🕋 تفسير سورة آل عمران
(Aal-E-Imran) • المصدر: EN-ASBAB-AL-NUZUL-BY-AL-WAHIDI
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَنْ تُغْنِيَ عَنْهُمْ أَمْوَالُهُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُهُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمْ وَقُودُ النَّارِ
📘 As for the unbelievers, their possessions will not take away their need for God, neither their children, and it is they who will be fuel for the Fire. What a majestic God, generous, lovingly kind, who promises the faithful in the midst of warning the unbelievers and who caresses these while blaming those! He is saying, “Tomorrow at the res- urrection possessions and children will be useless to the unbelievers and will not profit them.” In other words, they will be useful to the faithful whenever they have carried out what is rightfully due to them, making them the snare of their own religion and seeking through them their endless felicity. MuṣṬafā said, “How excellent are wholesome possessions for the wholesome man! What ex- cellent assistance are possessions for being wary of God!” This is just what the Lord of the Worlds says: “And, with what God has given thee, follow after the Last Abode” [28:77]. He is saying, “In that of this world which He has given you, bring the next world to hand! Seek the felicity of the next world!” The felicity of the next world lies in recognition of God. Recognition comes from the light of the heart. The light of the heart comes from the lamp of tawḤīd, and the root of this lamp is the divine bestowal. As for its material, that comes from the deeds and obedient acts of the body. Obedient acts come from the strength of the soul, and the soul's strength comes from food, drink, and clothing. Food, drink, and clothing are nothing but possessions. Hence possessions, by this series of steps, are the cause of endless felicity. But, one must not pass beyond the measure of sufficiency, for then these will become the cause of rebellion, just as He says: “No indeed; surely man is rebellious because he sees himself without needs” [96:6-7]. This is why God's Messenger supplicated, “Lord God, make the food of Muhammad's family in the measure of sufficiency!” When the measure of sufficiency is for the leisure to worship, then it itself is nothing but worship, for it is the supplies for the road, and the road supplies are also part of the road. Shaykh Abu'l-Qāsim Kurragānī had a lawful landed estate from which he received his suffi- ciency.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ تُطِيعُوا فَرِيقًا مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ يَرُدُّوكُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ كَافِرِينَ
📘 (O ye who believe! If ye obey a party of those who have received the Scripture�) [3:100]. Abu �Amr al-Qantari informed me, among other things he gave me authorisation to relate from him> Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Haddadi> Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Khalid> Ishaq ibn Ibrahim> al-Mu�ammil ibn Isma�il> Hammad ibn Yazid> Ayyub> �Ikrimah who said: �The two tribes of the Aws and Khazraj had fought each other in the pre-Islamic period and upon the advent of Islam, Allah, exalted is He, united their hearts and had peace with each other. One day, a Jew sat in an assembly of mixed people which belonged to the Aws and Khazraj. He recited some poetry which was composed by one of the tribes during their war against each other. Something stirred within the people of the other tribe, and so they said: �Our poet has said this and that about such-and-such a battle�. The others replied by saying: �And our poet has said this and that about such-and-such a battle�. Suddenly some of them said: �Let us start war all over again!� Those who belonged to the tribe of Aws cried: �O people of Aws!� and those who belonged to the tribe of Khazraj cried: �O people of Khazraj!� They all gathered up, took up arms and aligned themselves ready for to engage in battle. At this point, Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, went and stood between the two armies, read this verse and raised his voice in the process. When they heard his voice, they stopped talking and listened to him. When he finished his recitation, they all dropped their weapons and embraced one another, crying�. Said Zayd ibn Aslam: �Shas ibn Qays, the Jew, was an old man who grew up in the pre-Islamic period. He was a great disbeliever. His hate for the Muslims was extreme and his resentful envy toward them was intense. One day, he passed by a group of Companions of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, from the Aws and the Khazraj who were gathered in an assembly and talking, and was infuriated to see their unity, friendliness and reconciliation when they were enemies in the pre-Islamic period. He said: �The people of Banu Qaylah have united in this land.
وَكَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتُ اللَّهِ وَفِيكُمْ رَسُولُهُ ۗ وَمَنْ يَعْتَصِمْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ
📘 (How can ye disbelieve�.) [3:101]. Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Hiri informed us> Muhammad ibn Ya'qub> al-'Abbas al-Duri> Abu Nu'aym al-Fadl ibn Dukayn> Qays ibn al-Rabi'> al-Agharr> Khalifah ibn Husayn> Abu Nasr> Ibn 'Abbas who said: �The Aws and the Khazraj had a feud in the pre-Islamic period. One day, they mentioned to each other what had happened in that period and this led them to brandish their swords at each others. Upon being informed of what was happening, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, went to them and this verse was revealed (How can ye disbelieve, when it is ye unto whom Allah's revelations are recited, and His messenger is in your midst?) up to His saying (And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of Allah, and do not separate) [3:103]�. Al-Sharif Isma'il ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Naqib informed us> his grandfather Muhammad ibn al-Husayn> Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Hafiz> Hatim ibn Yunus al-Jurjani> Ibrahim ibn Abi al-Layth> al-Ashja'i> Sufyan> Khalifah ibn Husayn> Abu Nasr> Ibn 'Abbas who said: �The Aws and the Khazraj were one day talking and became angry with each other to the extent that war nearly broke out between them. They had taken arms and marched toward each other. Then the verse (How can ye disbelieve, when it is ye unto whom Allah's revelations are recited) up to His saying (He did save you from it�)�.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
📘 O you who have faith, be wary of God as is the rightful due of His wariness. When He says, “O people,” He says, “Be wary of your Lord” along with it. When He says, “O you who have faith,” He says, “Be wary of God” along with it. Be wary of your Lord is addressed to the common people. Their godwariness is based on seeing blessings, and their aspiration is nurturing the body to serve the Real. Be wary of God is addressed to the folk of caresses and generosity. Their godwariness is based on being watchful of the Beneficent and their aim is the repose of the spirit in witnessing the Real. What a difference between the two! Be wary of your Lord is addressed to the wage-earners, and Be wary of God is addressed to the recognizers. The wage-earners are seeking joy and blessings, and the recognizers are seeking the mystery of the Beneficent. From God the wage-earners want other than Him, but the recognizers want God Himself. AḤmad ibn Khiẓrūya saw the Real in a dream. He said, “O AḤmad! Everyone is seeking something from Me, except Abū Yazīd. He is seeking Me.” People are wishing for repose and comfort, but I, O Exalted One, wish to encounter You empty. * On the day I reach union with You I will disdain the state of the paradise-dwellers. It has been said that godwariness is of three sorts: One is wariness of God's punishment by having patience against acts of disobedience, as He says: “Be wary of the Fire that has been prepared for the unbelievers” [3:131]. Second is the godwariness of gratitude for blessings, as He says: “Be wary of your Lord” [4:1]. Third is godwariness at the vision of Unity, without taking into account reward or punishment, as He says: “Be wary of God as is the rightful due of His wariness.” The first is the godwariness of the wrongdoers, the second the godwariness of the moderate, and the third the godwariness of the preceders.
وَلْتَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
📘 Let there be a community of you inviting to the good. This is an allusion to peoples who stand up for God in God. They are not taken aback by the blame of any blamer nor cut off from God by relying on any causes. They have seen the shortcomings of their own souls and immersed their lives in gaining God's approval. They act for God, give counsel for God's religion, and call God's creatures to God. Their trade has profited them and they do not regret their handshake. This is the description of a people who stand through the Real's making them stand and who have been freed from their own power and strength and disengaged from their own desires and aims. They are outside the circle of deeds and states, free of the captivity of choice and self- determination. They know God, they call upon God, and they strive in God's religion. They do not think about people or their blame. In their hearts they have friendship for the Patron and in their eyes the collyrium of Self-disclosure. They see everything just as it is. Others look from the artisanry to the Artisan, but they look from the Artisan to the artisanry. They are the elect of the Presence, branded by the Empire. Be the elect servant of the king-with his brand you're safe from police by day and patrols by night. They are the ones burnt by union and killed by love. Their blood has been spilled and their prop- erty destroyed, but their hearts are in His grasp, their spirits in His embrace. This is why they say, You have a Heart-taker better than life. Don't grieve-let go of life. “When someone is destroyed in God, God takes his place.”
وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ تَفَرَّقُوا وَاخْتَلَفُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
📘 And do not be like those who became dispersed and disagreed. Dispersion is one thing and disagreement something else. Dispersion is the opposite of together- ness and disagreement the opposite of agreement. Dispersion is the scatteredness of the folk of the Tariqah and disagreement the scatteredness of the folk of the Shariah. Dispersion is that the servant desires one thing and the Real desires something else. Togeth- erness is that the servant's desire and the Real's desire are one. According to the report, “When someone makes his concerns one concern, God will spare him the concerns of this world and the next world.” It has been said that dispersion is to gaze on the creatures and to see the secondary causes such that you are never relieved of suffering and creaturely antagonism. Togetherness is to gaze on the Real and to know that the Real is one, the work comes from one place, and the decree comes from this one door. As for the disagreement of the lords of the Shariah, that is of two sorts: One is in the principles of the religion, the other in the branches. Disagreement in the principles is terrible and dangerous, since one must be right and the other wrong. When someone's goal lies in the west and he takes the road east, how can he ever reach the goal? The more he goes, the more he moves away from the goal day by day, and he falls farther behind. This is alluded to in His words, “Surely this path of Mine is straight, so follow it. And do not follow the paths, lest they disperse you from His path” [6:153]. As for the disagreement of the community on the branches, it is like a group who set out for one goal by disagreeing roads, some going nearer and some farther. Although they disagree in the traveling, they arrive at one goal and come together. This disagreement is mercy itself. To it the Prophet alluded: “Disagreement in my community is a mercy.” In other words, this disagreement in branches is God's mercy toward the creatures, so that the work of the religion would not become narrow for them and its road would not be difficult. This is in His words, “He placed no hardship upon you in the religion” [22:78]; and in God's words, “God desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship” [2:185].
كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ ۗ وَلَوْ آمَنَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُمْ ۚ مِنْهُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ
📘 (Ye are the best community that hath been raised up for mankind�) [3:110]. �Ikrimah and Muqatil said: �This was revealed about [�Abd Allah] Ibn Mas�ud, Ubayy ibn Ka�b, Mu�adh ibn Jabal and Salim, the client of Abu Hudhayfah. Malik ibn al-Dayf and Wahb ibn Yahudha, both of them Jews, had said to them: �Our religion is better than that to which you call us; and we are also more virtuous and better than you�. And Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse as a response to them�.
لَنْ يَضُرُّوكُمْ إِلَّا أَذًى ۖ وَإِنْ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ يُوَلُّوكُمُ الْأَدْبَارَ ثُمَّ لَا يُنْصَرُونَ
📘 (They will not harm you save a trifling hurt�) [3:111]. Said Muqatil: �The Jewish chieftains Ka�b, Bahra, al-Nu�man, Abu Rafi�, Abu Yasir and Ibn Surya went to �Abd Allah ibn Salam and his followers, who had believed, and hurt them because of their acceptance of Islam and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�.
۞ لَيْسُوا سَوَاءً ۗ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ أُمَّةٌ قَائِمَةٌ يَتْلُونَ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ وَهُمْ يَسْجُدُونَ
📘 (They are not all alike�) [3:113]. Ibn �Abbas and Muqatil said: �When �Abd Allah ibn Salam, Tha�labah ibn Sa�yah, Usayd ibn Sa�yah, Asad ibn �Ubayd and other Jews embraced Islam, the Jewish rabbis said: �Only the evil amongst us believed in Muhammad, for had they been among our best they would not have abandoned the religion of their forefathers�. They also said to them: �You incurred a great loss when you have exchanged the religion of your forefathers with another religion�. Allah then revealed this verse (They are not all alike)�. Said Ibn Mas�ud: �This was revealed regarding the nightfall prayer which is performed by the Muslims but not by the people of the Book�. Abu Sa�id Muhammad ibn �Abd al-Rahman al-Ghazi informed us> Abu �Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hiri> Ahmad ibn �Ali ibn al-Muthanna> Abu Khaythamah> Hashim ibn al-Qasim> Shayban> �Asim> Zirri> Ibn Mas�ud who said: �The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, delayed the time of the nightfall prayer. When he came out to lead the prayer, he found people waiting for the prayer. He said: �There is no one among the adherents of other religions who is remembering Allah, exalted is He, at this hour except you�. And Allah, exalted is He, revealed these verses (They are not all alike. Of the People of the Scripture there is a staunch community who recite the revelations of Allah in the night season�) up to His saying (Allah is Aware of those who ward off (evil)) [3:115]�. Sa�id ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Nuh informed us> Abu �Ali ibn Ahmad al-Faqih> Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab> Yunus ibn �Abd al-A�la> �Abd Allah ibn Wahb> Yahya ibn Ayyub> Ibn Zahr> Sulayman> Zirr ibn Hubaysh> �Abd Allah ibn Mas�ud who said: �One night, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, did not come out. He was at one of his relatives or wives. He did not come to us to lead the night prayer until one third of the night had elapsed. When he came and found some of us lying down and some praying, he gave us the good news, saying: �None of the people of the book perform this prayer�. And the verse (They are not all alike. Of the People of the Scripture there is a staunch community who recite the revelations of Allah in the night season, falling prostrate (before Him)) was revealed�.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا بِطَانَةً مِنْ دُونِكُمْ لَا يَأْلُونَكُمْ خَبَالًا وَدُّوا مَا عَنِتُّمْ قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاءُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ ۚ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ ۖ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
📘 (O ye who believe! Take not for intimates others than your own folk�) [3:118]. Ibn �Abbas and Mujahid said: �This was revealed about a group of believers who took some hypocrites as intimate friends and had ties with some Jewish men due to bonds of kinship, friendship, alliance, neighbourhood and milk relations which they had with them. Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse warning them against taking them as intimates for fear lest they turn them away from their religion�.
هَا أَنْتُمْ أُولَاءِ تُحِبُّونَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِبُّونَكُمْ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْكِتَابِ كُلِّهِ وَإِذَا لَقُوكُمْ قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَإِذَا خَلَوْا عَضُّوا عَلَيْكُمُ الْأَنَامِلَ مِنَ الْغَيْظِ ۚ قُلْ مُوتُوا بِغَيْظِكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ
📘 Ha! There you are: You love them, but they do not love you. The faithful had limpid hearts and generous natures, and they did not keep tenderness and mercy back from the estranged. They wanted good for them and attached their hearts to their submission. They wanted their salvation and did not hold back God's mercy from them-whether they were acquaintances or strangers. This kept on crossing their minds: Bring the sweetmeat, for it is the heart's beloved, suited for both the elect and the common. This is the same tenderness that MuḤammad showed to the estranged. He said, “O God, guide my people, for they do not know.” As for the unbelievers, those who had no limpidness in their hearts or loyalty in their natures, they never wanted good for the people of faith, nor did they love them. They grieved at the good that reached them and became happy at the bad. God says, “If something beautiful touches you, it vexes them, and if something ugly strikes you, they rejoice at it” [3:120]. Indeed, everyone does what is fitting for him, for “The pot pours what is inside it.” The person of faith is generous and lovingly kind, for what is fitting for faith is generosity and chivalry. The unbeliever is base and bad-wanting, for what is fitting for unbelief is baseness and unseemliness. The person of faith calls God's creatures to salvation and deliverance. The unbeliever calls them to the Fire and captivity. To this He alludes with His words, “O my people! What is it with me that I invite you to salvation and you invite me to the Fire?” [40:41].
قُلْ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا سَتُغْلَبُونَ وَتُحْشَرُونَ إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ ۚ وَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ
📘 (Say (O Muhammad) unto those who disbelieve: Ye shall be overcome and gathered unto Hell�) [3:12]. Al-Kalbi reported from Abu Salih that Ibn 'Abbas said: �When Allah defeated the idolaters on the day of Badr, the Jews of Medina said: 'By Allah, this is the unlettered Prophet who was announced to us by Moses and whose attribute and description we find in our Scriptures and about whom it is also mentioned that his banner will not be defeated'. They wanted to believe in and follow him. But then some of them said: 'Do not be hasty; let us wait until another of his encounters'. When the Battle of Uhud took place and the Companions of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, were defeated, they became sceptical. They said: 'No, by Allah, this is not him'. Their wretchedness overwhelmed them and they did not embrace Islam. Meanwhile, they had a treaty with the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, which was supposed to last up to a certain period. They dissolved that treaty and Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf set off, along with sixty riders, to meet the people of Mecca, Abu Sufyan and his companions. They struck a deal and resolved to achieve the same goal. They said: 'Our word shall be one!' When they went back to Medina, Allah, exalted is He, revealed the above verse about them�. Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar, said: �When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, defeated the Quraysh at Badr and then went back to Medina, he gathered the Jews and said: 'O congregation of Jews! Beware lest Allah inflicts on you the like of that which he has inflicted on Quraysh on the day of Badr; embrace Islam before that which has befallen them befalls you. You know well that I was sent as a prophet. This you find it mentioned in your Scripture as well as in Allah's covenant with you'. They said: 'O Muhammad! Be not deluded because you have defeated inexperienced people who have no knowledge of warfare. By Allah, if we were to fight, you will realize that we are the real thing'. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Say (O Muhammad) unto those who disbelieve) i.e. the Jews (Ye shall be overcome) you shall be defeated (and gathered unto Hell) in the Afterlife�; this is the narration of 'Ikrimah and Sa'id ibn Jubayr from Ibn 'Abbas.
وَإِذْ غَدَوْتَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ تُبَوِّئُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مَقَاعِدَ لِلْقِتَالِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 (And when thou settedst forth at daybreak from thy housefolk�) [3:121]. This was revealed about the Battle of Uhud. Sa'id ibn Muhammad al-Zahid informed us> Abu 'Ali al-Faqih> Abu'l-Qasim al-Baghawi> Yahya ibn 'Abd al-Hamid al-Hammani> 'Abd Allah ibn Ja'far al-Makhrami> Ibn 'Awn> al-Miswar ibn Makhramah who said: �I said to 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf: 'Uncle, tell me about what happened to you at Uhud?' He said: 'Read the first one hundred and twenty verses of Al 'Imran you will find your answer: (And when thou settedst forth at daybreak from thy housefolk) up to His saying (Then, after grief, He sent down security for you�) [3:154]' �.
وَلَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ بِبَدْرٍ وَأَنْتُمْ أَذِلَّةٌ ۖ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
📘 God surely helped you at Badr while you were abased. He wrote this inscription of abasement for them in respect of number and the view of the common people. But, in respect of the view of the elect and the reality of the work, how can it be said that someone is lowly and abased when God is his helper? The Pir of the Tariqah said in his whispered prayers, “O Lord, in recognizing You we are alive, with Your help we are happy, with Your generosity we are joyful, through Your exalting we are exalted. O Lord, in You we are alive, so how can we ever die? In You we are happy, so how can we ever be sorrowful? In You we are joyful, so how can we live without You? In You we are exalted, so how can we ever be abased?” A man entered in on Hārūn al-Rashīd and commanded him to do the honorable. Hārūn be- came angry and put him inside a room with a lion, with the door firmly shut. The lion entered in upon the man with humility and did not harm him. After that, they saw him in the midst of the gar- den, happily gazing at it, and the door to the room was firmly locked as it had been. They reported his state to Hārūn, and he summoned him. He said, “Who let you out of the room?” He answered, “The one who brought me into the garden.” He said, “Who brought you into the garden?” He said, “The one who brought me out of the room.” Hārūn commanded that they should put him on a seat with exaltation and honor and carry him around the city, with a caller going before him saying, “Behold, Hārūn al-Rashīd wanted to abase a servant exalted by God, and he was unable to do so.”
لَيْسَ لَكَ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ شَيْءٌ أَوْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْهِمْ أَوْ يُعَذِّبَهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ
📘 (It is no concern at all of thee�) [3:128]. Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tamimi informed us> 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far> 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Razi> Sahl ibn 'Uthman al-'Askari> 'Abidah ibn Humayd> Humayd al-Tawil> Anas ibn Malik who said: �On the day of Uhud, one of the molar teeth of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was broken and his face bled. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said while blood was running down his face: 'How can a people ever succeed when they stain the face of their Prophet with blood while he is calling them to their Lord?' And Allah, exalted is He, revealed (It is no concern at all of thee (Muhammad) whether He relent toward them or punish them; for they are evil-doers)�. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Ghazi informed us> Abu 'Amr ibn Hamdan> Ahmad ibn 'Ali ibn al-Muthanna> Ishaq ibn Abi Isra'il> 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Muhammad> Ma'mar> al-Zuhri> Salim> his father who said: �The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, cursed so and so from amongst the hypocrites at the dawn prayer. But Allah, glorious and majestic is He, revealed (It is no concern at all of thee (Muhammad) whether He relent toward them or punish them; for they are evil-doers)�. Narrated by Bukhari from Hayyan from Ibn al-Mubarak from Ma'mar; and also by Muslim from Thabit from Anas. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Farisi informed us> Muhammad ibn 'Isa ibn 'Amrawayh> Ibrahim ibn Muhammad> Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj> al-Qa'nabi> Hammad ibn Salamah> Thabit> Anas who reported that at the Battle of Uhud the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, had a molar broken and head bashed in such that his blood was spilt. When this happened, he said: �How can a people ever succeed who break his molar and bash in his head when he is calling them to their Lord?� And so Allah, glorious and majestic is He, revealed (It is no concern at all of thee (Muhammad)). Abu Ishaq al-Tha'alibi informed us> 'Abd Allah ibn Hamid al-Wazzan> Abu Hamid ibn al-Sharqi> Muhammad ibn Yahya> 'Abd al-Razzaq> Ma'mar> al-Zuhri> Salim> his father who heard the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, say at the dawn prayer upon raising his head from bowing: �O Allah! Praise be to You; O Allah! Curse so and so�, he prayed against the hypocrites.
الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
📘 Those who spend in prosperity and adversity, those who curb rage, and those who pardon people-and God loves the beautiful-doers. Those who spend in prosperity and adversity. It has been said that in this station people are three groups: First are those who spend nothing, whether in prosperity or adversity, whether in the vast- ness of blessings or in the days of famine and hardship. They are called “base” in an unqualified sense. They have seized the branch of niggardliness, which is a tree whose roots are in hell and whose branches are in this world. This is according to what Anas ibn Mālik reported from God's Messenger: “Openhandedness is a tree in the Garden whose branches are in this world; when someone latches on to one of its branches, it will lead him to the Garden. And niggardliness is a tree in the Fire whose branches are in this world; when someone latches on to one of its branches, it will lead him to the Fire.” Second are those who spend in vastness of blessings but not in narrowness and hardship. Most of God's creatures among the world's folk and those who take care of this world are in this station. In the work of this world they do not have the confidence for open-handedness and they are always in fear of poverty. To them alludes His words, “If He asks you for them, then presses you, you are niggardly, and He brings out your rancor” [47:37]. Third are those who spend in both of these states, both in ease and difficulty. Such a person has one of two states: Either he is an impudent and impure man who does not know whence he takes and where he gives and does not think about the outcome. He is numbered among the broth- ers of Satan. That is in His words, “Surely the squanderers are the brothers of Satan” [17:27]. Or he is a man who is confident in the sufficiency of God and His assignment of daily provision. He has recognized the secret of this report from MuṣṬafā: “Surely the holy spirit breathed into my mind that no one will die until his provision is complete. So be wary of God, and go lightly in your seeking. Never let the tardiness of provision make you seek something of God's bounty through disobedience, for what is with God will only be reached by obeying Him.
وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَلَمْ يُصِرُّوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلُوا وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
📘 (And those who, when they do an evil thing or wrong themselves, remember Allah) [3:135]. 'Ata' reported that Ibn 'Abbas said: �This was revealed about Nabhan, the seller of dates. A beautiful woman came to buy dates from him. He hugged and kissed her but then he regretted his action. He went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and mentioned what he did. This verse was then revealed�. And he said, according to the narration of al-Kalbi: �The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, tied two men, one from the Helpers and one from Thaqif, with the bond of brotherhood and they were inseparable. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, went out one day to one of his military expeditions and the man from Thaqif accompanied him, leaving his wife and business under the care of the Helper who used to look after the family of the man from Thaqif. One day he saw the wife of his friend who had just finished having a bath, with her hair spread, and he fell for her. He entered in on her without asking permission and leaned to kiss her but she put her hand on her face such that he kissed the outside of her hand. But then he regretted what he had done, felt the shame of his action and retreated. Upon his retreat, his friend's wife exclaimed: 'Glory be to Allah! You have betrayed your trust, disobeyed your Lord and failed to get what you desired!' Regretting his action, the man went wandering in the mountains, to repent to Allah, exalted is He, from his action. When the man from Thaqif returned to his family, she informed him of what had happened. He went out looking for his friend until somebody told him where to find him. He found him in prostration, saying: 'My Lord, my sin! My sin! I have betrayed my brother!' His friend said: 'O so-and-so come let us go to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and ask him about your sin, haply Allah will ease your situation and relent on you'. And so he went back with him until they reached Medina one day, at the time of 'Asr prayer and Gabriel, peace be upon him, brought down the news of the acceptance of his repentance.
وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنْتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 (Faint not nor grieve�) [3:139]. Said Ibn 'Abbas: �The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, were defeated at the Battle of Uhud. As they were in this situation, Khalid ibn al-Walid came forward leading a group of horsemen from the idolaters intending to climb over the hill to gain position of height over the Muslims. When he saw what was happening, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: 'O Allah! Make that they are not above us. O Allah! We have no strength or might except through You. O Allah! No one worships You in this land except this group'. Allah then revealed these verses. A group of Muslim marksmen took the initiative, climbed the hill and targeted the horses of the idolaters until they defeated them, hence His saying (for ye will overcome them�)�.
زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ وَالْبَنِينَ وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنْطَرَةِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ وَالْخَيْلِ الْمُسَوَّمَةِ وَالْأَنْعَامِ وَالْحَرْثِ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَاللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ حُسْنُ الْمَآبِ
📘 Adorned for people is love of appetites, like women, children, heaped-up heaps of gold and silver, horses of mark, cattle, and tillage. That is the enjoyment of the life of this world. The paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam, MuṣṬafā, reported that when the Eternal Enactor created paradise, He said to Gabriel, “'O Gabriel! Go look at it.' Go gaze on this paradise and see once what I have made and created for My servants and friends.” Gabriel went and saw those adorned paradises with their infinite joy and bliss, that place of revelry made and prepared in the neighborhood of God's Presence for the exalted ones of the road and God's friends. When Gabriel came back he said, “Lord God, 'By Thy exaltedness, no one will hear of it and not enter into it!' By the exaltedness of Your Lordhood, no one will hear the attributes of this para- dise without aiming for it and becoming obedient so that he may enter it.” Then the Lord of the Worlds surrounded paradise with all the hardship and suffering of unwor- thy things and unreached desires, and He made its road a bridge of trial so that everyone who aims for the Patron must first pass over that bridge of trial. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “How should I have known that suffering is the mother of hap- piness and that beneath one disappointment lie a thousand treasures? How should I have known which gate this is or what is the answer to the story of friendship? How should I have known that companionship with You is the greatest Resurrection and that the exaltation of union with You lies in the abasement of bewilderment?” O spirit of the world! The Kaabah is a sweet place, the nest of God's friends and the lodging place of the sincerely truthful, but there is a man-eating desert before it, mile after mile and way station after way station. Who in the end will have the seeking to pass over all those miles and way stations until he reaches the magnificent Kaabah? A world is wandering in the desert of Your love- who will be given access to the Kaabah of Your acceptance? [DS 210] After He made the road of paradise that of unreached desires and disappointment, the command came, “O Gabriel: Look again.
إِنْ يَمْسَسْكُمْ قَرْحٌ فَقَدْ مَسَّ الْقَوْمَ قَرْحٌ مِثْلُهُ ۚ وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَيَتَّخِذَ مِنْكُمْ شُهَدَاءَ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 (If ye have received a blow, the (disbelieving) people have received a blow the like thereof) [3:140]. Said Rashid ibn Sa'd: �When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, returned from Uhud, sad and dejected, women whose husbands and sons were killed went to him crying and slapping their faces. Seeing this, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, exclaimed: 'Is this how Your Messenger is treated?' And Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse (If ye have received a blow, the (disbelieving) people have received a blow the like thereof)�.
وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ ۚ أَفَإِنْ مَاتَ أَوْ قُتِلَ انْقَلَبْتُمْ عَلَىٰ أَعْقَابِكُمْ ۚ وَمَنْ يَنْقَلِبْ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ فَلَنْ يَضُرَّ اللَّهَ شَيْئًا ۗ وَسَيَجْزِي اللَّهُ الشَّاكِرِينَ
📘 MuḤammad is only a messenger. Messengers have passed away before him. What, if he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heels? If anyone turns back on his heels, he will not harm God in anything, and God will recompense the grateful. As much as MuḤammad is praised and chosen among all men and caressed by the God of the world's folk, as much as he is the pole of the world and the lamp of heaven and earth, the chieftain and full moon of the universe, emulated by the creatures, the paragon of the engendered beings, and the Seal of the Prophets-despite all this, he is a mortal man. Death is fitting for him and an- nihilation applies to him. As many prophets as there have been in the world, all of them went. The Real did not disappear, nor was God harmed. The Real remained after all of them, and God is their keeper in the perfection of His exaltedness. By way of allusion, the folk of realization are being addressed: “The perfection of Our ex- altedness is free of need for that which was not, then came to be. There is no link between Our lordhood and that which was not, then came to be. Our unity does not call for an existence-giver, and Our Being does not need a strengthener. Our exaltedness recognizes Our magnificence, and Our Unity knows Our exaltedness. Her own face had itself as a moon, her own eye had itself as collyrium. A sound report has come that He says, “O My servants! If the first of you and the last of you, the men of you and jinn of you, the living of you and the dead of you, had the heart of the most godwary man among you, that would add nothing to My kingdom. O My servants! If the first of you and the last of you, the men of you and jinn of you, the living of you and the dead of you, had the heart of the most depraved man among you, that would take nothing away from My kingdom.” What, if he dies or is killed, will you turn back on your heels? This verse provides evidence for the eminence of Abū Bakr, for when MuṣṬafā was taken away from this house of decrees and the steed of death was sent for his prophethood's shining face, then in the attribute of exaltedness the Divine Pres- ence snatched that shining face away from the steed of death and took him into the embrace of Unity.
فَآتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ ثَوَابَ الدُّنْيَا وَحُسْنَ ثَوَابِ الْآخِرَةِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
📘 God gave them this world's reward and the beauty of the next world's reward, and God loves the beautiful-doers. Concerning the reward of the next world He said “beauty,” which is to say that the reward is beauti- ful, but He did not say that about the reward of this world. This is because the reward of the after- world is lasting, but the reward of this world is passing. The former comes into being constantly without blight and without trouble, but the latter is soon cut off and has blights and tribulations. God loves the beautiful-doers. The beautiful-doers are the “grateful” who are mentioned in verse 3:144. The “recompense” to which He alludes there is the love that He explains here. Beautiful doing is what MuṣṬafā said in answering Gabriel: “It is that you worship God as if you see Him.” Beautiful doing is the attribute of the self-watchful, the state of the finders, the station of the approving, and the mark of the friends. Love for God is their watchword and remembering God their blanket. God's love is pouring down on them, and this pouring is like a sweetheart inside their spirit. From it the tree of happiness gives fruit and the spirit has a happy springtime. Hail, O sweet breeze of early spring! You give off the scent of that idol's tresses.
۞ قُلْ أَؤُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ مِنْ ذَٰلِكُمْ ۚ لِلَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَأَزْوَاجٌ مُطَهَّرَةٌ وَرِضْوَانٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِالْعِبَادِ
📘 Shall I tell you of something better than that? For those who are godwary there shall be with their Lord gardens beneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever, and spouses made pure, and approval from God. After talking about the enemies, describing their life, and explaining their furthest goal, God in this verse comes back to the story of the friends. Tomorrow, the final outcome of those whose watch- word today is godwariness will be paradise and approval. He says, “For those who are godwary there shall be with their Lord gardens.” Just as godwariness has levels, so also paradise has degrees. The first degree is the Garden of the Shelter, and the first level of godwariness is to avoid the forbidden and the soul's caprice. The Splendorous Qur'an ties the two together in its words, “As for him who fears the standing place be- fore his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter” [79:40-41]. The highest degree is the Garden of Eden, and better than the Garden of Eden is the Greatest Approval. So, the furthest goal of the paradise-dwellers is the Greatest Approval, just as the Lord of the Worlds says: “And goodly dwellings in the gardens of Eden; and approval from God is greatest” [9:72] The Greatest Approval belongs to those who reach the utmost godwariness. The utmost god- wariness is that someone takes whatever has the scar of new arrival and the mark of creation as his own enemy, as Abraham said: “Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds” [26:77]. You must turn away from all things and, with detached heart, busy yourself with the suf- fering of passion for the Haqiqah. You must know for certain that the intrusion of others finds no room in passion's suffering. You must cut off your heart and spirit from everything. The heart is Your garden-take it all, for this heart has room either for my intrusion or Your image. In gratitude I will also send my spirit to You- a whiff of union with You does what a hundred spirits cannot. Tomorrow, all will be taken to the furthest limit of their goals and aspirations. Here someone hopes for the Garden of the Refuge and is told, “Flee from the unlawful and be just, and that will not be held back from you. ” Someone hopes for the Abode of Everlastingness and is told, “Avoid the doubtful and be a renunciant, and that will not be held back from you.” Someone else desires Firdaws and is told, “Keep back from the lawful and be a recognizer, and that will not be held back from you.” A group remain who have no hopes and no desires. They desire what the Beloved desires and choose what the Beloved chooses. The paradises are presented to them, and the maidens and serv- ing boys are made to sit on the turrets scattering precious gifts for them, but they are detached from it all and turn their faces away. They say, “If we must give our heart to someone, well, let us give it to someone who will enslave it.” Suddenly I gave my heart to the one with the tulip face. She was worthy of my heart-that's why I gave it. Let me now speak of the Greatest Approval and finish with that. It is narrated from Anas ibn Mālik that he said one day God's Messenger kept them waiting. When he came out, they asked him what had held him back. He said, “That was because Gabriel came to me holding in his hand something like a mirror with a black spot. He said, 'This is Friday, within which there is an hour of good for you and your community. The Jews and the Christians desired it, but they missed its mark.' “I said, 'O Gabriel! What is this black spot?' “He said, 'It is an hour of Friday with which no Muslim will keep company asking for good from God without God's giving it to him, or storing away the like of it for him for the Day of Res- urrection, or averting from him its like in ugliness. It is the best of days with God, and the folk of the Garden call it “the Day of Increase.”' “I said, 'O Gabriel, and what is this Day of Increase?' “He said, 'Surely there is in the Garden a valley in which flows white musk. Every Friday God descends into it and sets up His Footstool. Then pulpits of light are brought and placed be- hind it and surrounded by the angels. Then footstools of gold are brought and put there. Then the prophets, the sincerely truthful, the witnesses, and the faithful, who are the folk of the chambers, are brought and they sit. Then God smiles and says, “O My servants, ask of Me!” They will say, “We ask You for Your approval. He will say, “I have approved of you.”'”
سَنُلْقِي فِي قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الرُّعْبَ بِمَا أَشْرَكُوا بِاللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يُنَزِّلْ بِهِ سُلْطَانًا ۖ وَمَأْوَاهُمُ النَّارُ ۚ وَبِئْسَ مَثْوَى الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 (We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve) [3:151]. Said al-Suddi: �After Uhud, Abu Sufyan and the idolaters headed toward Mecca. But after they traversed a certain distance, they felt regret, saying: �Evil is that which we have done! We massacred them such that none of them remained except those who fled from the battlefield and then we left them alone. Go back and exterminate them�. But when they decided to do so, Allah, exalted is He, cast terror in their hearts which made them decide against what they had resolved to do. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed this verse�.
وَلَقَدْ صَدَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ إِذْ تَحُسُّونَهُمْ بِإِذْنِهِ ۖ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا فَشِلْتُمْ وَتَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ وَعَصَيْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا أَرَاكُمْ مَا تُحِبُّونَ ۚ مِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُرِيدُ الدُّنْيَا وَمِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُرِيدُ الْآخِرَةَ ۚ ثُمَّ صَرَفَكُمْ عَنْهُمْ لِيَبْتَلِيَكُمْ ۖ وَلَقَدْ عَفَا عَنْكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ ذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 Among you are those who desire this world, and among you are those who desire the next world. The worth of someone is his desire, and the want of someone is his leader. One person wants this world, another the afterworld, another the Patron. Wanting this world is all trickery and delusion, wanting the afterworld is all occupation with the work of wage-earners, and wanting the Patron is all celebration and joy. A seeker of this world is wounded by fantasy and delusion, a seeker of the afterworld is attached to palaces and houris, and a seeker of the Patron is in the ocean of Solitari- ness, inundated by light. Dhu'l-Nūn the Egyptian said, “O God, if I have any share of this world, I have given it to strangers. If I have anything stored up for the afterworld, I give it to the faithful. In this world, remembering You is enough for me, and in the afterworld seeing You is enough for me.” This world and the afterworld are two precious commodities, and vision is the hard cash that is given. The broker of this world is Iblis. He offers his wares at auction in the bazaar of abandon- ment and adorns them for the people. God says, reporting from him, “I shall surely adorn for them what is in the earth”[15:39]. Iblis's buyer is the unbeliever. The price is abandoning the religion and sheer associationism. As for MuṣṬafā, he is the broker of paradise. He makes his offers at the auction of solicitude in the bazaar of the afterworld. The buyer is God and the sellers are the faithful. The price is the formula, “There is no god but God.” The Prophet said, “The price of the Garden is There is no god but God.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “I see a group distracted from Him by this world, a group dis- tracted from Him by that world, and a group distracted from both worlds by Him. They are waiting to see when the breeze of felicity will blow from the side of proximity and the sun of union will shine from the mansion of solicitude. They weep with the tongue of selflessness and say in hope, 'O generous one! How can someone who yearns for You put up with life? He who hopes for you has a breast full of blood at the hands of Your friendship!'” Without You, O ease of my spirit, how can I live? If You are not by my side, how can I be happy?
فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ لِنْتَ لَهُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ كُنْتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ الْقَلْبِ لَانْفَضُّوا مِنْ حَوْلِكَ ۖ فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ ۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
📘 It was by a mercy of God that thou wert soft with them. Hadst thou been harsh and hard of heart, they would have scattered from around thee. So pardon them, ask forgiveness for them, and consult with them in the affair. And when thou art resolved, trust in God. Surely God loves those who trust. “O master of masters! O paragon of engendered beings! You are generous and lovingly kind, gentle and ever-merciful to everyone. You drive everyone by customs that hit the mark. You call everyone to the table of exaltedness and convey to everlasting felicity. You are like a father for the orphans, a husband for the widowed. You caress the familiar and you show the road to the estranged. You are mercy itself for the world's folk, a cause of generous giving to all the servants. O master, there is all of this, but take care not to see yourself. Do not consider these as your own acquisitions, for all of them are I. It is I who was, I who caressed, I who made, and I put you to that. I gave you a sweet disposition. O paragon, keep on being this way to the faithful and the friends-with the same loving kindness and the same sweet disposition: And lower thy wing to the faithful who follow thee [26:215]. But, with the unbelievers and hypocrites, you should be a bit harder and struggle against them: O Prophet! Struggle against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be hard with them [9:73].” There is a great difference between the Beloved [MuḤammad] and the Speaking Companion [Moses]. He commanded the Beloved to be harsh with the unbelievers and he called him back from cajolery, for in his disposition all was softness and benevolence. To the Speaking Companion He said the opposite: “Speak to him with soft words” [20:44]. He commanded him to softness and benevolence, and He called him back from the sharpness and hardness that was within him. Then He says, “Hadst thou been harsh and hard of heart, they would have scattered from around thee. O master, if you were to give the unmixed wine of tawḤīd to your companions, with- out the admixture of their own shares, they would flee and no longer come around you. O master, they do not have the capacity to put up with what your capacity puts up with.
وَمَا كَانَ لِنَبِيٍّ أَنْ يَغُلَّ ۚ وَمَنْ يَغْلُلْ يَأْتِ بِمَا غَلَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ۚ ثُمَّ تُوَفَّىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ
📘 (It is not for any prophet to embezzle (an yaghilla)�) [3:161]. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mutawwa'i informed us> Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hiri> Abu Ya'la> Abu 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar ibn Aban> Ibn al-Mubarak> Sharik> Khusayf> 'Ikrimah> Ibn 'Abbas who said: �Some red velvet acquired as booty from the idolaters at the Battle of Badr was unaccounted for, and some people said: 'Perhaps it is the Prophet, Allah, bless him and give him peace, who took it'. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (It is not for any prophet to embezzle (an yaghulla)). Khusayf asked Sa'id ibn Jubayr: 'Is it (It is not for any prophet to be embezzled (an yughalla))?' He answered: 'No, he can be embezzled and even killed' �. Abu'l-Hasan Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Najjar> Abu'l-Qasim Sulayman ibn Ayyub al-Tabarani> Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yazid al-Narsi> Abu 'Amr Hafs ibn 'Umar al-Duri> Abu Muhammad al-Yazidi> Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala'> Mujahid> Ibn 'Abbas who used to object against anyone who read (It is not for any prophet to be embezzled (an yughalla)) and used to say: �How could he not be embezzled when he used to be killed? Allah, exalted is He, says (� and slew the Prophets wrongfully�) [3:112]. Rather the hypocrites accused the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, of taking to himself some of the booty, and Allah, exalted is He, revealed (It is not for any prophet to embezzle (an yaghulla))�. Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Asfahani informed us> 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Asfahani> Abu Yahya al-Razi> Sahl ibn 'Uthman> Waki'> Salamah> al-Dahhak who said: �The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent some men in a reconnaissance patrol and he acquired some booty which he distributed on people while denying those who went in that reconnaissance patrol. When the latter came they said: 'He has distributed the booty without apportioning anything for us', as a result of which this verse was revealed (It is not for any prophet to embezzle (an yaghulla)) which was read by al-Dahhak as an yaghalla�. Said Ibn 'Abbas according to the narration of al-Dahhak: �When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, got possession of the booties of Hawazin at the Battle of Hunayn, one man cheated him by holding back a needle, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�.
أَوَلَمَّا أَصَابَتْكُمْ مُصِيبَةٌ قَدْ أَصَبْتُمْ مِثْلَيْهَا قُلْتُمْ أَنَّىٰ هَٰذَا ۖ قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِنْدِ أَنْفُسِكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
📘 (And was it so, when a disaster smote you�) [3:165]. Said Ibn 'Abbas: �'Umar ibn al-Khattab related to me, saying: 'The following year at the Battle of Uhud, they were punished for taking ransom in exchange for releasing the prisoners of the disbelievers. Seventy among them were killed, the Companion of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, fled from fighting and his molar was broken and his skull smashed to the extent that blood flowed over his face. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (And was it so, when a disaster smote you) up to His saying (It is from yourselves�). He said: Because of the ransom you took'
وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتًا ۚ بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ
📘 Count not those who were killed in God's path as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, provided for. O life of the spirit, what is it with me that I know nothing of my state? The spirit from You fills me, but my heart's blood is empty of You. O God, our life lies in remembering You, our happiness in finding You, our spirit in recognizing You! The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The living are three: one lives through the spirit, one lives through knowledge, and one lives through the Real. He who lives through the spirit lives on food and wind. He who lives through knowledge lives on love and remembrance. He who lives through the Real is happy indeed with Him. “O God, if the body's spirit is deprived of You, it will be a captive corpse, but if someone is killed in Your path hoping for union with You, he will live forever.” You said, “Don't pass by my street drunk lest you be killed, for my suitor is jealous.” Let me say a word, my dear, perhaps I'll be excused- “Killed in your street is better than far from your face.” Indeed, when friends are wounded in the Friend's street, that is a good omen, for gambling away the spirit in the gaming-house of passion is their habit and disposition. Wealth, gold, things-gamble them away for nothing. When the work reaches your spirit, gamble it away! Beware, beware! Take care not worry that your spirit will perish in the Friend's path. When the spirit perishes in loyalty to the Friend, that is true eminence. The precondition for your spirit's undertaking friendship's rightful due is its destruction. Love is intoxication, its craving destruction, its wilting and emaciation beautiful. He has clothed me with abasement in His love- abasement in love for the likes of Him is eminence. That tumultuous one of the time, Shiblī, said, “When someone is destroyed in God, God takes his place.” When you are loyal in friendship and gamble away your spirit, you will receive good fortune for free, for you will have the Friend in place of the spirit. If you had a hundred thou- sand spirits, you should sacrifice them to this union, for in truth that would still be something for nothing.
الصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالْقَانِتِينَ وَالْمُنْفِقِينَ وَالْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ بِالْأَسْحَارِ
📘 The patient, the truthful, the devoted, the expenders, those who ask forgiveness at dawn. The patient, that is, with their hearts, the truthful with their spirits, the devoted with their souls, the expenders of what they are able, those who ask forgiveness with their tongues.2 The chevaliers are those whose speaking is this and whose doing is this. In the heart they are patient with the Real's command, in the spirit they walk straight in the Real's covenant, in the body they observe the right- ful due of the Real's command, with wealth they spend in the Real's road, with tongue they ask forgiveness and seek from the Real's generosity. The patient: That is, they are patient in trial and they reject complaint until they reach the Patron, nothing of this world or the afterworld holding them back. They are patient in every trial and put aside complaint. They turn their faces away from both this world and the afterworld until they reach the Patron. The truthful: That is, they speak the truth in seeking, so they aim straight, then they speak the truth until they witness. They speak truthfully and begin traveling. They travel truthfully to reach the domicile. They think truthfully to reach the destination. Then they put aside the marks bearing witness to truthfulness and throw themselves into the ocean to reach the shore of security and the seat of truthfulness, at an Omnipotent King [54:55]. The devoted: That is, in clinging to the door, drinking down sorrow, leaving aside loved ones, and rejecting companions until they realize proximity. They put on the clothing of poverty and hold up the hands of need at the door of the house of generosity: “Until You open, we will not leave, and until You caress, we will not go away.” Sometimes they are in prostration, sometimes standing, sometimes in fear, sometimes in hope. From the Exalted Presence comes this caress: “The field of friendship's road is solitariness, and the drinker of its wine is promised vision. Who- ever is truthful will one day reach his desire.” Some day good fortune will enter my door, some day the sun of elation will rise, Some day You will cast a glance at me, some day this sorrow of mine will end. The expenders: That is, they are munificent with their property to the extent they are able, then with their souls in respect of deeds, then with their hearts through truthfulness of states.
۞ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ بِنِعْمَةٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَفَضْلٍ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 They rejoice in blessings from God and bounty, and that God does not leave to waste the wage of the faithful, those who answered God and the Messenger after the wound had befallen them. Those who bow their heads before the command of God and the Messenger in passion for the religion made their own dear spirits the target of the enemy's arrows. They made their spirits a gift, their bodies a path, and their hearts a sacrifice. They bought that suffering and wounding with spirit and heart. Sarī SaqaṬī said, “God appeared to me in a dream saying, 'O Sarī! We created the creatures. Some of them saw this world and clung to it. Some of them saw trial, and they fled to paradise and well-being. Some of them thought nothing of trial and took the tribulation into their spirits and hearts, asking for union with Us. Which one of these are you? What do you want?'” Sarī said, “I answered, 'You know what I desire.'” How often will you ask, why do you make me suffer? In truth you know my state better than I. “He said, 'O Sarī! By the majesty of Our measure, We will strike your head with the whip of trial, and We will make the millstone of tribulation revolve on your head.'” Sarī said, “I replied with the light of recognition by lordly inspiration, 'Are You not the one who sends trials?'” The lover's soul is patient with illness- perhaps He who made him ill will one day make him well. * Since the healing, O Heart-taker, is from Your wound and pain, make no balm for the wounded, don't cure the pain!
الَّذِينَ اسْتَجَابُوا لِلَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا أَصَابَهُمُ الْقَرْحُ ۚ لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا مِنْهُمْ وَاتَّقَوْا أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ
📘 They rejoice in blessings from God and bounty, and that God does not leave to waste the wage of the faithful, those who answered God and the Messenger after the wound had befallen them. Those who bow their heads before the command of God and the Messenger in passion for the religion made their own dear spirits the target of the enemy's arrows. They made their spirits a gift, their bodies a path, and their hearts a sacrifice. They bought that suffering and wounding with spirit and heart. Sarī SaqaṬī said, “God appeared to me in a dream saying, 'O Sarī! We created the creatures. Some of them saw this world and clung to it. Some of them saw trial, and they fled to paradise and well-being. Some of them thought nothing of trial and took the tribulation into their spirits and hearts, asking for union with Us. Which one of these are you? What do you want?'” Sarī said, “I answered, 'You know what I desire.'” How often will you ask, why do you make me suffer? In truth you know my state better than I. “He said, 'O Sarī! By the majesty of Our measure, We will strike your head with the whip of trial, and We will make the millstone of tribulation revolve on your head.'” Sarī said, “I replied with the light of recognition by lordly inspiration, 'Are You not the one who sends trials?'” The lover's soul is patient with illness- perhaps He who made him ill will one day make him well. * Since the healing, O Heart-taker, is from Your wound and pain, make no balm for the wounded, don't cure the pain!
الَّذِينَ قَالَ لَهُمُ النَّاسُ إِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدْ جَمَعُوا لَكُمْ فَاخْشَوْهُمْ فَزَادَهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَقَالُوا حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ
📘 (Those unto whom men said: Lo! the people have gathered against you, therefor fear them�) [3:173]. Abu Ishaq al-Tha'alibi informed us> Abu Salih Shu'ayb ibn Muhammad> Abu Hatim al-Tamimi> Ahmad ibn al-Azhar> Rawh ibn 'Ubadah> Sa'id> Qatadah who said: �This refers to the day of Uhud, following the deaths and wounds that the Muslims had suffered and after the idolaters, Abu Sufyan and his company, had left. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said to his Companions: 'Would a group gather for war for Allah's sake and seek their enemy, for this is more prone to cause damage to the enemy and more likely to drive them away for a distance?' A group set off, despite of what Allah knew of their extreme exhaustion. When they reached Dhu'l-Hulayfah, the Bedouins and other people came to them, saying: 'Abu Sufyan is going to attack you', but they only said: 'Allah is Sufficient for us! Most Excellent is He in Whom we trust!' And so Allah, exalted is He revealed about them (Those unto whom men said: Lo! the people have gathered against you, therefor fear them) [3:173] up to His saying (� and Allah is of Infinite Bounty) [3:174]�.
مَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَذَرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَىٰ مَا أَنْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ حَتَّىٰ يَمِيزَ الْخَبِيثَ مِنَ الطَّيِّبِ ۗ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُطْلِعَكُمْ عَلَى الْغَيْبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَجْتَبِي مِنْ رُسُلِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۖ فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ ۚ وَإِنْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَتَتَّقُوا فَلَكُمْ أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ
📘 (It is not (the purpose) of Allah to leave you in your present state�) [3:179]. Al-Suddi reported that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �The members of my community were shown to me in their forms, as they were shown to Adam, and I was informed about who would believe in me and who would disbelieve�. When the hypocrites heard this, they mocked him, saying: �Muhammad claims that he knows who would believe in him and who would not. Yet, we are in his midst and he does not know us�, and so Allah revealed this verse. Said al-Kalbi: �The people of Quraysh said: �O Muhammad! You claim that whoever opposes you will go to hellfire and Allah would be angry with him whereas whoever believes in you will go to the Garden and Allah will be pleased with him. In that case, inform us about who would believe in you and who would not?� And as a response, Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�. And Abu�l-�Aliyah said: �The believers had asked about a sign by means of which they would differentiate between the believers and the hypocrites and so Allah. Exalted is He, revealed this verse�.
شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِسْطِ ۚ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
📘 God bears witness that there is no god but He-and the angels, and the possessors of knowledge-upholding justice; there is no god but He, the Exalted, the Wise. The Real bears witness to the Real that He is the Real. He Himself praised Himself and He Him- self gave witness to Himself concerning His attributes as is worthy of Himself. In His speech He reported of His existence, His self-sufficiency, His self-standingness, and His self-lastingness. He bore witness to the majesty of His measure and the perfection of His exaltedness while there was no refusal, no ignorance, no recognition by any created thing, no intellect, no conformity, no hy- pocrisy, no new arrival, no heaven, no space, no shadows, no brightness. There was no universe and no Adam, no air and no space, no land and no sea, no light and no darkness, no understanding and no virtue, no conformity and no hypocrisy when the Lord of the Worlds spoke in the majesty of His measure and the perfection of His exaltedness, giving witness to His oneness and peerlessness and reporting of His attributes and Essence. Today He is exactly what He was and will be forever. It has never been that He was not, and it will never be that He will not be. He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward. He is the First who always is and who knows the beings and nonbeings. He is the Last who always will be, and He will know what He knew. He is the Outward through His enactorship, dominating over everyone through His all-compellingness and above everything through His greatness. He is too inward for the percep- tion of how, outside the reasoning of imaginations, and pure of supposition, fancy, and being thus. In Your subtle Essence thoughts are bewildered, in Your eternal knowledge hidden things appear. And the angels, and the possessors of knowledge. Great is the eminence of the angels, the prophets, and the knowers, and magnificent the result of their work, that God should join their bearing witness to His bearing witness! This is not because His bearing witness to His unity needs to be joined with bearing witness by created things. No, no, for it is His exaltedness that recognizes Him and His exaltedness that knows His unity.
وَلَا يَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ بِمَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ هُوَ خَيْرًا لَهُمْ ۖ بَلْ هُوَ شَرٌّ لَهُمْ ۖ سَيُطَوَّقُونَ مَا بَخِلُوا بِهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ۗ وَلِلَّهِ مِيرَاثُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ
📘 Let not those who are niggardly with the bounty that God has given them reckon that it is better for them. In the language of knowledge and according to the Shariah, “niggardliness” is withholding the in- cumbent. The incumbent in wealth is a little bit of a lot, so a man gives the poor a little and keeps a lot for himself. But in the language of the Tariqah and the folk of allusion, niggardliness is leaving a little for oneself, a tiny amount of property, or a moment of the state. “The ransomed slave stays a slave so long as a dirham is owed.” Wealth and states in the path of these chivalrous men have the form of a dog, and passion in its own world has the form of an angel. MuṣṬafā's Shariah reports that the angel gets along badly with the dog and never descends into a house that has one. “No angel enters the house within which there is a dog or pictures.” When will the angel come forth if you do not take the dog from the door and the painting from the wall? When will you arrive at AḤmad and Abū Bakr, with a spider spinning its web at the door of the cave? Lift up the veil so that down may come a litter of magnificence to the bench of the threshold. [DS 200]
لَقَدْ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَقِيرٌ وَنَحْنُ أَغْنِيَاءُ ۘ سَنَكْتُبُ مَا قَالُوا وَقَتْلَهُمُ الْأَنْبِيَاءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ وَنَقُولُ ذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ
📘 (Verily Allah heard the saying of those who said�) [3:181]. �Ikrimah, al-Suddi and Muqatil ibn Ishaq related that, one day, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq entered a Jewish place of study and found a group of Jewish people gathered around one of them called Finhas ibn �Azura, who was one of their doctors. Abu Bakr said to Finhas: �Fear Allah and embrace Islam, for by Allah you know well that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah who has brought the truth to you from Allah. He is mentioned in your Torah; so believe and accept the truth and grant Allah a goodly offering and He will make you enter the Garden and multiply your reward�. Finhas responded: �O Abu Bakr, you claim that our Lord is asking us to lend Him our wealth. Yet, it is only the poor who borrow from the rich. And if what you say is true, it follows that Allah is poor and we are rich, for if He were rich He would not ask us to lend Him our wealth�. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be well pleased with him, became very angry and struck the face of Finhas with a mighty blow. He then said to him: �By Him in whose Hand is my soul, if it were not for the treaty between us, O enemy of Allah, I would have killed you�. Finhas went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: �O Muhammad! Look at what your companion has done to me�. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, asked Abu Bakr: �What has driven you to do what you have done?� He said: �O Messenger of Allah, this enemy of Allah has said something very serious. He claimed that Allah is poor and they are rich. I therefore got angry for the sake of Allah and hit his face�. But Finhas denied that he ever uttered those words, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse (Verily Allah heard the saying of those who said�) to give the lie to Finhas and to confirm that Abu Bakr al-Siddiq said the truth. �Abd al-Qahir ibn Tahir informed us> Abu �Amr ibn Matar> Ja�far ibn al-Layth al-Ziyadi> Hudhayfah Musa ibn Mas�ud> Shibl> Ibn Abi Najih> Mujahid who said: �This verse was revealed about the Jews; Abu Bakr, may Allah be well pleased with him, had struck the face of one of their men who said �Allah is poor and we are rich� �. Shibl commented: �I was informed that this man was Finhas the Jew, and it is also this man who said: (Allah�s hand is fettered) [5:64]�.
الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَهِدَ إِلَيْنَا أَلَّا نُؤْمِنَ لِرَسُولٍ حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَنَا بِقُرْبَانٍ تَأْكُلُهُ النَّارُ ۗ قُلْ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْ قَبْلِي بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَبِالَّذِي قُلْتُمْ فَلِمَ قَتَلْتُمُوهُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
📘 ((The same are) those who say: Lo! Allah hath charged us�) [3:183]. Said al-Kalbi: �This was revealed about Ka�b al-Ashraf, Malik ibn al-Dayf, Wahb ibn Yahudha, Zayd ibn Tabuh, Finhas ibn �Azura and Huyayy ibn Akhtab who went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: �You claim that Allah has sent you to us as a messenger and that He revealed a Scripture to you. Well, Allah has charged us in the Torah that we do not believe in any messenger who claims to have been sent by Allah until he brings us an offering which is devoured by fire. If you do that, we will believe in you�. And so Allah, exalted is He revealed this verse�.
۞ لَتُبْلَوُنَّ فِي أَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ وَلَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا أَذًى كَثِيرًا ۚ وَإِنْ تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا فَإِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ
📘 (� and ye will hear much wrong from those who were given the Scripture before you, and from the idolaters�) [3:186]. Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Farisi informed us> Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Hamdun> Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn al-Hasan> Muhammad ibn Yahya> Abu'l-Yaman> Shu'ayb> al-Zuhri> 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Ka'b ibn Malik> his father (one of three men whose repentance was accepted) who reported that Ka'b al-Ashraf, the Jew, was a poet who used his poetry to satirize the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and incite the disbelievers of Quraysh against him. When the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, went to Medina, he wanted to be in good terms with all its people who were a mixture of Muslims, idolaters and Jews. The Jews and idolaters, however, used to harm him, and his Companions, a great deal. Allah, exalted is He, commanded his Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, to endure their harm, and it is about them that He, exalted is He, revealed (and ye will hear much wrong from those who were given the Scripture before you, and from the idolaters�). 'Amr ibn Abi 'Amr al-Muzakki informed us> Muhammad ibn Makki> Muhammad ibn Yusuf> Muhammad ibn Isma'il Bukhari> Abu'l-Yaman> Shu'ayb> al-Zuhri> 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr> Usamah ibn Zayd who informed him that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, mounted a donkey once, using a Fadakian piece of velvet as a saddlecloth, and had Usamah ibn Zayd follow behind him. He was going to visit Sa'd ibn 'Ubadah who was ill, at the Banu'l-Harith ibn al-Khazraj. This was before the Battle of Badr. He passed by an assembly which included, among others, 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy. This was before the latter had accepted Islam. This assembly included a mixture of Muslims, Jews and idolaters, the worshippers of idols. 'Abd Allah ibn Rawahah was also in this assembly. When the cloud of dust, stirred by the movement of the beast, reached the assembly, 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy covered his nose with his cloak and said: �Do not cover us with dust�. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, greeted them with the greeting of peace, stopped and climbed down his mount. He called them to Allah and recited to them some of the Qur'an.
لَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْرَحُونَ بِمَا أَتَوْا وَيُحِبُّونَ أَنْ يُحْمَدُوا بِمَا لَمْ يَفْعَلُوا فَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّهُمْ بِمَفَازَةٍ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
📘 (Think not that those who exult in what they have given�) [3:188]. Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ja'far informed us> Abu'l-Haytham al-Marwazi> Muhammad ibn Yusuf> Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari> Sa'id ibn Abi Maryam> Muhammad ibn Ja'far> Zayd ibn Aslam> 'Ata' ibn Yasar> Abu Sa'id al-Khudri who related that a group of hypocrites were in the habit of failing to join the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, whenever he set off for a military expedition. But then they would come and apologize to him the moment he came back, swearing to him [about their sincerity] and wishing to be praised for that which they had not done. And so this verse (Think not that those who exult in what they have given�). This was narrated by Muslim> al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Halwani> Ibn Abi Maryam. Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Shadhyani informed us> Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Zakariyya> Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Daghuli> Muhammad ibn Jahm> Ja'far ibn 'Awf> Hisham ibn Sa'id> Zayd ibn Aslam who related that Marwan ibn al-Hakam was one day, whilst he was the governor of Medina, with Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, Zayd ibn Thabit and Rafi' ibn Khudayj. He asked: �O Abu Sa'id, regarding the saying of Allah, exalted is He, (Think not that those who exult in what they have given) and, by Allah, we do exult in what we give and like to be praised for what we have not done!� Abu Sa'id replied: �This was not revealed about that. Rather, a group of people at the time of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, were in the habit of failing to join him and his Companions in military expeditions. Whenever a setback or something disliked befell the Muslims, they exulted in their failure to join them; but when something good happened to the Muslims, they liked to be praised for what they had not done�. Sa'id ibn Muhammad al-Zahid informed us> Abu Sa'id ibn Hamdun> Abu Hamid al-Sharqi> Abu'l-Azhar> 'Abd al-Razzaq> Ibn Jurayj> Ibn Abi Malikah> 'Alqamah ibn Waqqas who informed him that Marwan said to his chamberlain, Rafi': �Go to Ibn 'Abbas and say to him: 'If everyone who exults in what he does and likes to be praised for what he has not done will be chastised, then we will all be chastised'.
إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ ۗ وَمَا اخْتَلَفَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ ۗ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ
📘 Surely the religion with God is the submission. The approved religion-by which people look up to God in servanthood, worship Him according to His decree, seek for His approval, and go back to Him-is the religion of the submission. The submission has three way stations. The first way station is the acknowledgment that spares blood and wealth: the person's neck is safe from the sword and his wealth is left with him, whether he is a conformer or a hypocrite, a follower or an innovator. The next way station is the acknowledgment that is right belief, following the Sunnah, and the loyalty of deeds. The third way station of submission is surrender, which is the utmost end of the work. It is pleasing to God and is the refuge of recognition. It is to throw oneself on the Real's exalted thresh- old and follow Him, approving of His decree, not protesting against it or turning away from it, and having reverence and respect for it. What Abraham asked for himself and Ishmael in his supplica- tion-that they be submitters-is the utmost end of this third way station: “Our Lord, make us submitters to Thee!” [2:128]. This is the same as when it was said to him, “Submit!,” he said, “I submit to the Lord of the worlds” [2:131]. It is also alluded to in His words telling about Joseph: “Receive me as a submitter and join me with the wholesome” [12:101].
إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لَآيَاتٍ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ
📘 (Lo! In the creation of the heavens and the earth�) [3:190]. Abu Ishaq al-Muqri� informed us> �Abd Allah ibn Hamid> Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya al-'Anbari> Ahmad ibn Najdah> Yahya ibn �Abd al-Hamid al-Humani> Ya�qub al-Qummi Ja�far ibn Abi al-Mughirah> Sa�id ibn Jubayr> Ibn �Abbas who said: �The people of Quraysh went to the Jews and said: �What are the signs that Moses brought to you?� They replied: �His staff and white hand for people to see�. Then they went to the Christians and said: �How was Jesus in your midst?� They said: �He restored eyesight to the blind, healed the leper and brought the dead back to life�. The people of Quraysh then went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: �Ask your Lord to turn the hill of al-Safa into gold�. As a consequence, Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Lo! In the creation of the heavens and the earth and (in) the difference of night and day are tokens (of His Sovereignty) for men of understanding)�.
الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَٰذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
📘 Who remember God, standing and sitting and on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Those who remember are three: One remembers God with the tongue and is heedless with the heart. This is the remembrance of the wrongdoer, who is aware neither of the remembrance nor of the Remembered. Another remembers Him with the tongue and is present with the heart. This is the remem- brance of the moderate and the state of the wage-earner. He is seeking reward and excused in his seeking. The third remembers Him with the heart; the heart is filled with Him, and his tongue is silent in remembrance. “When someone recognizes God, his tongue is mute.” This is the remembrance of the preceder. His tongue is lost in the remembrance, and the remembrance is lost in the Remem- bered. The heart is lost in love, and love in the Light. The spirit is lost in face-to-face vision, and face-to-face vision is far from explication. Remembrance set a trap whose bait was jealousy. The wage-earner saw the trap and fled, the recognizer saw the bait and clung to the trap. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Remembrance is not simply what you have on the tongue. True remembrance is what you have in the midst of the spirit. TawḤīd is not simply that you know that He is one. True tawḤīd is that you be one for Him and a stranger to other than Him.” And reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq asked Abū ʿAbd al-RaḤmān Sulamī whether remembrance was more complete or reflection. Abū ʿAbd al-RaḤmān answered, “Remembrance is more complete than reflection because remembrance is an attribute of the Real and reflection an attribute of creation. That by which the Real is described is more complete than that which is specific to creation.” Reflecting for the heart is like sniffing for the breath. Reflecting on one's own deeds and words is mandatory, on the artifacts of the Artisan recommended, and on the Artisan's Essence for- bidden. In the report has come, “Do not reflect upon God, for surely you are not able to judge His measure.” He is saying: “Do not reflect on God's Essence, for you will not reach His measure, nor will you recognize Him as is proper to Him, nor will you perceive the foundations of His majesty and tremendousness.
رَبَّنَا وَآتِنَا مَا وَعَدْتَنَا عَلَىٰ رُسُلِكَ وَلَا تُخْزِنَا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ۗ إِنَّكَ لَا تُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ
📘 Our Lord, and give us what Thou hast promised us through Thy messengers. O Lord, bring to pass the promise that You Yourself made, bring to fruit the tree that You Yourself planted, brighten the lamp that You Yourself lit, and keep the blight of us away from the love that You gave by Your own bounty. O Lord, we are happy that You were and we were not. Your work caught on and ours did not. You put forth Your own worth, You sent Your own Messenger. O Lord, You lifted us up and no one said, “Lift up!” Now that You have lifted up, don't put down! Keep us in the shadow of gentleness and entrust us to none but Your bounty! If You water, You Yourself planted. If You flatten the foundation, You Yourself raised it. I the servant am just what You fancied. Don't throw me down-You lifted me up.
فَاسْتَجَابَ لَهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ أَنِّي لَا أُضِيعُ عَمَلَ عَامِلٍ مِنْكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنْثَىٰ ۖ بَعْضُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْضٍ ۖ فَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا وَأُخْرِجُوا مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ وَأُوذُوا فِي سَبِيلِي وَقَاتَلُوا وَقُتِلُوا لَأُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلَأُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ ثَوَابًا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ حُسْنُ الثَّوَابِ
📘 And their Lord responded to them, “I will not waste the deed of any doer among you, male or female. The one of you is as the other. And those who emigrated, were expelled from their homes, were tormented in My path, who fought and were killed, I shall surely acquit them of their ugly deeds and enter them into Gardens under which rivers flow, a reward from God.” This is loyalty to the promise that He gave to the faithful: “Supplicate Me; I will respond to you” [40:60]. The verification of this loyalty is that He responded to the caller, He bestowed upon the asker, He assisted the striver, He gave increase to the grateful, He bestowed insight on the patient, He rewarded the obedient, He absolved the disobedient, He had mercy on the regretful, He honored the lover, He gave vision to the yearner. The command came, “O MuḤammad! There is no reason for despair. In triumph the work of the servant is not outside of three traits: If he is obedient, then his reward is in place. If he is dis- obedient, then your intercession is in place. And no matter how much he is held back, My mercy toward him is in place.” If I wipe clean all the sins of the creatures, what will be lost from My kingdom? A handful of clay. And those who emigrated, were expelled from their homes, were tormented in My path, who fought and were killed. This is the attribute of the friends, the custom of the yearners, the story of those who gamble away their spirits, and the final outcome of the work of the passionate: They have given away their hearts and gambled away their spirits. Wounded by the arrow of trial, their status and respect overthrown by the sword of the decree, they have been exiled from their homes and families. Totally effaced in the ocean of thought, of themselves they recite for all, “No home, no possessions.” Sometimes burning and melting, sometimes weeping and wailing, they see the burn but not the burner, they see the tumult but not the tumult-inciter, they see the pain but not the remedy. What is even more wondrous is that they are happy with their pain and lament at the lack of pain.
لَا يَغُرَّنَّكَ تَقَلُّبُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِي الْبِلَادِ
📘 (Let not the vicissitude (of the success) of those who disbelieve, in the land, deceive thee�) [3:196]. This was revealed about the idolaters of Mecca. This is because they were living in comfort and ease, trading and enjoying themselves which led one believer to comment: �The enemies of Allah are enjoying that which we see of goodly life while we are dying of hunger and toil�, and as a result this verse was revealed.
وَإِنَّ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ لَمَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ خَاشِعِينَ لِلَّهِ لَا يَشْتَرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا ۗ أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ
📘 (And lo! of the People of the Scripture there are some who believe in Allah�) [3:199]. Said Jabir ibn �Abd Allah, Anas, Ibn �Abbas and Qatadah: �This was revealed about the Negus. When the latter died, Gabriel, peace be upon him, informed the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, about his death on the same day he died. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said to his Companions: �Go out and perform the prayer of the dead on one of your brothers who died in a different land�. They asked him: �Who is he?� And he told them it was the Negus. Then the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, went out to the Baqi� and all that was between Medina and the land of Abyssinia was revealed to him such that he saw the bed of the Negus. He performed the prayer of the dead, uttering the expression Allahu akbar [Allah is the greatest] four times, and requested forgiveness for him. He then told his Companions: �Request forgiveness for him!� The hypocrites commented: �Look at this one, performing the prayer of the dead on a foreign Christian Abyssinian whom he has never seen and who does not even follow his religion�. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed this verse�. Abu�l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn �Abd Allah ibn Yusuf informed us> Abu �Amr Muhammad ibn Ja�far ibn Matar (by dictation)> Ja�far ibn Muhammad ibn Sinan al-Wasiti> Abu Hani� Muhammad ibn Bakkar al-Bahili> al-Mu�tamir ibn Sulayman> Humayd> Anas who reported that the Prophet of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said to his Companions: �Get up and perform the prayer of the dead on your brother the Negus�. Some of them said to others: �He is asking us to pray on a non-believer from Abyssinia!� And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (And lo! of the People of the Scripture there are some who believe in Allah�). Mujahid, Ibn Jurayj and Ibn Zayd stated that this was revealed about all the believers of the people of the Book.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
📘 O you who have faith! Be patient, vie in patience, be steadfast, and be wary of God. Perhaps you will prosper. This again is another balm, another caress, a call of bounteousness, an address of generosity, and it gives witness to the servant's faith and obedience. Be patient is addressed to the soul, vie in pa- tience to the heart, and be steadfast to the spirit. He says to the soul, “Be patient in obedience and service.” He says to the heart, “Be patient in trial and adversity. He says to the spirit, “Be patient with the burn of yearning and the pain of love.” And God it is who is patient. If like Joseph you want to come out of this prison, be patient like Zulaykhā in the pain of distance from Joseph. It has also been said, “Be patient in God, vie in patience through God, and be steadfast with God.” Patience in God is the patience of the worshipers in the station of service with the hope of reward. Patience through God is the patience of the recognizers in the station of honoring with the hope of union. Patience with God is the patience of the lovers in the state of contemplation at the moment of self-disclosure, when they are looking with gazing eyes, their hearts bewildered in what is seen, their spirits lamenting at the hand of love. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, everyone is burning in separation, but the lover in vi- sion. Now that he has come to see the Friend, what does the lover have to do with patience and settledness?” And be wary of God. Godwariness is a tree whose roots are in the earth of loyalty, its branches in the air of approval, its water from the wellspring of limpidness. It is not reached by the heat of regret, nor the cold of quenching, nor the wind of farness, nor the blight of scatteredness. The fruit it brings forth is the fruit of triumph, endless prosperity, everlasting worthiness, subsistent bliss, and the kingdom of forever. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “Perhaps you will prosper.” The Prophet said, “You should be wary of God, for this brings together every good; you should have struggle, for it is the submitter's monasticism; and you should have the remembrance of God, for it is your light.”
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِنَ الْكِتَابِ يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَىٰ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّىٰ فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ وَهُمْ مُعْرِضُونَ
📘 (Hast thou not seen how those who have received a portion of the Scripture�) [3:23]. There is a difference of opinion about this verse�s occasion of revelation. Al-Suddi said: �When the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, called the Jews to embrace Islam, al-Nu�man ibn Awfa said to him: �Come, O Muhammad, and let the rabbis judge between us�. He said: �Let the Scripture of Allah be judge between us�. They said: �No! Let the rabbis judge�. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�. On the other hand, Sa�id ibn Jubayr and �Ikrimah reported that Ibn �Abbas said: �The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, entered in on a group of Jews in a Jewish place of study and called them to Allah. Nu�aym ibn �Amr and al-Harith ibn Zayd said to him: �O Muhammad, which religion are you on?� He said: �The religion of Abraham�. They said: �But Abraham was a Jew�. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �In that case, let us go to the Torah and let it judge between us�. They refused. And Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�. Said al-Kalbi: �This was revealed about those who committed fornication in Khaybar and the Jews who asked the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, about the legal punishment of fornication�. The elaboration on this will come in Surah al-Ma�idah, Allah, exalted is He, willing�.
قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَالِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَنْزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ ۖ بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
📘 (Say: O Allah! Owner of Sovereignty!) [3:26]. Ibn 'Abbas and Anas ibn Malik said: �When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, conquered Mecca and promised his nation the kingdoms of Persia and Byzantium, the hypocrites and Jews said: 'How far fetched! How far fetched! How on earth can Muhammad conquer the kingdoms of Persia and Byzantium? They are too mighty and strong for that. Are Mecca and Medina not enough for Muhammad that he covets the kingdoms of Persia and Byzantium?' And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Marwazi informed in his epistle> Abu'l-Fadl Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Haddadi> Muhammad ibn Yahya> Ishaq ibn Ibrahim> Rawh ibn 'Ubadah> Sa'id> Qatadah who said: �It was mentioned to us that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, requested Allah to grant his nation the kingdoms of Persia and Byzantium, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Say: O Allah! Owner of Sovereignty!)�. The master Abu Ishaq al-Tha'alibi informed us> 'Abd Allah ibn Hamid al-Wazzan> Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Matiri> Hammad ibn al-Hasan> Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn 'Athmah> Kathir ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn 'Awf> his father> his father who said: �On the day of the Confederates, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, drew lines indicating where the Ditch was to be dug and he assigned ten men for every forty cubits. 'Amd ibn 'Awf said: 'Myself, Salman [al-Farisi], Hudhayfah [ibn al-Yaman] al-Nu'man ibn Muqarrin al-Muzani and six men of the Helpers were assigned to dig forty cubits. We dug until we reached beneath Dhu Nab whereupon we came upon a rock of flint which broke our steel and proved extremely hard to break. And so we told Salman to go up and inform the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, about this rock and to consult him about either to go round it or command us something else about it, for we did not like going beyond the line he drew. So Salman went up to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, who had on him a Turkish collar. He said: 'O Messenger of Allah! We came across a white rock of flint inside the ditch which has broken our steel and proved very hard to break, for we did everything we could to break it but in vain.
لَا يَتَّخِذِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِنْ دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۖ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ فَلَيْسَ مِنَ اللَّهِ فِي شَيْءٍ إِلَّا أَنْ تَتَّقُوا مِنْهُمْ تُقَاةً ۗ وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ اللَّهُ نَفْسَهُ ۗ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ الْمَصِيرُ
📘 Let not the faithful take the disbelievers as friends instead of the faithful…. And God warns you of Himself, and God is clement to the servants. The reality of the servant's faith and the final goal of his traveling on the path of tawḤīd takes him back to God's friendship. The reality of friendship is conformity, that is, being a friend of His friend and an enemy of His enemy. The master of the Shariah alluded to this with his words, “The most reliable handhold of faith is love in God and hate in God.” The traditions say that the Lord of the Worlds sent a revelation to one of the former prophets: “Say to the servants, 'In this world you have taken up renunciation in order to hurry to your own comfort and be relieved of this world's suffering. With your obedience and worship you have sought your own exaltation and your own good name. Now look: What have you done for Me? Have you ever loved My friends? Have you ever taken My enemies as your enemies?” This is exactly what He said to Jesus: “O Jesus, if the worship of all the inhabitants of heaven and earth accompanies you in the path of the religion, but you have no love for My friends and no enmity for My enemies, then your worship has been useless and without profit.” It is reported that Abū Idrīs Khawlānī said to Muʿādh, “I love you in the path of God.” Muʿādh said, “Let it be good news! I heard God's Messenger say that on the Day of Resurrec- tion, God will place seats around the Splendorous Throne for a group whose faces will be like the full moon. Everyone will be fearful because of the awe of the resurrection, but they will be secure. Everyone will be in dread, but they will be still. It was said, 'O Messenger of God! Which group is this?' “He said, 'Those who love each other in God.'” It has also been related that God says, “I have obligated My love on those who love each other in Me, sit with each other in Me, visit each other in Me, and spend freely on each other in Me.” Mujāhid said, “When God's friends smile in each other's faces, their sins fall away like leaves from a tree.
يَوْمَ تَجِدُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مُحْضَرًا وَمَا عَمِلَتْ مِنْ سُوءٍ تَوَدُّ لَوْ أَنَّ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَهُ أَمَدًا بَعِيدًا ۗ وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ اللَّهُ نَفْسَهُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ رَءُوفٌ بِالْعِبَادِ
📘 On the day when every soul shall find the good it has done made present, and the ugly it has done. It will wish that there were a far interval between itself and that. God warns you of Himself, and God is clement to the servants. He said this here so that the servant would fall into changing states-sometimes fear, sometimes hope; sometimes contraction, sometimes expansion; sometimes harshness, sometimes generosity. The severity and harshness of God warns you about Himself throws the servant into confounded- ness and bewilderment and he becomes selfless of self. Then He caresses: “And God is clement to the servants.” He sits him on the ship of gentleness and takes him from the whirlpool of con- foundedness to the shore of intimacy. One of the pirs among the great ones of the religion said, “I wonder if I will ever escape the whirlpool of self in the ship of deliverance. Will the hand of compassion ever take my hand among the waves of wishes? Will the proof of unity ever lift the veil of dispersion from before my eyes? Will this heart ever come to rest in this body?” In the road of avarice the purses of a hundred thousand merchants have been emptied of pure gold in search of this alchemy. [DS 210]
قُلْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
📘 Say: If you love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins. In terms of the Haqiqah this verse has another intimation and another taste. He is saying: “Who- ever has fervor in his breast because of these words, say to him: 'Come out in my tracks, for all the work has been made ready in my footsteps. Do not bind your heart to intellect, for intellect is a watchman, not a leader to whom the reins should be given. It is not a road that you should set out in. Do not seek what you are seeking from intellect, seek it from prophethood. Intellect carries the saddle-cloth of the religion's ruling. The exalted magnificence of the religion does not fit into the scales of intellect, nor does it come under the confines of substance and accident.'” Our religion is the same as the religion of the 124,000 prophets and messengers. The testi- mony of the Qur'an contains these words, for He says, “He has set down for you as the religion that with which He counseled Noah” and so on [42:13]. That which holds up the level of our religion is two things: “God said” and “God's Messenger said.” If everything that is the basis of the religion of the innovators-the substances, accidents, and specific differences of the Kalam experts and the determinations of their intellects-suddenly ceased to be in creation, came to nothing, and entered into the concealment of nonexistence, not an iota of deficiency would reach the threshold of the religion's exaltedness or the gate of the Sun- nah's tremendousness. By the decree of good fortune this address has come from the Exalted Lord to the folk of the Sunnah: “Today I have perfected your religion for you and I have completed My blessings upon you” [5:3]. Here there is no room for the Kalam of the theologians and the med- dling of the philosophizers, nor for their explanations of substance and accident. The path of Kalam is the path of shadows, and the worst shadows are the shadows of Kalam. You should take the road of the folk of Hadith- it is enough to have MuṣṬafā as imam. Put away confusion, for this is “the religion of old women.” You should have that, and the religion of servants.
قَالَ رَبِّ اجْعَلْ لِي آيَةً ۖ قَالَ آيَتُكَ أَلَّا تُكَلِّمَ النَّاسَ ثَلَاثَةَ أَيَّامٍ إِلَّا رَمْزًا ۗ وَاذْكُرْ رَبَّكَ كَثِيرًا وَسَبِّحْ بِالْعَشِيِّ وَالْإِبْكَارِ
📘 He said, “My Lord, appoint for me a sign.” He said, “Your sign is that you shall not speak to the people for three days, except by intimation. And remember thy Lord often and glorify Him at evening and dawn.” Zachariah asked for a mark of his child's existence. It was said to him, “The mark is that I will stop your tongue from talking to the people for three days so that all your secret whispering will be with Me, and all on your tongue will be talk of Me.” By way of allusion He is saying, “I will give you a child whom I will cut off from this world and the creatures and the face of whose heart I will turn toward Me. Then he will know that his kiblah is nothing but My Presence and he will be at ease only in talking with Me.” Only Your name, image, and passion, O Spirit of the world, appear to me in speech, heart, and eyes. This is why He commanded Zachariah, “And remember thy Lord often and glorify Him at evening and dawn.” He commanded the faithful in general to the same thing: “And remember your Lord often” [8:45]. He is saying, “Remember God, and carry out your days in obedience and service to Him. Belong totally to Him, calling upon Him and knowing Him in every state and every work! If you are at ease, be at ease with His remembrance and message, and if you are joyful, be joyful in His name and mark. Once in a while knock on the door of My house- it is not right to pass by like a stranger. And if you talk, talk only of Me, and if you drink, drink only in remembrance of Me. And remember thy Lord often. It is said that remembrance of God has three degrees: The first is outward remembrance with the tongue of laudation and supplication. God says, “And remember thy Lord often.” Second is concealed remembrance in the heart. Thus God says, “Or with more intense remem- brance” [2:200]. The Prophet said, “The best remembrance is the concealed and the best provision the sufficient.” Third is true remembrance, which is witnessing God's remembrance of you. That is His words, “And remember thy Lord when thou forgettest” [18:24].
إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ
📘 When the angels said, “O Mary, surely God gives thee the good news of a word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, celebrated in this world and the next, and one of those given proximity.” In this verse the God of the universe, the enactor of the world's folk, the assigner of daily provi- sions to the servants, the bestower of bounty and the lovingly kind, the caresser of the friends, caresses Mary and honors her. With this honoring He gives her excellence over the women of the world and separates her from all of them. First, He calls her with the vocative of honor, saying “O Mary.” Exalted is this address! Exalted is this call! Thousands of thousands of prophets and friends went, either in the repose of having found it, or in remorse and hope for it. O spirit of the world! If a thousand times you call on Him saying, “My Lord, my Lord,” that is not like His calling on you once, “My servant, My servant.” Even if you accept Him in lordhood, that gains you nothing, for in any case His lordhood is inseparable from you. What does the work is that once He should accept you for servanthood. Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī said, “God stood me before Him in a thousand standing places, presenting the empire to me, but I was saying, 'I do not desire it.' In the last standing place He said to me, 'O Abū Yazīd, what do you desire?' I said, 'I desire not to desire,'” that is, I desire what You desire. “Then He said, 'You are My servant in truth.'” Even if you do not have the gall to speak with God like Abū Yazīd, you are not too small to present your need to Him, to show Him your burning and hope, and to say, “O Lord, a name and mark is enough for me! You have come from Your threshold to place a name on me. Whatever name You want, let it be.” A man went to the bazaar to buy a slave. They presented the slaves to him and he chose one to buy. He said, “O slave, what's your name?” He said, “First buy me so that I may belong to you. Then call me by whatever name you want.
وَيُعَلِّمُهُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ
📘 And He will teach him the Book, the wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel. Until the end of these verses are all his miracles. Because it was in God's knowledge that the Christians would exaggerate concerning him, the Lord of the Worlds gave him speech in the cradle in the state of infancy to reject those Christians, so he said, “Surely I am the servant of God” [19:30]. In other words, it is not as the Christians say. Rather, “I am the servant of God, created by Him, and He is my Lord.” It is also a rejection of those who criticized his mother: “O sister of Aaron! Your father was not a man of ugliness” [19:28]. The Lord of the Worlds declared her in- nocence and, to brighten her eyes, He made those words come to his tongue in the state of infancy. Here there is an exalted point: Since it was in God's knowledge that Jesus would be the brightness of Mary's eyes and the joy of her heart in this world and the afterworld, the Lord of the Worlds placed the burden and pain of Jesus on her at the time of birth. That is in His words, “And the birth pangs took her to the trunk of a date palm” [19:23]. Thus what was rightfully due became incumbent for her. As the counterpart of that suffering and hardship, blessings and ease reached her. MuṣṬafā's state with his mother was the opposite of this. Since it was in God's knowledge that his mother would have no portion of him, whether in this world or in the next, He did not place the burden of MuṣṬafā upon her, and at the time of birth no suffering reached her, so that no rightful due would become incumbent for her. Similar to this is the story of Noah and his community and that of MuṣṬafā and his community. It was said to Noah, “Do not let yourself suffer for the community and do not carry the load of their trial, for they will never give you brightness of the eyes and joy of the heart: None of your community will have faith except those who already have faith” [11:36]. It was in keeping with this address that he supplicated, “My Lord, leave no disbeliever dwelling on the earth” [71:26], and God did that.
وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ
📘 And they deceived, and God deceived, and God is the best of deceivers. Ibn ʿAbbās said, “The deception of God is that when they increased in unbelief and sin, He in- creased their blessings until He pulled them into total recklessness. They brought immense unbe- lief and applied their heads to rebellion and misguidance. Then He took them little by little from whence they did not know.” It has come in the traditions that someone tormented Abū Dardā. Abū Dardā said, “Lord God, bestow upon him a healthy body, long life, and great wealth!” An intelligent man who ponders these words will know that this is the worst of supplications. When anyone is given this, recklessness and heedlessness will make him heedless of the next world so that he will be de- stroyed.
إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَىٰ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ ۖ خَلَقَهُ مِنْ تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ
📘 (Lo! the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam�) [3:59]. The commentators of the Qur'an said: �The delegation of Najran said to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace: 'Why do you insult Jesus?' He said: 'What did I say about him?' They said: 'You say that he is a servant'. He said: 'Indeed, he is the servant and messenger of Allah, as well as His word which He cast into the Virgin Mary'. They became angry and said: 'Have you ever seen a human being who was born without a father? If you are truthful, show us such a person'. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�. Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Harithi informed us> 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far> Sahl Abu Yahya al-Razi> Sahl ibn 'Uthman> Yahya> Waki'> Mubarak> al-Hasan who said: �Two monks from Najran came to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and he invited them to surrender to Allah. One of them said: 'We have surrendered to Allah before you'. He said: 'You lie! Three things prevent you from surrendering to Allah: your worship of the cross, eating pork and your claim that Allah has a son'. They said: 'Then who is the father of Jesus?' The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, was not in the habit of giving hasty answers but waited for Allah's answer instead. Then Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse (Lo! the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam�)�.
هُوَ الَّذِي يُصَوِّرُكُمْ فِي الْأَرْحَامِ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ ۚ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
📘 He it is who forms you in the wombs as He wills. Talk of this has two sides: the affirmation of the form of the Creator, and the explication of His power over creatures and favor toward them through predetermination and form-giving. As for affirming the form of the Creator, in a sound report MuṣṬafā said, “God created Adam in His form, and his height was sixty cubits.” It has also been narrated as, “in the form of His face.” The folk of interpretation-the foundation of whose religion is adulteration, interpretation, and negation-have turned the referent of the pronoun away from the Real and rejected the out- wardness. The folk of the Sunnah-the foundation of whose religion is hearing, accepting, and surrendering-have left aside interpretation and gone by the outwardness. They say that in this report the pronoun refers to God, that investigation, reflection, and interpretation are not allowed, and that fancying similarity is an error, for the Real is without peer in all attributes. Concerning vision there are many reports that the Real has a shining face and form. Ibn ʿAbbās narrates that MuṣṬafā said, “I saw my Lord in the most beautiful form.” In the narrative of Abū Umāma Bāhilī, MuṣṬafā said, “My Lord was shown to me in the most beautiful form. He said, 'O MuḤammad!' I said, 'Here I am, obeying Thee.' About what are the Higher Plenum disput- ing?” This report is a long one and will be discussed in its place, God willing. The narrative of Jābir ibn Samura is this: “Surely God disclosed Himself to me in the most beautiful form.” The narrative of Anas is this: “My Lord came to me in the most beautiful form.” Anas also said, “Among the favors God will bestow on Adam on the Day of Resurrection is that He will say, 'Did I not bestow upon you My form?” Ibn ʿAbbās said, “Moses was angry with the Children of Israel, so when he came down with interdiction, he said to them, 'Drink this, you donkeys!' God said to him, 'Do you liken creatures whom I created in My form to donkeys?'” It is well known that in the reports of the resurrection MuṣṬafā said, “God will come to them in other than the form in which they recognize Him.
الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُنْ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ
📘 The truth is from thy Lord, so be not among the doubters. “O MuḤammad, take care not to suppose that I have associates and partners in the power of ex- istence-giving. I do not need or require anyone in that. No one besides Me has the power of existence-giving and devising.” One of the pirs of the Tariqah said in his whispered prayer, “O Lord, the one who does the work is the one who can, and the one who bestows is the one who has. What do I have and what can I do? Who has ability like Your ability? In praising You who has a tongue? Without Your love, who has the joy of spirit?” Without the breeze of the heart-taker's love, the garden has no ease, without the radiance of that rose-colored face, there's no light or fire.
فَمَنْ حَاجَّكَ فِيهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ فَقُلْ تَعَالَوْا نَدْعُ أَبْنَاءَنَا وَأَبْنَاءَكُمْ وَنِسَاءَنَا وَنِسَاءَكُمْ وَأَنْفُسَنَا وَأَنْفُسَكُمْ ثُمَّ نَبْتَهِلْ فَنَجْعَلْ لَعْنَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَاذِبِينَ
📘 (� say (unto him): Come! We will summon our sons and your sons�) [3:61]. Abu Sa�d informed us> �Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Zimjari> Ahmad ibn Ja�far ibn Malik> �Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal> his father> Husayn> Hammad ibn Salamah> Yunus> al-Hasan who said: �The two monks of Najran came to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and he invited them to surrender to Allah. One of them said: �We have surrendered to Allah before you�. He said: �You lie! Three things prevent you from surrendering to Allah: your prostration before the cross, your claim that Allah has a son and your consumption of wine�. They said: �What do you say about Jesus?� The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, did not answer. But then this verse was revealed (This (which) We recite unto thee is a revelation and a wise reminder� Lo! the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam) up to Allah�s saying (� say (unto him): Come! We will summon our sons and your sons�). Then the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, challenged them to summon Allah�s curse upon the one who is lying amongst them (Mula�anah). The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, went and brought al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Fatimah and all his family and children, peace be upon them. When the two Christians left, one of them said to the other: �Consent to pay the Jizyah and do not agree to summon Allah�s curse on the liar�. They went back and said: �We agree to pay the Jizyah and abstain from summoning Allah�s curse on the liar� �. �Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Hasan al-Hafiz informed us among that which he gave us permission to narrate from him> Abu Hafs �Umar ibn Ahmad al-Wa�iz> �Abd Allah ibn Sulayman ibn al-Ash�ath> Yahya ibn Hatim al-�Askari> Bishr ibn Mihran> Muhammad ibn Dinar> Dawud ibn Abi Hind> al-Sha�bi> Jabir ibn �Abd Allah who said: �The delegation of the people of Najran came to see the prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. The deputy chief and the master spoke with the Prophet and he invited them to surrender to Allah. They said: �We have surrendered to Him before you�. He said: �You lie! And if you wish I will inform you about that which prevents you from surrendering to Allah�.
قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَىٰ كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلَّا نَعْبُدَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَلَا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ ۚ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُولُوا اشْهَدُوا بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ
📘 Say: “O Folk of the Book! Come to a word common between us and you: that we worship none but God, that we associate nothing with Him, and that some of us not take others of us as lords apart from God.” In terms of realization, this is addressed to the folk of tawḤīd and the desirers on the road of the Haqiqah. He is saying, “If you who are traveling on the path of truthfulness today want to be dwellers in the seat of truthfulness [54:55] tomorrow, be careful to protect your walkway from the debris of customs, to sweep away the opacities of mortal nature from the carpet of your present moment, and to make the drinking place of your aspiration pure of the dust of others. Be one in heart, one in desire, and one in aspiration. 'When someone comes to have one concern, God will suffice him against the concerns of this world and the next.'” This is why He says, “and that some of us do not take others of us as lords apart from God”: Do not settle down in every street with each scatteredness of the heart. Do not obey the commanding soul, do not worship blameworthy caprice, and take not two gods; surely He is but One God [16:51]. As long as the talk of some defiled fellow grabs you, you're the servant of your own fancy, not a servant of God.
إِنَّ أَوْلَى النَّاسِ بِإِبْرَاهِيمَ لَلَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ وَهَٰذَا النَّبِيُّ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ۗ وَاللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
📘 (Lo! those of mankind who have the best claim to Abraham are those who followed him, and this Prophet�) [3:68]. Said Ibn 'Abbas: �The leaders of the Jews said: 'By Allah, O Muhammad, you know that we have the better claim to Abraham's religion than you or anybody else; and you know that he was a Jew. You are only resentfully envious!' And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�. Al-Kalbi also related from Abu Salih that Ibn 'Abbas said - and the same is reported by 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ghanm from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and this was also mentioned by Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar, such that the wordings of their narrations are mixed up with each other -: �When Ja'far ibn Abi Talib and his fellow companions migrated to Abyssinia and settled there and the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, migrated to Medina which was followed by the Battle of Badr, the Quraysh called for a meeting in Dar al-Nadwah and said: 'We have to exact revenge for those of us who were killed at Badr from the Companions of Muhammad who are with the Negus. Collect, therefore, some money and gift it to the Negus and he will give you in exchange your people who are staying with him. For this mission, select two of your men who are known for their good judgement'. And so they sent 'Amr ibn al-'As and 'Umarah ibn Abi Mu'ayt with gifts, tanned skins and other things. They sailed across the sea to Abyssinia. When they entered in on the Negus, they prostrated themselves and greeted him. They said: 'Our people are grateful to you and want to give you sincere advice for they wish you good. They have sent us to you to warn you about the people who came to you because they represent a liar who has emerged amongst us, claiming he is Allah's Messenger. None of us, except fools, followed him. We had made it very hard on them and drove them away to the canyons of our land. No one was allowed to go to them, and none of them was allowed to leave; they were destroyed by hunger and thirst.
وَدَّتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ لَوْ يُضِلُّونَكُمْ وَمَا يُضِلُّونَ إِلَّا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ
📘 (A party of the People of the Scripture long to make you go astray�) [3:69]. This was revealed about Mu�adh ibn Jabal and Hudhayfah [ibn al-Yaman] and �Ammar ibn Yasir when the Jews called them to embrace their religion. This story has already been mentioned in Surah the Cow.
هُوَ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ آيَاتٌ مُحْكَمَاتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ ۖ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ ۗ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا اللَّهُ ۗ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلٌّ مِنْ عِنْدِ رَبِّنَا ۗ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ
📘 He it is who has sent down upon thee the Book, wherein are firm verses, which are the mother of the Book, and others ambiguous. He is neither a name nor an attribute. Rather, it is an allusion to being. It means that our Lord is, He is fitting to be, and He has been-beyond location and transcendent in attributes. ShurayḤ ʿābid said, “I saw a dervish in the mosque of the Sanctuary calling upon God by saying, 'O He who is He! O He other than whom there is no he! Forgive me.' A voice came from the Unseen: 'O dervish, you received so much reward for saying that the first time that the angels will be writ- ing it out until the resurrection.'” Huwa is two letters, h and w. The place of articulation of h is the last part of the throat, and the place of articulation of the w is the first part of the throat. This alludes to the fact that the letters begin from Him at first and return to Him at last. From Him they begin and to Him they return. It has also been said it alludes to the created things and engendered beings: all things come in the beginning from His power and return in the end by His decree. A dervish in the state of rapture was asked, “What is your name?” He answered, “He.” They said, “Where have you come from?” He said, “He.” They said, “What do you want?” He said, “He.” They said, “Perhaps you mean 'God'.” When the dervish heard the name God, he gave his spirit to the name and left this world. The painters depict Your name in a hundred meanings; remembering You and Your name they give up their spirits. They scatter their lives for the scent of union with You with nothing in hand of Your description but incapacity. Wherein are firm verses, which are the mother of the Book, and others ambiguous. These are the two great divisions of the Qur'an, one apparent and clear, the other abstruse and difficult. The ap- parent belongs to the majesty of the Shariah, and the difficult belongs to the beauty of the Haqiqah. The apparent is so the common people may reach joy and blessings by perceiving it and putting it into practice. The difficult is so the elect may reach the mystery of the Beneficent by surrendering and attesting to it. From the place of blessings and joy to the place of intimacy and mystery are numerous ups and downs. Given the exaltedness of this state and the eminence of this work, He did not lift up the curtain of abstruseness and ambiguity, lest any of the non-privy walk into this street, for not everyone is worthy to know the secrets of kings. Go, don't wander round the pavilion of secrets! Why try? You're no man for this battle. It needs a man cut off from both worlds to drink down the dregs of the friends' draft.
وَقَالَتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ آمِنُوا بِالَّذِي أُنْزِلَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَجْهَ النَّهَارِ وَاكْفُرُوا آخِرَهُ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ
📘 (And a party of the People of the Scripture say: Believe in that which hath been revealed unto those who believe�) [3:72]. Al-Hasan and al-Suddi said: �Twelve rabbis from the Jews of Khaybar and the town of �Uraynah conspired with each other, saying: �Pretend to join the religion of Muhammad at the beginning of the day and declare your disbelief in it at the end of the day. Say: �We have looked in our Scriptures and consulted our scholars and found that Muhammad is not genuine; it is clear to us now that he is lying and that his religion is false�. If you do this, his Companions will doubt their religion. They will say: these are people of the Book and they are more knowledgeable than us. They will then abandon their religion and embrace yours�. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse, thus informing His Prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace, and the rest of the believers�. Mujahid, Muqatil and al-Kalbi said: �This was revealed regarding the qiblah when it was changed toward the Ka�bah. The Jews found it hard to accept that they were opposed, and so Ka�b ibn al-Ashraf and his companions said: �Believe in that which was revealed to Muhammad regarding the matter of the Ka�bah, pray toward it at the beginning of the day and then disbelieve in the Ka�bah and return toward your qiblah at the end of the day. They might then say: these are people of the Book and they know better than us. They might then return to our qiblah�. Allah, exalted is He, warned His Prophet from the scheming of these people and informed him about what they were conspiring; He revealed (And a party of the People of the Scripture say�)�.
وَلَا تُؤْمِنُوا إِلَّا لِمَنْ تَبِعَ دِينَكُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ الْهُدَىٰ هُدَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُؤْتَىٰ أَحَدٌ مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيتُمْ أَوْ يُحَاجُّوكُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّكُمْ ۗ قُلْ إِنَّ الْفَضْلَ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
📘 Do not have faith in any but those who follow your religion. Say: “Surely the guidance is God's guidance,” lest anyone should be given the like of what you have been given, or dispute with you before your Lord. Say: “Surely the bounty is in God's hand. He gives it to whomso- ever He wills.” And God is all-embracing, knowing. Some of the commentators have said that here God is addressing the Muslims and caressing the folk of recognition and faith. He is reminding them of His favor toward them with the religion of the submission. The address then has two paths. In one respect it is addressed to the common faithful of this community, and in the other respect it is addressed to the recognizers and the elect among the folk of the Tariqah. The first respect is this: “O assembly of submitters! Do not suppose or hold firm that anyone has been given what has been given to you. There is no religion like the religion of the submission, and it was given to you. There is no book like the Qur'an, and it was given to you. There is no prophet like MuḤammad, and he was given to you. There is no month like Ramadan, and it belongs to you. There is no day like Friday, and it belongs to you. All the shariahs have been abrogated by your shariah, and all the compacts have been abrogated by your compact. The perfection of the religion and the Shariah and the beauty of the Tariqah and the Haqiqah are all in your covenant.” This is in His words, “Today I have perfected your religion for you and I have completed My bless- ings upon you and I have approved the submission for you as a religion” [5:3]. “Now give gratitude for this blessing, give thanks to your Object of worship, and obey the command. The command is this: 'Do not have faith in any but those who follow your religion.' Do not exercise friendship with any but those who share your religion, and do not show brother- hood to any but the faithful. Keep away from the irreligious and the estranged.” This is just what He says in this verse: “Do not lean upon those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you” [11:113].
يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ
📘 He singles out for His mercy whomsoever He will. That is, He singles out for His blessings whomsoever He will. He singles out a group for provisions, He singles out a group for the blessing of character traits, He singles out a group for the blessing of worship, others for the blessing of desire, others for the success of outwardness, others for the realiza- tion of the secret cores, others for the gift of outer skins, others for the encounter with the secrets. God says, and His words are truth: “If you count God's blessings, you will not enumerate them” [14:34].7 He singles out for His mercy whomsoever He will. He brought them together obscurely and did not specify anyone so that the hopeful would increase in their hope and the fearful would not remain in their fear. In the station of worship and obedience the servants will not find any states better than hope and fear, for the Lord of the Worlds praises the servants in these two states and says, “They hope for His mercy and fear His chastisement” [17:57]. He is also calling attention to the fact that even if the servants strive to the utmost in obedience and perform all the conditions of servanthood, in the end it is God's mercy that will deliver them. Concerning this the following has been narrated from the Prophet: “No one will enter the Garden by his deeds.” It was said to him, “Not even you, O Messenger of God!” He said, “Not even I, unless God envelops me with His mercy.”
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَشْتَرُونَ بِعَهْدِ اللَّهِ وَأَيْمَانِهِمْ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا أُولَٰئِكَ لَا خَلَاقَ لَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ وَلَا يُكَلِّمُهُمُ اللَّهُ وَلَا يَنْظُرُ إِلَيْهِمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَلَا يُزَكِّيهِمْ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
📘 (Lo! those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah�s covenant and their oaths�) [3:77]. Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Qadi informed us> Hajib ibn Ahmad> Muhammad ibn Hammad> Abu Mu�awiyah> al-A�mash> Shaqiq> �Abd Allah who reported that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �Whoever makes an oath knowing well that he is lying in order to usurp the property of another Muslim, Allah will be angry with him when he meets Him�. Then al-Ash�ath ibn Qays said: �By Allah, this was revealed about me. There was a land between me and a Jew, but he denied that I was its owner. And so I took him to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, who asked me: �Do you have a proof?� I said: �no!� He then asked the Jew: �Will you swear [that the land is yours]?� I said: O Messenger of Allah! If he swears that the land is his, I will lose my property. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Lo! those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah�s covenant and their oaths�)�. This was narrated by Bukhari from �Abdan from Abu Hamzah from al-A�mash. Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Mihrajani informed us> �Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Zahid> Abu�l-Qasim al-Baghawi> Muhammad ibn Sulayman> Salih ibn �Umar> al-A�mash> Shaqiq> �Abd Allah who reported that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �Whoever lies in his oath in order to usurp a property, Allah will be angry with him when he will meet Him�. �Then Allah, exalted is He, revealed: (Lo! those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah�s covenant and their oaths�) up to the end of the verse. Al-Ash�ath ibn Qays came and asked: �What is it that Abu �Abd al-Rahman is relating to you?� We said: �Such-and-such�. He said: �This verse was revealed about me. I reported to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, a dispute that I had with another man and so he asked me: �do you have a proof�. I said: �No!� He said: �Then the man should swear�. I said: �So let him swear�. The Messenger, peace be upon him, said: �Whoever lies in his oath in order to usurp a property, Allah will be angry with him when he will meet Him�.
مَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَنْ يُؤْتِيَهُ اللَّهُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحُكْمَ وَالنُّبُوَّةَ ثُمَّ يَقُولَ لِلنَّاسِ كُونُوا عِبَادًا لِي مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلَٰكِنْ كُونُوا رَبَّانِيِّينَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تُعَلِّمُونَ الْكِتَابَ وَبِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَدْرُسُونَ
📘 It belongs to no mortal man that God should give him the Book, the judgment, and prophet- hood, and then he should say to the people, “Be servants of me instead of God!” But, “Be you lordly ones from having taught the Book and from having studied!” Before giving existence to the universe and creating Adam, the majestic compeller, the great God, the renowned enactor, knew in His eternal knowledge who among the children of Adam would be worthy of prophethood and friendship and who would be qualified for love and suited for messen- gerhood. God knows better where to place His message [6:124]. How can he upon whom He has placed the brand of deprivation and the inscription of unawareness be sinless and truthful on the road today? And how can he to whom He has given good fortune gratis and whom He has placed on the road of truthfulness and sinlessness be roadless and bad in state today? So, what will take form and how can it enter into imagination? It could never happen that the chosen MuṣṬafā and the caressed Jesus, after the honor of prophethood, the confirmation of sinlessness, and the strength of messengerhood, take a step out of line and say to the people, “Be servants of me instead of God!” By virtue of the beginningless choice and eternal solicitude, the Lord of the Worlds answered on their behalf as their deputy: “They do not say this. Rather they say, 'Be you lordly ones!'” In other words: Be among those singled out for God, those who are described by His words, “When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears and his eyesight with which he sees.” In keeping with the tasting of the folk of recognition, the lordly ones are those who become one for God with disengaged intention, sound trust, and intimacy's breeze. They step beyond the two worlds and seize hold of the gentleness of the Patron's love. They say the prayer of the dead for their own attributes. When someone steps into the field of passion for the beautiful, night and day will recite for him the prayer of the dead. [DS 210] They have souls undergoing annihilation and hearts full of thirst. They have burnt souls, secret cores lit by passion, and spirits hanging in hope.
رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ
📘 Our Lord, let not our hearts stray after Thou hast guided us, and give us mercy from Thee. When they were truthful in the beauty of asking for help, He assisted them with the lights of suf- ficiency. When the heart is limpid, the present moment empty, and the tongue flowing with the Real's remembrance, the arrow of supplication inevitably reaches the target of response. But the work is in this: When will this limpidness, loyalty, and supplication come together and how will they join with each other? The meaning of this supplication is this: “O God, keep our hearts far from confusion and straying and make us firm on the carpet of service with the stipulation of the Sunnah.” And give us mercy from Thee: And give what you give, O Lord, as Your bounty and mercy, not as the recompense for our works or the compensation for our acts of obedience! Our acts of obedience are not worthy for the Presence of Your Majesty, so the only thing to do is to efface them and ignore them. One of the pirs of the Tariqah said, “The gall-bladders of the travelers and the obedient ser- vants burst in fear at the verse: 'We shall advance upon what deeds they have done and make them scattered dust' [25:23]. But, of all the Qur'an's verses, I find this the sweetest.” He was asked, “What does it mean?” He said, “We will finally be released from these displeasing deeds and unworthy acts of obedi- ence and attach our hearts totally to His bounty and mercy.”
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ النَّبِيِّينَ لَمَا آتَيْتُكُمْ مِنْ كِتَابٍ وَحِكْمَةٍ ثُمَّ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَكُمْ لَتُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهِ وَلَتَنْصُرُنَّهُ ۚ قَالَ أَأَقْرَرْتُمْ وَأَخَذْتُمْ عَلَىٰ ذَٰلِكُمْ إِصْرِي ۖ قَالُوا أَقْرَرْنَا ۚ قَالَ فَاشْهَدُوا وَأَنَا مَعَكُمْ مِنَ الشَّاهِدِينَ
📘 And when God took the compact of the prophets, “I have given you of the Book and wis- dom. Then a messenger will come to you confirming what is with you. You shall surely have faith in him and you shall surely help him.” In the whole Qur'an, there is no verse more complete in explaining the excellence of MuṣṬafā, to whom this verse is devoted without the association of anyone else. The Lord of the Worlds made two covenants with His creatures and took two compacts from them. One was the compact He took from the creatures concerning His Godhood and Enactorship, as He said: “When your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their loins, their offspring and made them bear witness concern- ing themselves. 'Am I not your Lord?' They said, 'Yes indeed'” [7:172]. The other is the compact He took with the angels and the prophets concerning MuḤammad's prophethood and helping him, as He says, “And when God took the compact of the prophets.” This is an utmost bestowal of eminence and a perfect acknowledgment of excellence, for He made his name great with His own name and lifted up his measure with His measure. Several thousand years before the existence of MuḤammad, a command came, “O Gabriel! I will have a friend whose name is MuḤammad. He will be praised and caressed by Me, his name will be placed next to My name, his measure will be lifted up by My bounty, his being obeyed will be obedience to Me, his words will be My revelation, and following him will be friendship with Me. O Gabriel! You make a covenant with Me to have faith in him and help him.” This was when He said, “You shall surely have faith in him and you shall surely help him.” Gabriel said, “O Lord, I make a covenant that my hand will be one with his hand, I will help, and I will have faith in him.” God said, “O Gabriel! Keep to this covenant and do not oppose it.” He said, “O Lord, who would have the gall to oppose You?!” Then He said, “O Michael! You be a witness to Gabriel's covenant.” Then in the same way He made a covenant with Michael, and He told Gabriel to be witness to Michael's covenant.
أَفَغَيْرَ دِينِ اللَّهِ يَبْغُونَ وَلَهُ أَسْلَمَ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَإِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُونَ
📘 (Seek they other than the religion of Allah�) [3:83]. Said ibn �Abbas: �The people of the two Scriptures [the Jews and the Christians] went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, to settle a dispute regarding Abraham's religion, for one of these parties claimed that they had the best claim to his religion. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �None of the parties has anything to do with the religion of Abraham�. But this statement angered both parties. They said: �By Allah, we do not accept your judgement nor are we going to follow your religion!� Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Seek they other than the religion of Allah�)�.
وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
📘 Whosoever wants a religion other than the submission, it will not be accepted from him. Any religion that is not the submission is false. Any deed that is not following the Sunnah is the seed of remorse. The submission is the tree, the Sunnah is its water source, faith its fruit, and the Real the one who planted and nurtured it. When the wellspring of the Sunnah takes replenishment, it takes it from divine solicitude. If-refuge in God!-He should take back the solicitude, the wellspring would go dry. The tree would become ineffectual and barren, it would not give the fruit of faith, and it would be on the verge of disappearance and destruction. This is like the group who became apostates and turned away from the submission. Again, if the lordly solicitude should go forth and replenish the wellspring of the Sunnah, then the branches of the tree will be made from the goodly word [14:24] and its fruit from pure belief. The heaven of guidance will make the branch into a ladder, and in the state of life and death its fruit will become constant and never be cut off. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says by way of similitude, “God has struck a similitude: A goodly word is like a goodly tree, its roots fixed, and its branches in heaven. It gives its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord” [14:24-25]. It has also been said that if a similitude is struck for the submission, it is a lamp that has been lit by the Most Tremendous Light, its material and nurture made to appear from the light of the Sunnah. To this is the allusion in His words, “Is he whose breast God has expanded for the sub- mission, so he is upon a light from his Lord [...]?” [39:22]. He is saying, “Whenever the Exalted Lord lights the lamp of the submission in a breast, assistance from the light of the Sunnah makes it appear so that the breast may always be adorned and lit. Hence, whenever someone does not have a whiff of the Sunnah, he will have no portion of the submission. It is narrated from Shāfiʿī that he said, “I saw God in a dream and He said to me, 'Ask a wish from Me.
كَيْفَ يَهْدِي اللَّهُ قَوْمًا كَفَرُوا بَعْدَ إِيمَانِهِمْ وَشَهِدُوا أَنَّ الرَّسُولَ حَقٌّ وَجَاءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ
📘 (How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief�) [3:86]. Abu Bakr al-Harithi informed us> Abu Muhammad ibn Hayyan> Abu Yahya 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad> Sahl ibn 'Uthman> 'Ali ibn 'Asim> Khalid and Dawud> 'Ikrimah> Ibn 'Abbas who reported that a man from the Helpers renounced his religion and joined the idolaters, and Allah, exalted is He, revealed (shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief) up to His saying (Save those who afterward repent�) (3:89). His people sent him these verses and when they were read to him, he said: �By Allah, my people are not telling a lie about the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, nor is the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, telling a lie about Allah. By Allah, I will believe all three�, and he went back repentant. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, accepted his repentance and let him be. Abu Bakr informed us> Abu Muhammad> Abu Yahya> Sahl> Yahya ibn Abi Za'idah> Dawud ibn Abi Hind> 'Ikrimah> Ibn 'Abbas who said: �A certain man from the Helpers renounced Islam and joined idolatry. He later regretted this and sent to his people to ask the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, whether his repentance would be accepted since he regrets his apostasy. Allah, exalted is He, revealed (How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief) until His saying (Save those who afterward repent). When the man's people sent him these verses, he came back and became Muslim�. Abu 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abu Hamid informed us> Abu Bakr ibn Zakariyya> Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Faqih> Ahmad ibn Sayyar> Musaddid ibn Musarhad> Ja'far ibn Sulayman> Hamid al-A'raj> Mujahid who said: �Al-Harith ibn Suwayd was a Muslim. He was with the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. But he later renounced Islam and joined his own people. Then Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse (How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief) up to His saying (Save those who afterward repent). A man from amongst his people took these verses and read them to him. Al-Harith said: 'By Allah, I know that you are truthful, and I know that the Messenger of Allah, Allah, bless him and give him peace, is more truthful than you, and Allah, exalted is He, is more truthful than all'. He went back, declared his Islam and became a good Muslim�.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بَعْدَ إِيمَانِهِمْ ثُمَّ ازْدَادُوا كُفْرًا لَنْ تُقْبَلَ تَوْبَتُهُمْ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الضَّالُّونَ
📘 (Lo! those who disbelieve after their (profession of) belief�) [3:90]. Said al-Hasan, Qatadah and �Ata� al-Khurasani: �This was revealed about the Jews who disbelieved in Jesus and the Gospel and added to their disbelief by disbelieving in Muhammad and the Qur�an�. And Abu�l-�Aliyah said: �This was revealed about the Jews and Christians who disbelieved in Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace, after they had believed in his attributes and description, and then added to their disbelief by remaining disbelievers�.
۞ كُلُّ الطَّعَامِ كَانَ حِلًّا لِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِلَّا مَا حَرَّمَ إِسْرَائِيلُ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تُنَزَّلَ التَّوْرَاةُ ۗ قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِالتَّوْرَاةِ فَاتْلُوهَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
📘 (All food was lawful unto the Children of Israel�) [3:93]. Said Abu Rawq and al-Kalbi: �This was revealed when the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �We follow the religion of Abraham�. The Jews responded to this by saying: �How can this be so when you eat the meat of camels and drink their milk�. He said: �That was lawful for Abraham and so we make it lawful too�. The Jews said: �Everything that we take for unlawful today was unlawful to Noah and Abraham and so on and so forth until our time�. To refute them, Allah, exalted is He, revealed (All food was lawful unto the Children of Israel�)�.
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَ مُبَارَكًا وَهُدًى لِلْعَالَمِينَ
📘 (Lo! the first Sanctuary appointed for mankind�) [3:96]. Said Mujahid: �The Muslims and the Jews boasted to each other; the Jews said: �Jerusalem is better and greater than the Ka�bah because it was the land to which the Prophets had migrated and it is also sacred�; while the Muslims said: �No, the Ka�bah is better�. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�.
Book A Free Trial