripture with their hands then say �This is from God� that they may sell it for a small price. He related that they differed in the shortcomings of their disbelief. One group is the most contemptible while the majority relied on blind fol- lowing taqlīd out of ignorance. It was not that doubt seized them but rather that they were misled by conjecture and speculation. They have no share in their scriptures other than to recite them without knowledge of their meanings. Among this group are those who are mostly concerned with what they desire for themselves. There is no possibility of their being helped and no definitive way of finding the truth among their conjectures. Then He related the bad outcome for them in His words may His men- tion be exalted: So woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for their earnings. It means they have lost in the present and in the end. This verse alludes to those who lack sincerity ikhlāṣ in companionship ṣuḥba165 on the path of the Real. They associate with the friends awliyāÌ [of God] externally but they possess no true spiritual desire irāda so they are companions of the heedless with only a partial view of this path Ṭarīqa. Whenever the clamor of worldly fortunes call they rush to respond will- ingly but when the demands of the Real ������ direct them to some endeavor their situation is a bad one since they are not sincere. How intense will be their remorse for what they have hoarded from God! They will not prosper.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 Among the people are those who say, “We have faith in God.” This is the story of the hypocrites. The secret of the hypocrites' hypocrisy goes back to the emi- nence of MuṣṬafā in two respects, one in respect of jealousy and the other in respect of mercy. MuṣṬafā was the Real's beloved. His beauty and perfection passed beyond the limits of un- derstanding and imagination, so by virtue of jealousy God kept him behind the curtain of His protection and made the hypocrites' hypocrisy the mask of his beauty. He was veiled from the world's folk so that no one recognized him in reality, and He did not show him to anyone as he was. Thou seest them looking at thee, but they do not see [7:198]. If the hypocrites' hypocrisy had not been the mask of that shining face, all the creatures would have thrown dust on the light of the Unseen. With such a sun, such a light, and such a brilliance, a hypocrisy was needed such as that of ʿAbdallāh Ubayy Salūl and his likes. Otherwise, the radiance of that beauty would have done more to the Adamites than the beauty of Jesus did to his people such that they said, “The Messiah is the son of God” [9:30]. This can be said with a simile: The sun's disk, whose rays shine forth from the fourth heaven, has turned its face toward the fifth heaven. God created angels and entrusted that disk to them, and He created deserts full of snow in front of those angels. They lift mountain after mountain of snow from those deserts and dash them against the sun's disk so that its heat will be broken. Oth- erwise, the world would burn because of its shine and heat. In the same way, the hypocrisy of the hypocrites was thrown against the presence of that sun of good fortune. Otherwise, the creatures would all have bound the belt of associationism. But, that paragon of the world was all gentleness and mercy, as he said: “I am a guided mercy.” God says, “We sent thee only as a mercy to the worlds” [21:107].
وَقَالُوا لَنْ تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلَّا أَيَّامًا مَعْدُودَةً ۚ قُلْ أَتَّخَذْتُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ عَهْدًا فَلَنْ يُخْلِفَ اللَّهُ عَهْدَهُ ۖ أَمْ تَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
📘 And they say �the fire shall not touch us save a number of days.� Say: �Have you taken a covenant with Godḍ God will not fail in His covenant or say you against God what you do not knowḍ This verse alludes to those whose hearts are filled with false claims. Their conjecture has gotten the better of them for out of extreme foolishness they judge themselves to be among the people of the story ahl al-qiṣṣa. Such a person abides yakhlud with the murmurings of his lower desires. He judges the unseen by what he has himself neglected having forgotten the ugliness of what he has done and remembering [only] the errors of his false thinking. He is a servant of his lower self whose good opinion of himself has gotten the better of him. In reality the results of his neglect and deceit possess him. God most high said �And that supposition of yours which you supposed of your Lord has ruined you. So you have become among the losers� [41:23].
بَلَىٰ مَنْ كَسَبَ سَيِّئَةً وَأَحَاطَتْ بِهِ خَطِيئَتُهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
📘 Not so; whoever earns evil and is encompassed by his transgression- those are the inhabitants of the fire therein abiding khālidūn. In the language of scholars168 the one who is encompassed by his trans- gression is the disbeliever. But the allusion in it is to one whose heart has ceased its perpetual calling for help. The possessors of realities are like grain in the frying pan in their moments of wakefulness ṣaḥw. Those [of them] who have become still are thus because of His excessive majesty not because they are listless. Whoever relies on obedience seeks favor from it and thinks that he [can] draw near by means of it but he should keep his distance from this [idea]. Whoever comes to know the truth of God's unity knows that there is no means to Him except through Him.
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَنَّةِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
📘 Those who have faith and do wholesome deeds-those are the companions of the Garden, and they shall be there forever. It has been said that those who have faith is an allusion to the tree of faith and its being planted in the heart of the faithful. Do wholesome deeds is an allusion to the branches of that tree and its nurturing and growing. Those are the companions of the Garden is an allusion to the produce of the tree and the ripening of its fruit. This is the tree about which the Lord of the Worlds speaks and reports in another place: “Its roots fixed, and its branches in heaven. It gives its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord” [14:24-25]. The fruit of this tree is not like the fruit of other trees, which bring forth fruit once year after year. Rather, this tree brings forth new fruit every hour, or rather every moment. Each has another color, another taste, and another fragrance. The sweetness of worshipers is a fruit of this tree, the feast of the desirers' heart is a fruit of this tree, the limpid- ness of the recognizers' present moment is a fruit of this tree. Today in the house of service on the carpet of obedience they have the paradise of recognition, neither turned aside from them nor veiled. Tomorrow in the house of union on the carpet of friendship they will have the paradise of approval, neither cut off nor withheld, and upraised carpets [56:33-34].
ثُمَّ أَنْتُمْ هَٰؤُلَاءِ تَقْتُلُونَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَتُخْرِجُونَ فَرِيقًا مِنْكُمْ مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ تَظَاهَرُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ بِالْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَإِنْ يَأْتُوكُمْ أُسَارَىٰ تُفَادُوهُمْ وَهُوَ مُحَرَّمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ إِخْرَاجُهُمْ ۚ أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ ۚ فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْكُمْ إِلَّا خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
📘 And when We made a covenant with the children of Israel: �You shall not worship any other than God; and be good to parents and the near of kin; and to orphans and to the needy; and speak well to men; and observe the prayer and pay the alms� then you turned away; all but a few of you rejecting. And when We made a covenant with you: �Shed no blood among you nor turn out your own people from your homes.� Then you confirmed it and you bore witness. Then there you are killing one another and expelling a party of you from their habitations conspiring against them in sin and enmity and if they come to you as captives you ransom them; yet their expulsion was forbidden you. What do you believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in partḍ And if they come to you as captives you ransom them that is �Just as you protect their rights by ransoming them so must you restrain your hands from them and forswear expelling them from their homelands. When you uphold some of what has been made obligatory for you what keeps you from doing the rest of what you have been commanded to doḍ Do you not know that whoever picks and chooses in what he has been commanded so that he believes in some parts and disbelieves in others has the reward for his deeds nullified because of what he has neglectedḍ� What shall be the requital of those of you who do that but degrada- tion in the life of this world; and on the Day of Resurrection to be returned to the most terrible of chastisementḍ And God is not heedless of what you do. That is they thought that what they did would benefit them but in the hereafter it will be disclosed to them that everything that they did when it was combined with what was damaging and stripped of sincerity and devotion was not accepted from them. The captives are of different types. The rescue of the captive drowning in the sea of whim hawā is to be directed to guidance. The ransom of the captive who remains in the hands of whisperings wasāwis is to show him the way to certainty by the glimmers of proofs.
أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا بِالْآخِرَةِ ۖ فَلَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابُ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ
📘 Those are the ones who have purchased the life of this world at the price of the hereafter-for them the punishment shall not be lightened neither shall they be helped. Those who have preferred anything over [God] have lost in this world and the hereafter. As they have said: People turned away from us without cause or sense. If they have no need of us we have even less need of them.
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ وَقَفَّيْنَا مِنْ بَعْدِهِ بِالرُّسُلِ ۖ وَآتَيْنَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَيَّدْنَاهُ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ ۗ أَفَكُلَّمَا جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ بِمَا لَا تَهْوَىٰ أَنْفُسُكُمُ اسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ فَفَرِيقًا كَذَّبْتُمْ وَفَرِيقًا تَقْتُلُونَ
📘 And We gave Moses the scripture and after him We sent successive mes- sengers and We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear proofs and We confirmed him with the holy spirit and whenever there came to you a messenger with what your souls did not desire you became arrogant; and some you called liars and some you slayḍ The allusion is that �We [God] delivered the address to them and made one messenger follow after another all calling to the same thing. But they listened to the call of the callers with the ear of whim hawā; they accepted what their lower selves found pleasurable and rejected what their whims ahwāÌ found troublesome. They were characterized by this self-serving desire and moreover became servants ʿabadū to it. The [human] attributes of the worshiper ʿābid became the object of worship maʿbūd.� What a terrible affliction is upon them!
وَقَالُوا قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌ ۚ بَلْ لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَقَلِيلًا مَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
📘 And they say: �Our hearts are encased.� Nay but God has cursed them for their unbelief; and little will they believe. If there had been anything in them free of pretension it would have become easy to find meanings [from God's signs and scripture]. But when [they must] recognize the truth the fangs of pretenders are bared... It is said: When tears flow down cheeks The one who is crying is distinguished from the one who is only pretending.
وَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ كِتَابٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَهُمْ وَكَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ يَسْتَفْتِحُونَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ مَا عَرَفُوا كَفَرُوا بِهِ ۚ فَلَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ
📘 \ When there came to them a Book from God confirming what was with them-and they formerly prayed for victory over the disbelievers; but when there came to them what they recognized they disbelieved in it; and the curse of God is on the disbelievers. Here the allusion is to one who resolves upon purity and clarity ṣafāÌ and promises his complete loyalty wafāÌ. He raises the banners of his vigor to step out to combat but when the call comes to line up and advance boldly into battle he breaks down at the rallying of the ranks and cuts himself off from the group afraid of dangerous attacks. God most high said �Then when the matter has been resolved upon if they are loyal to God it will be better for them� [47:21].
يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلَّا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ
📘 They would deceive God and the believers; and they only deceive them- selves; and they are not aware. The harm of their deception and the punishment for it comes back to themselves so it is as if they have deceived themselves in actuality for they devalue and belittle themselves. No one suffered the harm of their actions but themselves-they cut off their own lifeblood. When there is one who knows the true nature of things the one who desires to deceive him only deceives himself. The allusion in this verse is to the one who has forgotten [God's] prior kindness. He says �mine through me from me and I� slandering in his delusion and conjecture [what should be] �Yours through You from You and You.� This delusion is the most difficult of punishments because he sees a mirage sarāb and thinks it is drink sharāb until he comes to it and finds it to be nothing and he finds God there who pays him his account in full [24:39].
بِئْسَمَا اشْتَرَوْا بِهِ أَنْفُسَهُمْ أَنْ يَكْفُرُوا بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ بَغْيًا أَنْ يُنَزِّلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ عَلَىٰ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ۖ فَبَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ عَلَىٰ غَضَبٍ ۚ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ
📘 Evil is that for which they sell their souls; that they disbelieve in that which God has revealed grudging that God should reveal of His bounty to whomever He will of His servants; and they were laden with anger upon anger; and for the disbelievers there shall be a humiliating chastisement. Envy caused them to descend from the abode of nobility to the lowland of ignominy. When they were not satisfied with what the decree brought they were reduced to a state of abasement. They invited upon themselves that which brings wrath upon wrath.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ آمِنُوا بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا نُؤْمِنُ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْنَا وَيَكْفُرُونَ بِمَا وَرَاءَهُ وَهُوَ الْحَقُّ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا مَعَهُمْ ۗ قُلْ فَلِمَ تَقْتُلُونَ أَنْبِيَاءَ اللَّهِ مِنْ قَبْلُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 And when it was said to them �Believe in what God has revealed� they said �We believe in what was revealed to us� and they disbelieve in what is beyond that; yet it is the truth confirming what is with them. Say: �Why then were you slaying the prophets of God formerly if you were believersḍ� Here the allusion is that when it is said to them �Recognize the truth of what has been shown to you from the decree of [divine] harmony min ḥukm al-wifāq by recognizing the situation and the establishment of proof� their lower selves permit some of what they find ambiguous insofar as it agrees with their self-serving desires but then they disbelieve in what is beyond their worldly concerns. They are distant from the elite and are not considered to be among the masters who have special claim arbāb al-ikhtiṣāṣ.
۞ وَلَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ مُوسَىٰ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ اتَّخَذْتُمُ الْعِجْلَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَنْتُمْ ظَالِمُونَ
📘 And Moses came to you with clear proofs; then you took to yourselves the calf after him and you were evildoers. That is �he called you to declare [God's] unity tawḥīd and separate the [proper] object of worship from any other object of worship maʿbūd and limited thing maḥdūd. But you were not inclined to worship anything except what was attractive to you-the calf you adopted for yourselves and the idol you desired.� [The calf] was taken from them but its traces remained in their hearts and in the hearts of those who came after them. Because of that most Jews believe in anthropomorphism tashbīh.
وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَكُمْ وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَكُمُ الطُّورَ خُذُوا مَا آتَيْنَاكُمْ بِقُوَّةٍ وَاسْمَعُوا ۖ قَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا وَأُشْرِبُوا فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الْعِجْلَ بِكُفْرِهِمْ ۚ قُلْ بِئْسَمَا يَأْمُرُكُمْ بِهِ إِيمَانُكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 And when We made a covenant with you and raised over you the mount �Take forcefully what We have given you and listen� they said �We hear and disobey�; and they were made to drink the calf in their hearts on account of their unbelief. Say: �Evil is that which your belief enjoins on you if you are believers.� He reiterates the tale of their excessive love for the calf their aversion to accepting the Real and [... ] and their being told of the punishment that would overtake them for the evil they did. No counsel was useful to them and no punishment led them to refrain from their disobediences. They paid no mind to censure lā bi-l-dhamm fīhim iḥtafalū and did not act according to what the situation required wa-lā bi-mūjibi al-amr ʿamilū.
قُلْ إِنْ كَانَتْ لَكُمُ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ خَالِصَةً مِنْ دُونِ النَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
📘 Say: �If the abode of the hereafter with God is purely yours and not for other people then long for death-if you speak truly.� But they will never long for it because of that which their own hands have sent before them. God knows the evildoers. Among the signs of ardent longing ishtiyāq is the desire for death while in the best of health and well-being. Whoever is absolutely and without any doubt confident that the garden is his ardently longs for it. But they did not long for the garden-and God ������ said that they will never long for it-and this information was a miracle for the Messenger ﷺ since it was as He had said. In this is good news for the believers who ardently long for death; there is forgiveness for them. He only bestows the ardent longing on them so that it may be actualized [when] they reach the garden. Of old it was said �For the negligent shame will suffice on the Day of the Meeting.� God most high said �But they will never long for it because of that which their own hands have sent before them.�
وَلَنْ يَتَمَنَّوْهُ أَبَدًا بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالظَّالِمِينَ
📘 Say: �If the abode of the hereafter with God is purely yours and not for other people then long for death-if you speak truly.� But they will never long for it because of that which their own hands have sent before them. God knows the evildoers. Among the signs of ardent longing ishtiyāq is the desire for death while in the best of health and well-being. Whoever is absolutely and without any doubt confident that the garden is his ardently longs for it. But they did not long for the garden-and God ������ said that they will never long for it-and this information was a miracle for the Messenger ﷺ since it was as He had said. In this is good news for the believers who ardently long for death; there is forgiveness for them. He only bestows the ardent longing on them so that it may be actualized [when] they reach the garden. Of old it was said �For the negligent shame will suffice on the Day of the Meeting.� God most high said �But they will never long for it because of that which their own hands have sent before them.�
وَلَتَجِدَنَّهُمْ أَحْرَصَ النَّاسِ عَلَىٰ حَيَاةٍ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا ۚ يَوَدُّ أَحَدُهُمْ لَوْ يُعَمَّرُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ وَمَا هُوَ بِمُزَحْزِحِهِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ أَنْ يُعَمَّرَ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ
📘 And you shall find them the people most covetous of life and the idola- ters; any one of them would love that he might be given life for a thousand years; yet his being given life shall not budge him from the chastisement. God sees what they do. Love of life in this world is the result of heedlessness ghafla of God. The worst heedlessness is their excessive love to remain in this world. The state of the believer is the opposite of this. Those who are heedless and insolent are eager for life only because they know of their failure to be obedient. The runaway slave does not want to be returned to his master. But for believ- ers the transition [of death] to One from whom only good is expected is better than remaining with those against whose evil they are not secure. The prolonging of life in spite of the certainty of death holds no value for them since [death] comes unexpectedly and life is cut off. What is coming is near. When [one's] life span is completed there is no averting the assaults of the appointed time from the shoulders of hope fa-lā maradda li-hujūmi al-ajal ʿalā aktāfi al-amal.
قُلْ مَنْ كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِجِبْرِيلَ فَإِنَّهُ نَزَّلَهُ عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَهُدًى وَبُشْرَىٰ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 Say: “Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel-he it is who sent it down upon thy heart.” Magnanimous and beautiful is the Qur'an that Gabriel brought down from the All-Merciful. It is the repose of the spirit of the friends, the healing of the hearts of the ill, a mercy to the faithful. This is why God says, “he it is who sent it down upon thy heart.” Elsewhere He says, “Brought down by the trustworthy spirit upon thy heart” [26:193-94]. When Gabriel conveyed the pure revelation, sometimes he came in the form of a mortal man, sometimes in the form of an angel. Whenever he brought verses about permitted and forbidden and the explication of the shariahs and rulings, he would be in human form, and there was no talk of the heart. Thus He says, “He it is who sent down upon thee the Book” [3:7]; “Does it not suffice them that We sent down upon thee the Book?” [29:51]. Then again, whenever there was talk of love, the attributes of passion, and the intimations of friendship, he would come in the form of an angel, spiritual and subtle, and he would join with MuṣṬafā's heart. He would convey the revelation of the Qur'an secretly to his secret core, and no one else was aware of him. When he returned and left behind the realm of his heart, MuṣṬafā would say, “He broke away from me while I was aware of him.” It is said that when he was inundated by contemplation in this speech, the revelation would first descend to his heart, for He said to him, “who sent it down upon thy heart.” Then it would turn away from his heart to his understanding and his hearing. Then he would descend from the summit of companionship to the lowland of service for the sake of the people's shares. This is the level of the elect. It may also happen that revelation descends on the hearing of certain people first, then on their understanding, then on their hearts, advancing from the lowness of struggle to the highness of contemplation. This is the level of the wayfarers and desirers. How far apart they are!
مَنْ كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِلَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَجِبْرِيلَ وَمِيكَالَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَدُوٌّ لِلْكَافِرِينَ
📘 Say: �Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel-he it was that brought it down upon your heart by the leave of God confirming what was before it a guid- ance and good tidings for the believers. Whoever is an enemy to God and His angels and His messengers and Gabriel and Michael-then surely God is an enemy to the disbelievers.� The Jews claimed that Gabriel did not come with good that they did not love him and that if it had been Michael they would have believed in him. The Real ������ showed them to be liars when He said �Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel [thinking] he did not bring good what good is greater than the QurÌān that descended through himḍ� Then He said that whoever is an enemy to Gabriel and Michael God is his enemy. Surely the messenger of the Beloved to the highly-esteemed beloved [Muḥammad] has a noble status and weighty rank. The enmity of the disbelievers does not harm Gabriel-the Real ������ ������ is his protector walī. Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel God is his enemy. How mighty and glori- fied is this status! How grand is His exaltedness!
وَلَقَدْ أَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ آيَاتٍ بَيِّنَاتٍ ۖ وَمَا يَكْفُرُ بِهَا إِلَّا الْفَاسِقُونَ
📘 And We have revealed to you clear proofs; and none disbelieves inthem except the wicked. Why whenever they make a covenant does a party of them reject itḍ Nay but most of them are disbelievers. One disbelieves in His clear signs only when one's eyes are blocked from perceiving and one's fate from God has already been determined as unfor- tunate. There is no sense in anyone who denies that day is day. Likewise there is no union for anyone who has not been assisted by lights and insights from the Real. Why whenever they made a covenant...: their predetermined fate sābiq al-taqdīr confounded them and their subsequent contrivances lāḥiq al-tadbīr broke their covenant. God prevails over His affair.
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