🕋 تفسير سورة النساء
(An-Nisa) • المصدر: EN-KASHF-AL-ASRAR-TAFSIR
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا
📘 O people, be wary of your Lord, who created you from one soul, created from it its mate, and scattered forth from the two many men and women. And be wary of God, whom you ask against one another, and of the wombs. Surely God is watcher over you.�O center point of human nature, O attribute of mortal nature, make godwariness your shelter and cling to it, for the life of the servants is through it and the deliverance of the travelers in it.�Godwariness is for the servant to make the commands of the Shariah into his shield so that the arrows of prohibition may not reach him. It has three levels: First, he takes refuge in the sentence of tawḤīd and avoids every associationism. Second he takes refuge in obedience and steps away from the path of disobedience. Third he takes refuge in caution and flees from ambiguity. Anyone who climbs these way stations of godwariness with truthfulness will inescapably reach deliver- ance, for the Qur'an gives this report: �God will deliver those who were godwary in their place of security; ugliness will not touch them, neither shall they sorrow� [39:61]. In another place He says, �Whosoever is wary of God, He will appoint a way out for him and He will provide for him from whence he never reckoned [65:2-3]. Whenever someone takes hold of godwariness, We will ease for him the road of deliverance from every suffering and We will send him provision from whence he has no hope.�It has been said that the sister of Bishr Ḥāfī went to see AḤmad Ḥanbal. She said, �O Imam of the Muslims! I work a spindle on the roof of my house. When the torch of the Tahirids passes by, it may happen that I join threads with the rays of that torch. Is this permissible or not?�AḤmad said, �First tell me who you are. Are you in a walkway of being able to tolerate such godwariness?�She said, �I am the sister of Bishr Ḥāfī.�AḤmad wept and said, �Godwariness like this is permissible only in the household of Bishr Ḥāfī! It is not worthy of you, so be careful not to do it, and Bishr Ḥāfī will be happy with you. Emulate your brother so that perhaps you may be like him.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ الْيَتَامَىٰ ظُلْمًا إِنَّمَا يَأْكُلُونَ فِي بُطُونِهِمْ نَارًا ۖ وَسَيَصْلَوْنَ سَعِيرًا
📘 Surely those who eat the property of orphans wrongly will be eating only fire in their bellies and will roast in a blaze.The majestic compeller, the great Lord, the renowned keeper of servants, the clement, the gener- ous, the loyal, the tremendous, the lord of everyone, the carrier of everything, who takes the hand of the weak and joins with them in love, in this verse caresses the weak and shows love to theorphans. As for those wrongdoers who skewer the livers of orphans and drink the blood of the indigent, He threatens them and warns them of a fearful punishment. He acts as the deputy of the helpless and disputes with the wrongdoers for their sake. For He is the companion of the weak, the helper of the despairing, the responder to the call of the distressed, and the listener to the voice of the grieved. He loves the servant who, when battered, incapable, and destitute, lets out a cold sigh, sheds warm tears, and lifts two empty hands toward Him, asking again to be excused.It has come in the traditions that a man was saying, �O Lord, O Lord! You have written, You have measured out, and You have decreed!� O God, all that was, is, and shall be is what You want, what You bring about, and what You write for the creatures. O God, none of this is outside Your predestination, nor does it happen without Your decree.A call came in his secret core, �That is tawḤīd. Where is servanthood?� What you have said is nothing but tawḤīd and is fit for My Godhood. What then is the mark of your servanthood?The man said, �O Lord, O Lord! Surely I have disobeyed, I have sinned, and I ask.� O God, what comes from me is fitting for me. O God, I have broken the covenant, I have no loyalty, I am disloyal and everything worse.What can I do about this story-I'm all artifice and color. I'm altogether too lame to walk on the straight road.Greed has made me all grasping claws,I'm all war with the Apportioner's apportioning.Surely those who eat the property of orphans wrongly. It is harsh to eat the wealth of orphans and foolishly crave their possessions. They say that once the marvel of the empire, the pure Jesus, was passing by a graveyard.
۞ وَمَنْ يُهَاجِرْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ يَجِدْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُرَاغَمًا كَثِيرًا وَسَعَةً ۚ وَمَنْ يَخْرُجْ مِنْ بَيْتِهِ مُهَاجِرًا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ يُدْرِكْهُ الْمَوْتُ فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا
📘 Whosoever emigrates in the path of God will find in the earth many a road and expanse.In this verse the Lord of the Worlds, the God of the world's folk, the keeper of all, the knowing and lovingly kind, gives a mark of His mercy and shows His gentleness to the servants. He invites the faithful to emigrate and praises those who do.The emigrants are of three sorts: One sort emigrates for the sake of this world. They under- take trade or the search for livelihood. Even though this is allowed in the Shariah, it is not clear where it will lay down its head at the end and what its outcome will be. MuṣṬafā said, �Love for this world is the beginning of every offense.� He also said, �Do not take a landed estate, lest youbecome eager for this world.�This sort of emigrant is always in suffering and hardship, caught in the hands of thieves and on the verge of destruction. Hoping to gain something that is allowed, he leaves aside something obligatory. Then he burns, and he loses the basis for both. God says, �You desire the chance goods of this life, and God desires the afterworld� [8:67].The second sort are the renunciants. Their emigration is for the sake of the afterworld and their traveling goes by way of meanings. They pass over the way stations of obedient acts and tra- verse the stages of worship on the feet of aspiration. Sometimes they make the hajj, go off to battle, struggle, make pilgrimages, perform the prayers, remember God's name, and meditate on God's blessings. Concerning them God's Messenger said, �Travel! The solitary will be the preceders.�They said, �O Messenger of God! Who are the solitary?�He said, �The engrossed-those who are engrossed by the remembrance of God. Remem- brance has lifted away their loads, and they come forth unburdened on the Day of Resurrection.�The Exalted Lord says about them, �Whosoever desires the afterworld and strives after it with proper striving while having faith-those, their striving shall be thanked� [17:19].The third sort are the recognizers, whose emigration is for the sake of the Patron. They emi- grate within their own makeup. They emigrate inside the curtains of the soul until they reach the heart, they emigrate inside the curtains of the heart until they reach the spirit, and they emigrate inside the curtains of the spirit until they reach union with the Beloved.
فَإِذَا قَضَيْتُمُ الصَّلَاةَ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِكُمْ ۚ فَإِذَا اطْمَأْنَنْتُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ ۚ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَوْقُوتًا
📘 When you have completed the prayer, remember God, standing and sitting and on your sides.Know that the prayer is secret whispering between God and the servant. In this secret whisper- ing, there is both need and joy. Today there is need, tomorrow joy; today suffering, tomorrow the treasure; today a heavy burden, tomorrow repose and ease [56:89]; today toil and work, tomorrow pleasure and the bazaar; today bowing and prostrating, tomorrow finding and witnessing.Part of the eminence of the prayer is that the Exalted Lord has mentioned it 102 times in the Qur'an and given it thirteen names: prayer, devotion, Qur'an, glorification, book, remembrance, bowing, prostration, praise, asking forgiveness, declaring greatness, beautiful deeds, and subsistent things.MuṣṬafā said, �The prayer is the miʿrāj of the person of faith.� He said, �The prayer is God's banquet in the earth.�The ulama of the past have said, �The prayer is the throne of the desirers, the pleasure of the recognizers, the means of approach of the sinners, and the scented garden of the renunciants.�They have also said, �The person performing the prayer has received seven generous bestow- als: guidance, sufficiency, expiation, mercy, proximity, degree, and forgiveness.�The first step in associationism is not to say the prayers, for the Exalted Lord will say, �'Whatbrought you into Saqar?' They will say, 'We were not of those who said the prayers'� [74:42-43].And He placed the name faith in the prayer, where He says, �But God would never leave your faith,� that is, your prayer, �to waste� [2:143]. He promises daily provision with prayer, where He says, �And command thy folk to the prayer, and be thou patient therein. We ask thee for no provi- sion. We shall provide for thee� [20:132].The number of obligatory prayers came as five in conformity with the roots of the Shari'ite rules. Concerning the roots of the Shari'ite rules MuṣṬafā said, �The submission is built on five.� The roots of the obligatory prayers are five prayers in one day and night. In other words, when the servant performs these five prayers with their stipulations and at their times, the Exalted Lord will give him the reward of all the roots of the Shari'ite rules.The guises of the prayer are four: standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting.
۞ لَا خَيْرَ فِي كَثِيرٍ مِنْ نَجْوَاهُمْ إِلَّا مَنْ أَمَرَ بِصَدَقَةٍ أَوْ مَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ إِصْلَاحٍ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ ۚ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ اللَّهِ فَسَوْفَ نُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
📘 No good is there in much of their whispering, except for him who bids to charity, or the honorable, or making things wholesome among the people. Whosoever does this, seeking God's approval, We shall give him a tremendous wage.The best deeds of the servants are the three things in this verse: charity, the honorable, and making things wholesome among the people. The good in this verse is not specified for one individual, but rather its profit reaches others. The wonder is not that you should open a door for yourself, the wonder and chivalry are that you should open a door to yourself for another.Pir Bū ʿAlī Siyāh said, �So what if you make yourself happy? The work is done by making someone else happy.�MuṣṬafā alluded to this: �The worst of men is he who eats alone.�As for charity, it is of three sorts: with possessions, with the body, and with the heart. Char- ity with possessions is giving comfort to the poor by expending blessings. Charity with the body is undertaking for them the duty of service. Charity with the heart is being loyal to the beauty of intention and the consolidation of aspiration. This is charity toward the poor.There is also charity toward the rich. It is that you act with munificence toward them and do not expose your need to them; you take back your hope from their charitable gifts and do not covet anything from them.When charity, the honorable, and making things wholesome come together in someone, from head to foot he becomes veneration itself, the oyster shell for the mysteries of lordhood, and he is accepted by those who bear witness to the divinity. His name is given out as �sincerely truthful,� and tomorrow he will be gathered up along with the sincerely truthful. This is the great wage that the Exalted Lord has promised: �We shall give him a tremendous wage.�
وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الْأَنْعَامِ وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ ۚ وَمَنْ يَتَّخِذِ الشَّيْطَانَ وَلِيًّا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًا مُبِينًا
📘 Surely I will misguide them and fill them with wishes.When misguidance is consigned to Iblis, this is because of the secondary cause. Otherwise who is Iblis? Yes, he instills disquiet, for that is his job, and then, in the tracks of this disquieting, the Exalted Lord creates misguidance, for guidance and misguidance, felicity and wretchedness, come from God: Whomsoever God guides, he is guided, and whomsoever He misguides, you will not find for him a guiding friend [18:17]. Then He mentions the outcome, the end, the final issue, and the returning place of the two groups: About the misguided sort He says, �Their refuge is Ge- henna� [4:121], and about the guided sort He says, �We shall enter them into gardens underneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever and ever� [4:122].
۞ وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ أَزْوَاجُكُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ فَلَكُمُ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْنَ ۚ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِينَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ۚ وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ الثُّمُنُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ ۚ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ تُوصُونَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ۗ وَإِنْ كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلَالَةً أَوِ امْرَأَةٌ وَلَهُ أَخٌ أَوْ أُخْتٌ فَلِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ ۚ فَإِنْ كَانُوا أَكْثَرَ مِنْ ذَٰلِكَ فَهُمْ شُرَكَاءُ فِي الثُّلُثِ ۚ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصَىٰ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ غَيْرَ مُضَارٍّ ۚ وَصِيَّةً مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَلِيمٌ
📘 For you half of what your wives leave, if they have no children.Inheritance and worthiness to receive it are established either by means of a cause or by way of a lineage. The cause is marriage and the lineage is kinship. Marriage is the cause of love, as God says, �He placed between you love and mercy� [30:21]. Lineage is assistance and strength, as has come in the report: �A man is many through his brothers.� When one of the relatives by lineage or one of the near ones by cause dies, that will be a wound on a person's heart and a pain in his spirit. The Lord of the Worlds places balm on the pain. After this suffering He commands consolation through the wealth of the person who passed away. Thus, just as pain came from his passing, so also balm comes from his wealth. This is the custom of the Lord with His friends: If He places suffering on them by prescribing the Law, after the suffering He makes a treasure appear with the attribute of alleviation.Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, �How should I have known that suffering is the mother of happi- ness and that beneath one disappointment lie a thousand treasures? How should I have known that hope is the courier of union and that beneath the cloud of munificence despair is impossible? How should I have known that the Lovingly Kind is so forbearing that His gentleness and loving kind- ness to the sinner are beyond reckoning? How should I have known how servant-caressing is thePossessor of Majesty and how much joy His friends have in Him? How should I have known that what I seek is in the midst of the spirit, and that the exaltation of union with Him is my opening?�In my whole life one night at the time of dawn,the image of that comfort of the spirit came to me And asked, �How are you, wounded one?�I said, �In my passion for You, that is the first opening.�
وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ دِينًا مِمَّنْ أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُ لِلَّهِ وَهُوَ مُحْسِنٌ وَاتَّبَعَ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا ۗ وَاتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ خَلِيلًا
📘 Who is more beautiful in religion than he who submits his face to God while he is abeautiful-doer and follows the creed of Abraham, an unswerving man? And God took Abraham as a bosom friend.In this verse the Lord of the Worlds, the God of the world's folk, the Enactor who knows the hid- den, praises the self-purifiers and shows that He is pleased with self-purification in deeds. The first person to dress the Kaabah of deeds in the cloak of self-purification was MuṣṬafā, who said, �Deeds are only through intentions.� Self-purification in deeds does the work of color in jewels. Just as a jewel without the cape of color is a worthless stone, so also deeds without self-purification is to knock oneself out without hitting the mark.Maʿrūf Karkhī used to beat himself with a whip and say, �O soul! Purify thyself and be de- livered!�It has been said that knowledge is the seed, deeds are planting, and self-purification is the water. The work is done by self-purification, salvation lies in self-purification, and endless felicity lies in self-purification, but self-purification itself is exalted and does not come down just any- where, nor does it show its face to just anyone. The Exalted Lord said, �It is one of My secrets that I deposit in the hearts of those whom I love among My servants.�There was a worshiper among the Children of Israel. He was told that in such-and-such a place there is a tree that people worship. For the sake of God and the zeal of the religion he became angry, left his place with a mattock over his shoulder, and went to dig up the tree by its roots. Iblis went into the road with the attributes of an old man. He asked him where he was going and he replied, �To that place to dig up the tree.�Iblis said, �Go, busy yourself with your worship, for this will not done by your hand.� Iblis struggled with him and fell, and the worshiper sat on his chest. Iblis said, �Let go of me and I will speak some beautiful words to you.� He let go of him, and Iblis said, �O worshiper, God has prophets. If this tree needs to be dug up, He will command a prophet to dig it up.
وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ مُحِيطًا
📘 To God belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth, and God encom- passes everything.In these verses, He says three times �To God belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth.� Each is an admonishment for a different group and specific to a designated meaning. The first is an admonishment for the common Muslims, the second an admonishment for the wor- shipful servants and godwary, and the third an admonishment for the sincerely truthful and elect.First He says for the common Muslims, �Everything in heaven and earth is My possession and kingdom. All is My creation and artisanry. My knowledge reaches all and I am aware of all. I have made certain rightful dues incumbent among you and set apart obligatory acts for you. So comply with the rightful due of women, orphans, and the weak and put My commands into action. Strive to give comfort and achieve peace. Whether you do good or bad, whether you are at peace or war, know that in reality I know and I see, for all is My creation and My artisanry. How can My creation and artisanry be concealed from Me? Does He who created not know, while He is the Gentle, the Aware? [67:14].�In the second verse He says,
وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ وَلَقَدْ وَصَّيْنَا الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ أَنِ اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ وَإِنْ تَكْفُرُوا فَإِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَنِيًّا حَمِيدًا
📘 To God belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth, and We have charged those who were given the Book before you, and you, to be wary of God.�You who are worshipers and abstainers, come totally into the street of godwariness and make godwariness your shelter. Leave aside the road of uncertainty and suspicion.� He says this and commands it. Then He gives success to one group, and He puts another group into the road of abandonment. To all of them He gives awareness: �I am without needs. I have no benefit from the obedience of the one given success, nor any loss from the disobedience of the one abandoned. Everything in the heavens and the earth is My possession and kingdom. All are My predetermined things and artifacts. Had I wanted, I would have created all successful, or all abandoned. No one can protest against Me, and there is no turning away from My decree.�In the third verse, He says,
وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ وَكِيلًا
📘 To God belongs everything in the heavens and everything in the earth, and God is suf- ficient as a trustee.This is an admonishment to the sincerely truthful and the lovers: �The seven heavens, the seven earths, and everything within them all belong to Me. I did not create them that you should turn your face toward them and attach your heart to them, remaining with them and being held back from Me. Rather, I created them to show them to you and to adorn them for your soul. Then, when you put aside everything and bring your face to Me, I will bring all of them into your service and put them all in your hands.� This meaning is in the report, �O this world! Serve those who serve Me, and trouble those who serve you!�The story of Sahl Tustarī is well known. The caliph of the day offered great wealth to him, but he did not accept anything. Someone asked him why he had not accepted. Sahl called upon God to lift the veil from the eyes of the questioner, who then looked and saw a world full of gems and pearls. Sahl said, �O chevalier! I have no need for the wealth of the caliph. The whole world is at my command. The storehouses of the earth have been offered to me, but I do not want them.�Why do you stay in this low place like crows looking for carrion? Break the cage and fly at once like peacocks to the heights.All on the face of gold and gems is unbelief and satanity-if you have the religion's fervor, step beyond the gold. [DS 52]
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ مِنْ قَبْلُ ۚ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا
📘 O you who have faith! Have faith in God and His Messenger.Faith is two sorts, one based on proof, the other on face-to-face vision. Faith by proof is the road of inference, and faith by face-to-face vision is finding the day of union. Faith by proof is to employ the evidence of intellects, and faith by vision is to reach the degrees of arrival. In terms of allusion He is saying: �O you have acquired faith by proof, strive to acquire faith by face-to-face vision!� What is faith by face-to-face vision? Gazing with the eye of response on the Responder, gaz-ing with the eye of solitariness on the Solitary, gazing with the eye of presence on the Present, being near to God's nearness by being far from self, being present with His generosity by being absent from self. He-majestic is His majesty!-is not far from the strivers nor absent from the desirers. He says, �We are nearer to him than the jugular vein� [50:16].The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O Lord! You are found by the souls of the chevaliers, You are present to the hearts of the rememberers. They give marks of You up close, but You are far beyond that. They fancy You from afar, but You are closer than the spirit.�Lovely idol! Are you then my beloved?Now that I look close, You are my spirit.It is also said that the meaning of the verse is this: O you who have faith by assenting, have faithby realizing! You have accepted the Shariah, now accept the Haqiqah.What is the Shariah? What the Haqiqah? The Shariah is a lamp, the Haqiqah a burn. The Shariah is a bond, the Haqiqah advice. The Shariah is need, the Haqiqah joy. The Shariah is theouter pillars, the Haqiqah the inner pillars. The Shariah is not having evil, the Haqiqah is not hav- ing self. The Shariah is service based on conditions, the Haqiqah exile based on witnessing. The Shariah is by intermediaries, the Haqiqah by unveiling.The folk of the Shariah keep obedience and leave aside disobedience, the folk of the Haqiqah flee from themselves and take joy in oneness. The folk of the Shariah hope for everlastingness and subsistent bliss, the folk of the Haqiqah boldy busy themselves with the Cupbearer.
فَبِظُلْمٍ مِنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُوا حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ طَيِّبَاتٍ أُحِلَّتْ لَهُمْ وَبِصَدِّهِمْ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَثِيرًا
📘 And for the wrongdoing of those who are Jews, We forbade them certain good things.Embarking on prohibited things necessitates the forbidding of licit things.If you see gentleness and generosity reaching a servant, it is because he has preserved the outward of the Shariah and has wanted to show reverence to it in spirit and heart. Inevitably, he has reached the repose of whispered prayers and the gentle favors of union's gifts. In contrast, if you see harshness and severity, it is because he has looked with denial on the sanctuary of the Shariah and has put to work the religion's prohibited things in following the commanding soul. Yes, that is the way it is: When someone holds back from the outward of the Shariah, the beauty of the Haq- iqah veils its face from him. If someone disdains commands and prohibitions, what wonder if faith and recognition take their bags away from his heart?If not for the Shariah, the turning wheel would stop;if not for the religion, the Twins would quit the sky. [DS 56]
لَٰكِنِ الرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ مِنْهُمْ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ ۚ وَالْمُقِيمِينَ الصَّلَاةَ ۚ وَالْمُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ أُولَٰئِكَ سَنُؤْتِيهِمْ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
📘 But those who are firmly rooted in knowledgeThe firmly rooted in knowledge are those who have obtained the varieties of knowledge: knowl- edge of the Shariah, knowledge of the Tariqah, and knowledge of the Haqiqah.Knowledge of the Shariah is to be learned, knowledge of the Tariqah is to be practiced, and knowledge of the Haqiqah is to be found. Concerning knowledge of the Shariah He says, �Ask the folk of the remembrance� [16:43]. Concerning knowledge of the Tariqah He says, �Seek the means of approach to Him� [5:35]. Concerning knowledge of the Haqiqah He says, �We taught him knowledge from Us� [18:65]. He turned knowledge of the Shariah over to a teacher, He turned knowledge of the Tariqah over to a pir, and He turned knowledge of the Haqiqah over to Himself. Whoever fancies that he has no use for the intermediary of a teacher in knowledge of the Shari-ah is a heretic. Whoever claims that knowledge of the Tariqah is possible without a pir is a tempter.Whoever says that the teacher of knowledge of the Haqiqah is other than the Real is deluded.It has been said that those firmly rooted in knowledge are those who learn the knowledge of the Shariah and then put it into practice with self-purification to the point that they perceive the knowledge of the Haqiqah in their secret core. Thus MuṣṬafā said, �When someone acts on what he knows, God will bequeath him knowledge of what he does not know.� When someone does not put the knowledge of the Shariah into practice, he has wasted his knowledge, and it becomes an argument against him. When someone puts it into practice, his outward knowledge becomes an argument to his benefit, and he receives the knowledge of the Haqiqah as a gift.
۞ إِنَّا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ كَمَا أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ نُوحٍ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ ۚ وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالْأَسْبَاطِ وَعِيسَىٰ وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُونُسَ وَهَارُونَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ ۚ وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ زَبُورًا
📘 Surely We have revealed to thee as We revealed to Noah, and the prophets after him.The two worlds are built on the foundation of prophethood's exaltedness, and prophethood's fruit is the beauty of the Shariah. The Shariah is the right path, and the prophets are the marks of the path. Until the leader sees the road, he does not lead. I invite to God upon insight, I and whosoever follows me [12:108]. The Exalted Lord sent the prophets to the people so that they would make apparent the road of obedience, and the servants, on the basis of that obedience, might reach gener- ous bestowal and reward; and, so that they would make apparent the road of disobedience and warn against it. Then the servants may avoid disobedience and not be deemed worthy for punishment. This then is infinite bounty and endless generosity.If He had left the servants in place, not sent the Messenger, and not held the lamp of guidance with the hand of the Messenger in their road, the servants would have remained within the wrap of their createdness and the darkness of their own opinions. They would have eaten everything that is their poison and done everything within which is their destruction.So, you should believe that the prophets are mercy and leaders for the world's folk. They are the best of the creatures and the chosen among mortal men. They are the callers at the top of the street of friendship and the cupbearers at the lip of the water of life. They are the title-page of the Shariah and the proof of the Haqiqah. If there is a goal in creating the engendered beings, it is they. If the Haqiqah has a treasure, they are its keepers.Surely We have revealed to thee�. The command came, �O paragon of east and west, O emulated in the two realms of being! A shining light has reached you from the world of revela- tion called 'messengerhood.' Before you We gave to the messengers, each in his own measure. As for that which is beyond the world of messengerhood and accords with the drinking place of your good fortune, it was not fitting to reach any wrongdoer or be grasped by the good fortune of any traveler.� The allusion to this by the paragon of the world was this: �I was given the Qur'an and the like of it along with it.� In other words, �As much as I have spoken to you from the world of prophethood with the tongue of messengerhood, just as much has been spoken to me from the world of the Haqiqah with the tongue of revelation.� This is exactly what he said elsewhere: �I have a moment with God embraced by no proximate angel, nor any sent prophet.�
إِنَّمَا التَّوْبَةُ عَلَى اللَّهِ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السُّوءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ يَتُوبُونَ مِنْ قَرِيبٍ فَأُولَٰئِكَ يَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا
📘 It is for God to turn only toward those who do the ugly in ignorance and then soon turn. Those-God will turn toward them. And God is knowing, wise.Turning/repentance [tawba] is the mark of the road, the leader to the court, the key to the treasure, the intercessor of union, the head of every happiness, and the basis of freedom. First is regret in the heart, second apology with the tongue, and then cutting off from bad things and bad people.It has come in the report that when someone repents but does not put aside bad friends, he is not a repenter. When someone repents but does not put aside food and drink, he is not a repenter. When someone repents but does not put aside his bedclothes and empty his eyes of sleep, he is not a repenter. When someone repents but does not expend the wealth left over after food, he is not a repenter.The precondition of repentance is that you detach your heart from all existent things and turn it toward the Real. You discipline all the blood and flesh in your seven bodily members. Repentance is the precursor of the fire that comes from the bottom of hell so that today you will do to yourself with the water of your eyes what will be done to you tomorrow by the fire. Repentance is a mes- sage sent to you from the Presence: �O chevalier! How long will you make war? How long will you break the covenant? Come back, make peace!�O falcon taken to the sky, come back, don't go!My fingers hold the end of your thread!�O free man! How long have you been asleep? Wake up, it's morning, and you are thirsty for the wine of yearning. Look, it's time for the morning draft! How long will your heart and covenant stay broken? It is time to accept advice and to repent sincerely.�
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ جَاءَكُمُ الرَّسُولُ بِالْحَقِّ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ فَآمِنُوا خَيْرًا لَكُمْ ۚ وَإِنْ تَكْفُرُوا فَإِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا
📘 O people, the Messenger has come to you with the truth from your Lord, so have faith; that is better for you. But if you disbelieve, to God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth.The allusion of the verse is that the threshold of Lordhood and the majesty of Unity has no need for the obedience of the obedient. He is pure of the worship of the creatures in heaven and earth. If all that is creation-the spheres and heavens, the existing things and the things coming to nothing- ness-went back to the concealment of nonexistence, that would not harm His purity and lordhood. There is no need for them to be joined with Him. The beauty of His Unity is His eternity, and the majesty of His eternity is His solitariness.There is a sound hadith from Abū Dharr Ghifārī, from God's Messenger, from God, that He said, �O My servants, I have forbidden Myself to do wrong, and all of it is forbidden to you. So My servants, do not wrong each other! Surely you are the ones who err by night and day, and I am the one who forgives sins and does not care. So ask forgiveness of Me, and I will forgive you. �O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of youhad the heart of the most godwary man among you, that would add nothing to My kingdom. OMy servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of you had the heart of the most depraved man among you, that would diminish nothing from My kingdom. O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you and the men of you and the jinn of you were to ask from Me and I were to give every man among them what he asked for, that would diminish nothing from Me, except as the ocean is diminished when a needle is dipped into it once.�But if you disbelieve, to God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. He is saying, �If all creatures were to put aside the activity of servants and loosen the belt of obedience, they would not be able to go outside of servanthood, nor could they lift away from themselves the bonds of slavehood in respect of creation.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ بُرْهَانٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ نُورًا مُبِينًا
📘 O people, a proof has come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a clear light.The majestic Unity is placing a favor on the center point of mortal nature: �We have lit two lamps for you, one in the heart, the other in front of you. The one in front of you is the lamp of the Sun- nah, which is the proof itself, and the one in the heart is the lamp of faith and the shining light. Happy is the servant who walks between these two lamps! Who is more exalted than he in whose heart the greatest light is shining and the eyes of whose heart sees the eyes and face of the Friend face-to-face! One breath with the Friend is worth the two worlds. One vision of the Friend for a hundred thousand spirits is gratis!�In gratitude I will also send my spirit to You-a whiff of union with You does what a hundred spirits cannot.
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَاعْتَصَمُوا بِهِ فَسَيُدْخِلُهُمْ فِي رَحْمَةٍ مِنْهُ وَفَضْلٍ وَيَهْدِيهِمْ إِلَيْهِ صِرَاطًا مُسْتَقِيمًا
📘 As for those who have faith in God and hold fast to Him, He will make them enter into mercy from Him, and bounty, and He will guide them to Him on a straight path.From the servant come faith and holding fast by way of servanthood, and from the Exalted Lord bounty and mercy in the attribute of loving kindness. Then He says, �He will guide them to Him on a straight path.� He will give them the guidance and rectitude to know that the recompense they find and the generosity they see come from God's bounty and mercy, not from their faith and holding fast. As the Prophet said, �There is none of you who will be saved by his deeds.�They said, �Not even you, O Messenger of God?�He said, �Not even I-unless God envelops me with His mercy.�
وَلَيْسَتِ التَّوْبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآنَ وَلَا الَّذِينَ يَمُوتُونَ وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ أَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا
📘 This turning will not belong to those who keep on doing ugly deeds until death is present for one of them, and then he says: �Surely now I have turned.�In the tongue of learning, one must repent before death, even if it be one moment. In the tongue of practice, one must repent before the soul has the habit of seeing itself and worshiping itself. When someone is pleased with himself and gazes upon himself habitually, the door to repentance has been shut to him and the water of deliverance taken away from him.Quit being the companion of self-nurturing habit-worshipers!Kiss the dust beneath the feet of those who have disowned self! [DS 972]Not everyone who has repented in the road of the Shariah, thereby reaching pardon and forgive- ness, has reached truthfulness in love in respect of the Haqiqah. For a long time David the prophet wept and pleaded. At last it was said to him, �O David! Why do you weep when I have forgiven you, made your adversaries content, and accepted your repentance?�He said, �Lord God, I know, but give me back those sweet moments I had in Your companion- ship and those breaths I had with You in seclusion!�He said, �David, take heed! That is a love that has passed.�From now on leave the way open for the eyes to weep for the days of limpidness have no way to return.*Oh pain, Oh regret-of that standing and sitting in prayer I have dust on the head and wind in the hand.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَرِثُوا النِّسَاءَ كَرْهًا ۖ وَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ لِتَذْهَبُوا بِبَعْضِ مَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِينَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُبَيِّنَةٍ ۚ وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ ۚ فَإِنْ كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا
📘 O you who have faith, it is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will, neither debar them from marriage that you may go off with part of what you have given them, unless they commit a flagrant indecency. Consort with them honorably. For, if you are averse to them, it may be that you are averse to something within which God has placed much good.This is a call, an admonishment, an allusion, a bearing witness, and a ruling. O is the call, you is the admonishment, who is the allusion, have faith is the bearing witness. It is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will is the ruling.The explanation of the ruling is that women are considered weak, and they are imprisoned beneath your severity. Beware of tormenting them, and do not rule over them by way of scheming and deceit. Do not be severe, and do not ask of them what the Shariah does not approve. On the contrary, live with them honorably.Consort with them honorably, that is, with the teachings of the religion and by modeling one's courtesy on the character traits of the submitted.3 Show them the road of the religion and religios- ity and teach them the courteous acts of being a Muslim and the Shariah. And protect them from the Fire, as He says in another place: �Shield yourselves and your families from a fire� [66:6]. Preserve the courteous acts of companionship when consorting with them and tolerate suffering from them, but do not place on them the burden of your service, making them suffer for you.Although outwardly and specifically He is talking about women, by way of allusion He is talking generally about all Muslims. He is saying, �Watch out so that you never see yourself as having a mandatory rightful due from, or an excellence over, any other Muslim. Do not ask those above you to serve you, and do not push yourself on those beneath you. Do not use force against the folk of weakness, but rather strive to show consideration and give comfort to them and seek proximity to them.�Revelation came to David: �O David, if you see someone broken in My road, or someone whose heart has been lost in My work, take care to serve him.
وَإِنْ أَرَدْتُمُ اسْتِبْدَالَ زَوْجٍ مَكَانَ زَوْجٍ وَآتَيْتُمْ إِحْدَاهُنَّ قِنْطَارًا فَلَا تَأْخُذُوا مِنْهُ شَيْئًا ۚ أَتَأْخُذُونَهُ بُهْتَانًا وَإِثْمًا مُبِينًا
📘 If you desire to exchange a wife in place of another...This is the realization of generosity in the religion of friendship and the smoothing of the founda- tion of chivalry. He is saying, �Do not join the cruelty of separation with taking back livelihood, for this is not the work of the generous and it is unworthy of the chevaliers! You have put the scar of separation in the poor woman's heart, so do not cut off the hand of her expenditures! If you take back what you gave, you will place a scar on her scar.�Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī had a wife whom he divorced, and then he sent her plentiful wealth. He said about her, �The tribulation of our separation is enough. I must not put upon her the suffering of neediness as well.� They say the wealth was 40,000 dirhams. The woman dumped that wealth on the ground and said, �Paltry goods from a departed lover!�
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَاتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُمْ وَعَمَّاتُكُمْ وَخَالَاتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُ الْأَخِ وَبَنَاتُ الْأُخْتِ وَأُمَّهَاتُكُمُ اللَّاتِي أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُمْ مِنَ الرَّضَاعَةِ وَأُمَّهَاتُ نِسَائِكُمْ وَرَبَائِبُكُمُ اللَّاتِي فِي حُجُورِكُمْ مِنْ نِسَائِكُمُ اللَّاتِي دَخَلْتُمْ بِهِنَّ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُونُوا دَخَلْتُمْ بِهِنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَحَلَائِلُ أَبْنَائِكُمُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلَابِكُمْ وَأَنْ تَجْمَعُوا بَيْنَ الْأُخْتَيْنِ إِلَّا مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا
📘 Forbidden to you are your mothers and daughters, your sisters�.The allusion in this verse is that the Shariah is built on making oneself a servant, not on self-exer- tion; the canon of the religion is transmitted, not rationally derived; and the basis of the Sunnah is surrender, not looking for reasons.Surrender is an easy road, its domicile flourishing, its goal the approval of the All-Merciful. Self-exertion and self-determination are a difficult road, their domicile in ruins, their goal un- wholesome. Watch out! Jump away from the road of self-exertion and cling to surrender. Avoid self-determination and looking for reasons. Whatever the Shariah has declared forbidden, consider it forbidden-a consignment by the Desire, built upon the Will. If it had been permitted in place of forbidden, the same would be the case, for it would have been current in the holy Shariah and would have no cause or ambiguity. For He is the Real-majestic is His majesty! He does whatso- ever He wills [3:40] and decrees whatsoever He desires [5:1]. He forbids what He wills to those whom He wills and He allows what He wills to those whom He wills. His artisanry has no cause and His decree no protester.
يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ ۚ وَخُلِقَ الْإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا
📘 And man was created weak.Wherever the name �man� comes in the Qur'an, a displeasing attribute is linked to it. Thus He said, �Surely man is a great wrongdoer, ungrateful� [14:34]. �Surely man was created anxious� [70:19]. �Surely man is rebellious� [96:6]. �Surely man is ungrateful to his Lord� [100:6]. �Sure- ly man is in loss� [103:2]. This is because man comes from dust, and dust is the basis of density and the root of opacity. The servant's hope is that on the day He created, He saw the faults, and then He bought along with the faults.You bought me with my faults on the first day!The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O Lord, you called me ignorant. What comes from the ignorant other than disloyalty? You called me weak. What comes from the weak other than error? O Lord, take our inability to overcome ourselves as stemming from that weakness. Take our boldness and inso- lence as stemming from that ignorance. 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 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.
إِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلْكُمْ مُدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا
📘 If you avoid the great sins prohibited to you, We will acquit you of your ugly deeds and admit you to a generous admitting place.The great sins of the folk of service in the path of the Shariah are what you have heard about. The great sins of the folk of companionship in the street of the Tariqah and in the tongue of allusion are another sort and have another tasting, for the folk of service are one thing, and the folk of com- panionship something else. Those who serve are the wage-earners, and the companions are the proximate. In the traditions has come the saying, �The beautiful deeds of the pious are the ugly deeds of the proximate.� Of the same sort is the saying of the Pir of the Tariqah, �The hypocrisy of the recognizers is better than the self-purification of the desirers.�The basis of this rule is the subtle point MuṣṬafā reported about cloudiness and his asking for- giveness for it. He said, �My heart becomes clouded, so I ask forgiveness from God seventy times a day.� Abū Bakr al-ṣiddīq said, �Would that I could witness that for which God's Messenger asked forgiveness.�The mark of the recognizers' great sins is that lassitude sometimes comes over them in the world of their own traveling, and thereby their innate disposition is overpowered by human attri- butes. Their life becomes susceptible to customs and habits, and the realities of their faith come to be mixed with the contaminants of personal motives and marks giving witness to their own shares. In this state of theirs, if a messenger of sound discipline, truthful poverty, and the joy of ecstasy does not come out to welcome them and take their hands, they will not emerge from the pit of their own selfhood.If you want to come out of the pit of status like a man,grab hold of the pearl-encrusted, musk-wafting chain. [DS 719]The great ones of the religion have said that as long as a man does not reach this place of danger and leave behind the station of lassitude, he will not become a pir of the Tariqah and will not be suited to take disciples. A man must have lost the road a thousand times and then returned to it if he is to bring someone who has lost the road back to the road. What is needed first is the road to the road, then the road is needed. Someone who has always been on the road knows the road, but he does not know the road to the road. The secret of the slips of the prophets and their falling into lassitude is this. And God knows best. This is knocking at a magnificent gate. Happy is he for whom it is opened and who is guided to it!
وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوْا مَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بِهِ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ۚ لِلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا اكْتَسَبُوا ۖ وَلِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا اكْتَسَبْنَ ۚ وَاسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمًا
📘 Do not wish for that whereby God has preferred some of you over others. Men shall have a portion of what they have earned, and women shall have a portion of what they have earned. But ask God of His bounty.Abū Bakr Kattānī said, �When someone has the opinion that he will arrive without expending ef- fort, he is a wisher, and when someone has the opinion that he will arrive by expending effort, he is a drudge.�Whoever fancies that he will reach the goal without toiling is a wisher, and �The incapable are those who follow their own caprice and wish for God.� Whoever fancies that he will reach the Sought by toil and by seeking the Sought is a drudge.Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, �He is not found by seeking, but the seeker finds. Until he finds Him, he will not seek. Whatever can be found by seeking is of little worth. The servant finds the Real before the seeking, but for him seeking is the earliest step. The recognizer finds seeking from finding, not finding from seeking. In the same way, the obedient person finds obedience from self-purification, not self-purification from obedience; he finds the cause from the meaning, not the meaning from the cause. O God, since finding You is before the seeking and the seeker, I am seeking because unsettledness has overpowered me. The seeker is seeking and the Sought is obtained before the seeking. This is a most marvelous business! What is even more marvelous isthat finding has become hard cash when seeking has not yet arisen. The Real is seen but the curtain of exaltedness is in place.�You are a sea of loveliness, a wave of beauty, the law of generous acts, the essence of life.The lovers seeking You are full of longing like Alexander seeking the water of life.It has also been said that the meaning of the verse is this: �You wish for the station of the masters without traveling in their path, clinging to their conduct, and practicing their practices.�4 You want the state of the great ones, but you have not gone on the great ones' road. You search for the Kaabah of union with eyes that have not undertaken struggle. You see the great good fortune of the friends, but you have not seen their tribulation.
الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَبِمَا أَنْفَقُوا مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ ۚ فَالصَّالِحَاتُ قَانِتَاتٌ حَافِظَاتٌ لِلْغَيْبِ بِمَا حَفِظَ اللَّهُ ۚ وَاللَّاتِي تَخَافُونَ نُشُوزَهُنَّ فَعِظُوهُنَّ وَاهْجُرُوهُنَّ فِي الْمَضَاجِعِ وَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ ۖ فَإِنْ أَطَعْنَكُمْ فَلَا تَبْغُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ سَبِيلًا ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيًّا كَبِيرًا
📘 The men stand over the women through that with which God has preferred some of them over others and that which they expend of their wealth.He gave the men more than the women because the burden is all on them, for theirs is the perfec- tion of strength and the eminence of aspiration. They carry burdens in the measure of strength or in the measure of aspiration. �Resolutions are made in the measure of the folk of resoluteness.�
۞ وَاعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَلَا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا ۖ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا وَبِذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْجَارِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْجَارِ الْجُنُبِ وَالصَّاحِبِ بِالْجَنْبِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ مَنْ كَانَ مُخْتَالًا فَخُورًا
📘 Worship God, and associate nothing with Him, and act beautifully toward parents, and toward kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, and the neighbor who is of kin, and the neighbor who is a stranger, and the companion at your side, and the son of the road, and what your right hands own.This verse begins by mentioning tawḤīd, which is the root of the sciences, the secret of the recogni- tions, the basis of the religion, the foundation of being a Muslim, and the partition between enemy and friend. Any act of obedience without tawḤīd has no value or weight, and its outcome will be nothing but darkness and captivity. Any act of disobedience along with tawḤīd will yield nothing other than familiarity and brightness.TawḤīd is that you say that God is one and that you be one for Him. Saying one is the submit- ter's tawḤīd, and being one is the basis of the recognizer's tawḤīd. The submitter's tawḤīd drives away the devil, washes away sin, and opens up the heart. The recognizer's tawḤīd cuts away at- tachments, washes away the creatures, and brings forth the realities.The submitter's tawḤīd takes advice, opens the door, and gives fruit. The recognizer's tawḤīdeffaces the customs of human nature and burns away the veil of mortal nature so that the breezeof familiarity may blow, the beginningless reminder may arrive, and the friend may gaze upon the Friend.The submitter's tawḤīd is that you bear witness to God's one Essence, pure attributes, and beginningless names and marks. He is the God other than whom there is no god, the Creator of heaven and earth other than whom there is no enactor. No one has loyalty like Him in the whole cosmos. He is a Lord who is above all in measure, beyond all in Essence and attributes. From the Beginningless to the Endless He is the greatest Lord. When intellect holds that something is impossible, God has perfect power over it. His power makes no use of contrivance, and His self- standing has no change of state. In the kingdom He is safe from disappearance, and in Essence and attributes He is transcendent.You will never see any created thing without marks of deficiency and fault, but the Eternal Enactor is pure of deficiency, incomparable with fault, free of blights.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنْتُمْ سُكَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَعْلَمُوا مَا تَقُولُونَ وَلَا جُنُبًا إِلَّا عَابِرِي سَبِيلٍ حَتَّىٰ تَغْتَسِلُوا ۚ وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ مَرْضَىٰ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ مِنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لَامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا
📘 O you who have faith! Do not approach the prayer when you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying, or defiled-except for travelers on the road-until you have made the full ablution.... Surely God is pardoning, forgiving.Intoxication is drunkenness. Drunkenness is disparate, and the drunkards diverse. One is drunk with the wine of the grape, another with the wine of heedlessness, another with love for this world, another with the frivolity of the soul and self-love. This last is the most difficult, for self-love is the basis of idol-worship, the seed of estrangement, the curtain of ill fortune, and the root of every darkness.If you are martyred a hundred times a day in the path of Godyou will still be an idol-worshiper if you see yourself in the midst.When will you be the man to want the heart without caprice?When you will have the pain to see the body with contempt? [DS 708]When someone is drunk with wine and is fearful and shaking in dread of punishment, the end of his work will be burning in the fire of punishment-if He does not forgive him. But He may indeed forgive him, for He says, �Surely God forgives the sins altogether� [39:53].When someone is drunk with the soul's arrogance and with pride and self-worship, his work is in peril. His basis is loss, his deeds damage him, and he dwells in the peril of being led on and deceived and the danger of everlasting separation.Or defiled-except for travelers on the road-until you have made the full ablution. If the religion were based on reasoning, then the greater ablution would be incumbent after urination, and the minor ablution after ejaculation. Urine is impure and semen is pure. With impure urine, the lesser purity is mandatory, but with pure semen the greater purity. This is so that you will know that the religion is founded on the transmitted, not on the rationally derived; on the Book, not onreasoning; on making oneself a servant, not on self-exertion.The origin of the major ablution is from the era of Adam. When Adam came from paradise to this world, he fell into companionship with Eve. Gabriel came and said, �O Adam, make a full ablution, for God commands you to do so.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَمَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَىٰ إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا
📘 Surely God does not forgive that anything be associated with Him, but less than that He forgives for whomsoever He wills.The associationism of the common people is one thing, and the associationism of the elect some- thing else. The associationism of the common people is the greater associationism, and the asso- ciationism of the elect the lesser associationism.The greater associationism is that they should say that the tremendous Enactor, the eternal Artisan, has an associate and partner, or they should consider Him to have an equal and peer, or they should make Him similar to something of creation. Whenever someone says this, he is not a worshiper of God, for he has called upon an idol. In reality, he has been held back from the religion of guidance. The right belief and pure religion is that you consider the God of the world's folk and Creator of all to be pure of and incomparable with spouse, child, and partner. He did not give birth, nor did anyone give birth to Him. He is free of new arrival, change, and birth, hallowed beyond defect, incapacity, and need, pure in attribute, fitting in artisanry, sweet in speech, and complete in love. He is pure of fault in attributes, pure of blunder in deeds, pure of negligence in speech, and pure of doubt in love. He is a God who is outside of imaginations, and no one knows how He is. He is worthy of Godhood, knower of God-work, separate from faults, without peer in Essence and attributes. Whoever believes this has been released from the greater associationism and has joined with the root of faith.As for the lesser associationism, it is of two sorts and belongs to two groups. For the faithful it is eye-service and letting go of self-purification in deeds. For the recognizers, it is paying regard to deeds and seeking deliverance thereby. Its trace in the faithful is to decrease their faith, to bring fissures into their certainty, and to close down the door of clarity. MuṣṬafā said, �I am very fright-ened of the ancient associationism for my community.� He was asked what ancient associationism was, and he said, �That someone does good deeds along with eye-service in the deeds.�Shaddād ibn Aws said, �I saw God's Messenger weeping.
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يُزَكُّونَ أَنْفُسَهُمْ ۚ بَلِ اللَّهُ يُزَكِّي مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَلَا يُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلًا
📘 Hast thou not seen those who deem themselves pure? No, God alone deems pure whom- soever He will.Do not praise yourselves, do not approve of others deeming you pure, do not look at your own good deeds, give no weight to your own traveling, and consider yourselves lower than everyone low.A friend asked, �Which group is itwho have stolen reality's ball from the world's creatures?�I said, �Why do you ask for the marks of that group, for theyhave not shown themselves to themselves for the sake of showing.They never walk on the edge of making claims,nor do they ever sleep in the circle of meaning.More wondrous is that their worthlessness and abasement makes them like Christians and Jews in people's eyes.�Yes, at the threshold of a generous man, the more abased you make yourself, the more exalted you become. Your abasement is not despair of the Friend. Rather, it testifies to your truthfulness and straightness.The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O God, I lament at my abasement, for I have seen no one with misery like mine. I lament at the burning because You are lost to my spirit. There is no one in the world to have pity on my days and time. O God, I wept so many tears in longing that I sowed the seeds of pain with my eyes' water. If I find endless felicity, I will approve of all this pain. If myeyes fall upon You once, I will not have seen myself with those eyes.�No, God alone deems pure whomsoever He will. When God's deeming pure reaches someone, its mark is that he is released from companionship with the scatter-hearted ones who have stooped to the path of demons and idols [4:51] and he does not again open himself up to them. But you should not fancy that the worshipers of demons and idols are simply those idol-worshipers. Any- one who is at ease with the caprice of his own soul and remains bound to what his soul desires is a man of idols and a servant of demons.The creatures are at ease in the ruins of their own makeup- wink once and throw the creatures into turmoil! [DS 696]In the tongue of the folk of allusion, placing your foot on your own soul and bringing your caprice under your own severity is the tremendous kingdom concerning which God says,
أَمْ يَحْسُدُونَ النَّاسَ عَلَىٰ مَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ ۖ فَقَدْ آتَيْنَا آلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَآتَيْنَاهُمْ مُلْكًا عَظِيمًا
📘 And We gave them a tremendous kingdom.It has been said, �The tremendous kingdom is having an overview of the secrets of the creatures,� or it is �gazing upon the secrets of the empire such that nothing is hidden.�This is why Abū ʿUthmān Maghribī said, �When someone responds to the Real, the empire re- sponds to him.� In other words, when something appears to him in the empire, he is given news of it. Ibn al-Barqī was one of the great shaykhs of Egypt and possessed perspicacity. Once he became ill and was given medicine. He said, �I will not drink it, for some disaster has happened in the em- pire. Until I find out what happened, I will not drink it.� Thirteen days passed before news arrived that the Qarmatians and fallen on the Sanctuary, killed many people, and worked great destruction. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, �Servanthood cannot bear more than knowing some and not knowing some, for God says, 'He does not show His unseen to anyone except someone He ap- proves as a messenger' [72:26-27]. 'And God will not inform you of the unseen' [3:179]. Godknows all-no one else.�It has also been said that the tremendous kingdom is recognition of the tremendous King.When someone recognizes Him, he has found the kingdom of both worlds.The Pir of the Tariqah said, �O God, who is like me in becoming worthy for this work?Enough for me is that I have the worth of Your companionship.�Tell them to call me nothing but lord-that's a name suited for Your serving boy.
۞ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَنْ تُؤَدُّوا الْأَمَانَاتِ إِلَىٰ أَهْلِهَا وَإِذَا حَكَمْتُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ أَنْ تَحْكُمُوا بِالْعَدْلِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ نِعِمَّا يَعِظُكُمْ بِهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا
📘 Surely God commands you to deliver trusts back to their owners.In this verse the lovingly kind Lord, the generous and right-knowing, the care-taker of the servants, commands His servants to give back trusts. He is saying, �Return the trusts at your own liability to their folk.� In other words, do not intervene in them, and avoid betrayal, for after the faith and recognition of the servant, there is no attribute greater than holding in trust; and after unbelief, there is no attribute uglier than betrayal. The servant's obedience comes forth from holding in trust, and disobedience comes from betrayal. Betrayal is the basis of corruption, the beginning of every mis- fortune, and the foundation of disobedience. Holding in trust is the pillar of the religion, the per- fection of tawḤīd, and the attribute of the prophets and the angels. In the firm text of the revealed book, the Lord of the Worlds describes Gabriel by saying, �brought down by the trustworthy spirit� [26:193]. In another place He says, �obeyed, and also trustworthy� [81:21]. He reported from the daughter of Shuʿayb that she said to her father about Moses, God's speaking companion, �O my father, hire him! Surely the best you can hire is the strong, the trustworthy� [28:26]. And in describing Joseph the sincerely truthful He says, quoting the king of Egypt, �Surely today with us thou art emplaced, trustworthy� [12:54].The trusts about which the Book and the Sunnah talk are three things: One is obedience and the religion, for the Lord of the Worlds calls them a trust. He says, �Surely We offered the Trust�[33:72]. Next are women, who are held as a trust by men. MuṣṬafā said, �You have taken them as a trust from God, and you have made their private parts lawful to you by God's word.� Third is the property you leave with someone, or the secret you tell to him, for that is a trust. The Lord of the Worlds says, �Let him who has been entrusted deliver back his trust� [2:283]. MuṣṬafā said, �Deliver the trust back to the one who entrusted you.� He also said, �If a man relates some words, pay regard, for it is his trust.�Mustāfā also said, �Sitting together is a trust.� In other words, when you sit with people, it must be on condition of holding in trust.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا لِيُطَاعَ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ جَاءُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا اللَّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا اللَّهَ تَوَّابًا رَحِيمًا
📘 We sent not any messenger but that he should be obeyed by God's leave.From the first to the last of this section is an allusion to the greatness of MuṣṬafā's rank in God's sight. It is one of the robes of honor given to him by God, for He has lifted up the intermediary and made his decree equal to His own decree. Just as approving of the Real's decision brings about the certainty of the tawḤīd-voicers, so also approving of the Messenger's decree brings about the faith of the faithful. Thus the world's folk will know that obeying the Messenger is to obey the Real, disobeying the Messenger is to disobey the Real, the words of the Messenger are the revelationof the Real, the explanations of the Messenger are the road of the Real, the acts of the Messenger are the argument of the Real, the Shariah of the Messenger is the creed of the Real, the decree of the Messenger is the religion of the Real, and following the Messenger is friendship with the Real. Thus He says, �Follow me; God will love you� [3:31]. He is saying, �O master of masters! O paragon of engendered beings! O center point of the circle of newly arrived things! Say to My servants, 'If you want God to give you access to His friendship and approve of your servanthood, travel in my tracks, for I am His Messenger. Bind the belt of following me, receive my decrees in spirit and heart without resistance. Put forth your body, put down your neck, throw yourself into the decree, and do not give narrowness and tightness any access to yourself.'� This is why He says,
فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّىٰ يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
📘 Then they will not find in themselves any tightness from what thou decreest and will sur- render with full submission.�Do you not know that all the work has been bound to my tracks, and both houses have been at- tached to my street?� What rank and good fortune! What nobility and excellence! From the era of Adam until today, who has had such complete bounty and such well-arranged work, such celestial exaltedness and such god-like luster?After 500 and some years, the pillar of his Shariah's good fortune is flourishing, his branches blooming, his wood yielding fruit, his eminence elevated, his decree predominant. His splendor is in this world, his fame in the next. Each heart has a lamp from him, each tongue a burning brand from him, each heart a splendor from him, each head a call from him, each spirit a place for him.If you fancy that there is none of God's gentleness-there is. That above the world's beauties there is no king-there is.If you suppose that the spirits of good men in their passionhave no familiarity with the beauty of the dust of your feet-they do.And if you think that when you lift up your tresses from your cheekthe lamp of the spheres has no brightness from you-it does. [DS 821-22]
وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ ۚ وَحَسُنَ أُولَٰئِكَ رَفِيقًا
📘 Whosoever obeys God and the Messenger-they will be with those whom God has blessed: the prophets, the sincerely truthful, the witnesses, and the wholesome. What beautiful compan- ions they!Ibn ʿAbbās says that this verse came down concerning Thawbān, who had become wasted and weak in love for God's Messenger, his back bent and his face yellow. One day the Messenger said to him, �O Thawbān, what is it with you? Has your face turned yellow because you stay awake at night?�He said, �O Messenger of God, this and that, as you know.�He said, �O Thawbān, are you placing a great deal of suffering on yourself through various sorts of discipline? You have become so weak and your back is bent over!�Thawbān said, �Yes, O Messenger of God, it has been something of all that.�The Messenger said, �O Thawbān, is it that you are desiring?� Thawbān's eyes filled with tears when he heard talk of desire.How long will you ask me, �Why are you suffering?� In truth, you know my state better than I.�O Messenger of God, I do not know how the nights pass until day comes and I see you again.� Wishing for you by day is the veil of my idleness,aching for you by night is the chamber of my wakefulness.Separation from you is the adornment of my sorrow, fervor for you is the capital of my awareness.�O Messenger of God! The hardest sorrow is that in the next world you will be in the highest of the High Chambers, and I will be held back from seeing you.�While they were in the midst of this came Gabriel, the messenger of the Presence, the courier of mercy, bringing a verse: �Whosoever obeys God and the Messenger-they will be with those whom God has blessed,� and so on to the end. God's Messenger recited it to him and made his heart happy, placing a balm on his woundedness. Yes, it wants a pain like this for there to appear a balm like that! Until you burn, you will not find a way out. Until you drown in Remember Me! in the ocean of remembrance, you will not reach the shore of security by the hand of I will remember you [2:152].A man with nothing will never find an accomplished friend- pain for Ishmael calls for the burn of Abraham.
وَإِذَا حُيِّيتُمْ بِتَحِيَّةٍ فَحَيُّوا بِأَحْسَنَ مِنْهَا أَوْ رُدُّوهَا ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَسِيبًا
📘 When you are greeted with a greeting, greet with one more beautiful than it, or return it.In this verse, the majestic compeller, the magnificent God, the lovingly kind beautiful-doer, teach- es His servants the courteous acts of social intercourse and companionship, for anyone not adorned with courtesy is not worthy of companionship.Companionship is of three sorts: the courtesy of conformity with the Real, the courtesy of sincerity with people, and the courtesy of opposition to the soul. Anyone not nurtured by these sorts of courtesy has nothing to do with the path of MuṣṬafā and has no worth in the world of No god but God. The exalted Lord first adorned MuṣṬafā with courtesy, as his come in the report: �My Lord taught me courtesy, so how beautifully I have been made courteous!� Thus on the night of the miʿrāj in that most tremendous station, he acted courteously toward the Presence, such that the exalted Lord says about him, �The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass� [53:17]. He observed the courtesy of companionship with people, such that He says about him, �Surely thou hast a tremendous character� [68:4].The principles of the courteous acts of companionship in interacting with the Real are that you put knowledge to work in every interaction, you revere the Shariah, you avoid putting into practice what your wishes command, you honor the Sunnah and its folk, you avoid innovation and its folk, you leave aside suspicion and supposition, you stay far from disquieting thoughts and the habits of eye-service, ignorance, and laziness in worshiping God, you avoid adorning yourself as a worship- ful servant in other than the Sunnah, you keep supererogatory acts hidden, you not mention the name God in heedlessness, you not mix levity with seriousness, you not play with the Shariah and the religion, and you put scrupulosity to work in speaking, acting, seeing, eating, sleeping, moving, and resting. Even if you pass your days with truthfulness and limpidness, you never approve of yourself. Rather, you must always be displeased with yourself, and you must make it incumbent upon yourself to repent in every state. The Messenger said, �My heart becomes clouded, so I ask forgiveness from God one hundred times a day.�Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī was so displeased with his own limpidness and self-purification that his glorification sometimes consisted of pointing at himself with his finger and saying, �You are the miserable man of the time.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَتَبَيَّنُوا وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَنْ أَلْقَىٰ إِلَيْكُمُ السَّلَامَ لَسْتَ مُؤْمِنًا تَبْتَغُونَ عَرَضَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا فَعِنْدَ اللَّهِ مَغَانِمُ كَثِيرَةٌ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ كُنْتُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَمَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ فَتَبَيَّنُوا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًا
📘 O you who have faith! When you strike forth on the path of God, look clearly, and say not to him who offers you peace, �You are not of the faithful,� seeking the chance goods of this world's life.By way of allusion, He is saying that when you go on a journey, go for the sake of reaching one of the friends of God so that he may be the intimate of your days and the witness of your heart and spirit. No matter how far you go, never be at ease from seeking and do not hold back the foot of effort. The friends are the favorites of the Exalted Threshold and accepted by the Presence of Divinity. Not everyone sees them, not every eyesight perceives them. When you find them, give ear, and when you see them, cling to them, for the brightness of the heart lies in witnessing them and endless felicity in being their companion.The pir of the Tariqah Junayd was asked, �Which do you prefer? Two cycles of voluntary prayer or an hour of witnessing the poor.�He said, �An hour of witnessing the poor, for witnessing the poor is God's love, for He says, 'It is incumbent on Me to love those who love each other in Me and who visit each other in Me.' Bringing God's love to hand is an obligatory act for everyone. Leaving aside this obligatory act and choosing a supererogatory act is not the work of the clever and the conduct of the chevaliers.�
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