📘 By the star when it fell. Know that in this surah the Real reported about the miʿrāj of that paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam, his journey to heaven, and his return from contemplation and face-to-face vision. Thus by knowing this story his community may give repose to their spirits and increase the light and joy of their hearts. At the beginning of the Surah of Banī IsrāÌīl He mentions the story of his going and, to show its greatness, put His own incomparability before it: “Glory to be Him who took His servant by night” [17:1]. In this surah He explains his return from the Presence and, to declare its eminence, swears by his person: “By the star when it fell! By that bright star, by that full moon, by that lit lamp, when he returned from the presence of face-to-face vision!” His person saw the station of proximity, his heart found the repose of contemplation, his secret core reached the good fortune of union, and he listened to the secrets in the secluded cell of Or closer [53:9] on the carpet of expansiveness. Know that the Master's going to that way station is not strange, but his resting in this way station is wondrous, for the people of the world are in the darkness of distance, but he was in the light of nearness and proximity. When that paragon left Gabriel in his known station [37:164] and passed on, he entrusted the luminous secrets of his outwardness and inwardness to the attraction of the Presence. He dove into the sea of light and the ocean of tremendousness and he traversed the canopy of eminence with the feet of aspiration. Just as a magnet attracts iron to itself, so the spires of the Splendorous Throne attracted that paragon to itself. From the Splendorous Throne he aimed for the presence of two-bows' length [53:9], and in the station of two-bows' length he made himself a resting place on the seat of beauty in the description of perfection while contemplating majesty. The exalted revelation explains these intimations in these words:

📘 He revealed to His servant what He revealed. Even though He said these words with the lid on and left them obscure so as to declare the great- ness of that state and the magnificence of MuṣṬafā's measure, it has been mentioned in some books that a group of the Companions asked MuṣṬafā what this revelation was. MuṣṬafā explained as much as their capacity was able to bear. He said that the Lord of the Worlds complained about his community, saying, “O MuḤammad, in holding to the covenant, I who am the Lord did not create any of the depths of hell for your community. But they, in breaking the covenant, are trying to throw themselves into hell. O MuḤammad, I am the Exalter and the Abaser. He is exalted whom I exalt, and He is abased whom I abase. They are seeking exaltation from elsewhere and they see abasement com- ing from elsewhere. O MuḤammad, I do not ask them today for tomorrow's deeds, but today they seek from Me tomorrow's provision. O MuḤammad, the provision that I have put in their name I will not give to another, but they give the deeds that are My rightful due and fitting for Me to others through eye-service. O MuḤammad, the blessings come from Me and they show gratitude to others. O MuḤammad, nonetheless, I am seeking for pretexts to forgive your community. O MuḤammad, were it not that I love to rebuke them and talk with them, I would not call them to account for anything. O MuḤammad, I did four things with previous communities that I will not do with your community: I took a people into the earth, I changed a people's form, I rained down stones on a people, and I destroyed a people with the flames of fire. Because of your eminence and rank, I will not do any of these with your community. O MuḤammad, I secluded you with Me to show the people who you are and to show you who I am.” When God's Messenger saw all this honoring and exalting from the Exalted Threshold, he said, “Lord God, bestow all of my community on me!” The command came, “O MuḤammad, tonight you came alone. As a favor for your coming to this feast, I bestow upon you a third of that. Tomorrow at the resurrection in the Greatest Gather- ing, I will bestow the rest on you. Then the world's folk will know your level and rank with Me.” And God is the success-giver and helper!

📘 Then He drew close, so He came down until he was two-bows' length away, or closer. Among all the creatures in the World of the Realities, none was greater than MuḤammad MuṣṬafā. The root desire of the divine decree in accordance with the beginningless knowledge was to bring about the state of that paragon and make manifest his majesty. The first substance that received a robe from the command Be! and upon which shone the sun of the Real's gentleness was his pure spirit. There was still no Throne or Carpet, no nighttime intrusion or daytime mercy, when God's artisanry brought his spirit from the repository of begin- ningless knowledge to the lodging place of endless splendor. He put it on display in the meadow of approval and the station of contemplation. Whatever came into existence afterwards rode on the coattails of his spirit's existence. Whatever people imagine of familiarity, nearness, clemency, mercy, leadership, and felicity, He sprinkled over his spirit's essence and attributes. Then He placed it inside the frame of Adam the Chosen and made it pass over the degrees of variegation and the trails of stability. Then He sat it down in the seat of messengerhood, commanding it to call the people to the presence of the religion, to bring the lost back to the road, and to invite the travelers to the Threshold. You might say that this paragon was a falcon trained on the hand of bounty, nurtured on the carpet of proximity and nearness, and brought forth from the togetherness of contemplation to the dispersion of invitation so that he could hunt a world and place everyone before the gentleness and severity of the Real. Today he makes everyone his prey with the Shariah, and tomorrow, in the station of intercession, he will entrust them all to the Real. When that paragon stepped into the playing field of invitation and when the exalted ones of the Presence responded, the vanguard of trial showed its face from every corner. From the heaven of creativity the rain of tribulation began to fall. The Eternal Qur'an reports the story of their grief as follows: “We will indeed try you with something of fear and hunger” [2:155]. “You will surely be tried in your possessions and your selves and you will hear much hurt from those who were given the Book before you and from the associaters” [3:186].

📘 Then He drew close, so He came down until he was two-bows' length away, or closer. Among all the creatures in the World of the Realities, none was greater than MuḤammad MuṣṬafā. The root desire of the divine decree in accordance with the beginningless knowledge was to bring about the state of that paragon and make manifest his majesty. The first substance that received a robe from the command Be! and upon which shone the sun of the Real's gentleness was his pure spirit. There was still no Throne or Carpet, no nighttime intrusion or daytime mercy, when God's artisanry brought his spirit from the repository of begin- ningless knowledge to the lodging place of endless splendor. He put it on display in the meadow of approval and the station of contemplation. Whatever came into existence afterwards rode on the coattails of his spirit's existence. Whatever people imagine of familiarity, nearness, clemency, mercy, leadership, and felicity, He sprinkled over his spirit's essence and attributes. Then He placed it inside the frame of Adam the Chosen and made it pass over the degrees of variegation and the trails of stability. Then He sat it down in the seat of messengerhood, commanding it to call the people to the presence of the religion, to bring the lost back to the road, and to invite the travelers to the Threshold. You might say that this paragon was a falcon trained on the hand of bounty, nurtured on the carpet of proximity and nearness, and brought forth from the togetherness of contemplation to the dispersion of invitation so that he could hunt a world and place everyone before the gentleness and severity of the Real. Today he makes everyone his prey with the Shariah, and tomorrow, in the station of intercession, he will entrust them all to the Real. When that paragon stepped into the playing field of invitation and when the exalted ones of the Presence responded, the vanguard of trial showed its face from every corner. From the heaven of creativity the rain of tribulation began to fall. The Eternal Qur'an reports the story of their grief as follows: “We will indeed try you with something of fear and hunger” [2:155]. “You will surely be tried in your possessions and your selves and you will hear much hurt from those who were given the Book before you and from the associaters” [3:186].