﴿ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ ﴾

“All praise is due to God alone, the Sustainer of all the worlds,”

Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds. This is praise of the lovingly kind God, the Creator who provides daily provisions, the One in name and mark, the Lord who is found without seeking, recognized without being found, loved without being seen. He is powerful without contrivance, self-standing without the changing of states, safe from decline in kingship, transcendent in essence and attribute, without beginning and end, de- scribed by the description of majesty and the attribute of beauty. He saw the servants' incapacity to recognize His measure and He knew that as much as they tried, they would not arrive. As much as they hoped, they would not recognize. The exalted Qur'an gives witness to their incapacity: “They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure” [6:91]. In the perfection of His exaltedness, majesty, and holiness, He made them His deputies in laudation of Him, taught them how to praise Him, and gave them permission to do so. Otherwise, who would dream of saying “Praise belongs to God” if He had not said it Himself? Who in the whole world would have the gall to say, “Praise belongs to God”? Her own face has itself as a moon, her own eye has itself as collyrium. * Who knows You? It is You who know You, You. No one knows You-You alone know You. O worthy of Your own laudation, O giver of thanks for Your own bestowal! In my essence I am incapable of Your service, and with my own intellect I am incapable of recognizing Your favor. In my entire self I am incapable of joy in You, and with my own ability I am incapable of what is worthy for You. O Generous! I am seized by the pain whose cure is You. I am a servant of the laudation that is worthy of You. What do I know of You? You know. You are what You said You are-that is You. Know also that praise is two sorts: one at seeing blessings, the other at seeing the Beneficent. That which is at seeing blessings extols Him, puts His blessings to work through obedience, and girds up the loins in thanking Him so as to increase blessings today and convey to paradise tomor- row. Thus the Prophet said, “The first to be called to the Garden will be those who fully praise God in every state. ” This is the final end of him whose praise is at seeing blessings. As for him whose praise is at seeing the Beneficent, the tongue of his state says, “Poverty did not drive us from the land of our kinsmen- we came to find happiness at encountering You. * “O idol, we didn't come to look at the world!” Such a chevalier was given the wine of yearning and shamed by mutual seeing until he was anni- hilated from himself. He heard one, he saw one, he reached one. What did he hear? What did he see? What did he reach? He heard the remembrance of the Real, he saw the lamp of familiarity, he reached the First Day. He heard the response of gentleness, he saw the signet of friendship, and he reached the friendship of the Beginningless. The chevalier first found the mark and lost his heart, then was given access and became all heart, then saw the Friend and became lost in the heart. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The two worlds became lost in friendship, and friendship became lost in the Friend. Now I cannot say that it is I, nor can I say that it is He.” I have an eye, all of it filled with the form of the Friend. Happy am I with my eye so long as the Friend is within it. Separating the eye from the Friend is not good- either He's in place of the eye, or the eye itself is He. The Lord of the Worlds, that is, the nurturer of the world's folk and the one who assigns their daily provision. The portion of one is the nurture of the body, the portion of another the nurture of the heart. He is nurturer of one person's body with blessings, nurturer of another's heart with the Patron of Blessings. Blessings are the portion of him who does not put aside struggle in service. The mystery of the Patron of Blessings is the portion of him whose hope is to see Him. Wanting to see the Friend is the attribute of the Men. Who is more victorious than he who sees the Friend face-to-face? Great is the aspiration of the eye that wants to see You- is it not enough for an eye that You see him who sees You? The nourishment of the friends' hearts, which they put to work as the nurture of their spirit and which is conveyed to them night and day from the Exalted Presence, is what was said by the world's paragon: “I spend the night at my Lord; He gives me to eat and drink.