12:3 We will tell thee the most beautiful of tales.

What a beautiful tale is the tale of Joseph! It is the tale of the passionate and the object of passion, the talk of separation and union. It wants the pain-stricken to read the tale of those in pain. It wants the passionate to report about the pain of passion and the burning of the passionate. It wants the burnt so that the burning of the longing may leave a trace. I am the slave of the yearner who lights up the fire of longing at the top of the Friend’s street. I envy the eye that rains down tears at separation in love for the Beloved. I scatter spirit and heart before the lost-hearted one who tells the story of the lost-hearted.

In the city my heart inclines, my dear, to him

who sings your passion’s tale, my dear.

On the day when the seed of passion’s pain was planted in the hearts of the familiar, the heart of Jacob the prophet was on the highway of this talk. He found flourishing in disengagement and solitariness, he took himself into the crucible of discipline and self-purification, and he became receptive to the seed of passion’s pain. When the seed reached the earth of his heart, the water of “He sprinkled them with some of His light” nurtured it until the jasmine of the Covenant grew up. Then, as a pretext, the beauty of Joseph was made his kiblah, and his mortal nature was given access to its own kind. This cry went out: “Jacob’s throat has been hung by the noose of desire for Joseph.” Within the curtain of jealousy that center point of the Haqiqah said, “Call Me Arsalan so that no one will know who I am.”

12:4 When Joseph said to his father, “O my father, surely I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon. I saw them prostrating to me.”

Ibn ʿAbbās said, “The eleven stars allude to the eleven brothers.” God is saying, “The stars are bright by themselves and people take to the road by them,” which is in His words, “By the stars they are guided” [16:16]. “In the same way Joseph’s brothers had the brightness of prophecy, and within them was found the guidance of the people.”

Their treachery toward their brother and their envy toward him are minor sins of the sort that occur for prophets. The wisdom in this is that the world’s folk may come to know that the faultless is God, who is one and unique, and all other things have faults. In this meaning they have sung,

I am the faulty and my Lord is pure—

my faultiness is evidence of the Pure.

It was said to Ḥasan, “Does the man of faith have envy?”

He said, “What has made you forget the sons of Jacob?”

Someone may say that Joseph was an immature child when he saw this dream, and it is known in the Shariah that no rulings apply to the act of a child. Since his act has no ruling, how can his dream have a ruling? The answer is that if the child’s act is achieved by his own intention and aim, it can be attributed to his susceptibility to shortcoming and defect. But a dream is a divine showing, and in that children and adults are the same.^{1This paragraph is a translation of LI 3:167-68.}

12:15 So when they went with him and agreed to put him at the bottom of the well, We revealed to him, “Surely thou shalt inform them of this affair of theirs when they are unaware.”

Even if the care of his father was cut of from him, he received revelation from his Patron. Such is the custom of God: He never opens up a door of trial to the souls of His friends without opening up the doors of limpidness and the sorts of friendship to their hearts.^{1LI 3:79.}

If trial blocks a road for the servant, so what? God will open up the top of the road of limpidness with the attribute of friendship. If He takes back one mouthful, what’s the loss? He will wrap up a hundred morsels for you. This is as they say:

If I broke your necklace when drunk,

I’ll buy you a hundred gold beads to replace it.

Although Joseph was sorrowful at separation from his father, why should he have lamented? He was colored by union with the revelation of the Real. The Real’s revelation to him in that empty well was sweeter to him than union with Jacob in Canaan. Indeed, all caresses are in the midst of suffering, and beneath one disappointment lie a thousand treasures.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “If the marks of familiarity are true, whatever arrives from the Friend is beautiful doing. When there is no suspicion of the Friend in the apportioning, complaint is a fault. If this claim has meaning, happiness and grief will be the same for it.”

I have a spirit inscribed with passion for You

whether You pull it to happiness or grief.

12:20 They sold him for a paltry price.

It is not surprising that Joseph’s brothers sold him for a small price. What is surprising is the work of those travelers, who acquired someone like Joseph for twenty dirhams! It is not surprising that people should sell subsistent paradise for this small world. What is surprising is that they gain such a magnificent paradise and tremendous kingdom with a loaf of bread given to a poor man! Indeed, good fortune does not have a price, and the Real’s generosity is nothing but a gift.

If what Joseph possessed in himself—the characteristics of sinlessness, the realities of proximity, and the subtleties of knowledge and wisdom—had been unveiled to his brothers, they would not have sold him for that small price, nor would they have called him a slave. A single speck of those characteristics and subtleties was unveiled to the governor of Egypt and Zulaykhā. Look how they bestowed their kingdom on his work and what value they placed on him! So also, when the women of Egypt saw his beauty, they said, “This is no mortal! This is none but a noble angel” [12:31]. Yes, it is showing that does the job, not seeing. Muṣṭafā said, “O God, show us things as they are!”

Ibn ʿAṭāʾ said, “Beauty is of two sorts, outward beauty and inward beauty. Outward beauty is an adorned creation and a lovely form. Inward beauty is perfect character and fine conduct.”

The Lord of the Worlds showed Joseph’s outward beauty to his brothers. They saw nothing more, even though in God’s eyes the outward has no importance. Hence they sold him for a small price. A trace of the inner beauty was shown to the governor of Egypt, so he said to his wife, “Give him generous lodging” [12:21]. This is so that the world’s folk may know that in God’s eyes importance and worth belong to inner beauty, not outward. Muṣṭafā said, “God gazes not on your forms or your possessions, but He gazes on your hearts and your deeds.”

It is said that one day Joseph looked in a mirror and gazed on himself. He saw perfect beauty and said, “If I were a slave, what would my price be!? Who would be able to pay it?” The Lord of the Worlds did not let that pass, not until Joseph had tasted the punishment of gazing on himself. He was made a slave, and his price was twenty dirhams.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Do not look at yourself, for self-seeing has no worth! Do not adorn yourself, for self-adornment has no value! Do not approve of yourself, for self-approval has no support!”

Quit being the companion of self-nurturing habit-worshipers!

Kiss the dust beneath the feet of those who have disowned self! [DS 972]

“Do not adorn yourself,” and let the Real adorn you: And He adorned it in your hearts [49:7]. “Do not approve of yourself,” and let the Real approve of you: God approves of them [9:100]. Do not belong to yourself, and let the Real belong to you: Thou didst not throw when thou threwest [8:17].

On the night of the miʿrāj, He said to Muṣṭafā, “Be for Me as if you were not, I will be for you as I have always been.”

It has also been said that they sold a soul whose selling was not permitted, so his price, even were it great, would be paltry. Among the things you do that is even more surprising is that you sell your soul for the sake of the lowest appetite after you sold it to your Lord at the highest price; that is in His words, “Surely God has bought from the faithful their souls” [9:111].

12:43 The king said, “I see seven fat cows that seven lean ones are eating.”

The beginning of Joseph’s trial was the dream concerning which he said, “I saw eleven stars” [12:4]. The cause of his deliverance was also a dream, that seen by the king of Egypt, who said, “I see seven fat cows.” This is so that you will know that things are done by the predetermination and governance of God and that He is one in driving things and taking care of things. Even though the causes are apparent, remaining with the causes is an error.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Not seeing the cause is ignorance, but staying with the cause is associationism. Pass beyond the cause and reach the Causer. Do not close the door of causes lest you not reach yourself.

“The recognizer’s eyes are not on the Tablet, nor on the Pen. He is not bound to Eve, nor in prison to Adam. He has a constant thirst, even though he has a cup again and again. O most generous Guardian, O most merciful Fount of Bounty! Take back the cup once so that this poor wretch may breathe!”

It has been said that Joseph was perfect in two things: one was beauty of created nature, the other knowledge and astuteness. The beauty of created nature is the perfection of form, and knowledge and astuteness are the perfection of meaning. The Exalted Lord predetermined that his beauty would be the cause of trial and his knowledge the cause of deliverance. Thus the world’s folk may know that beautiful knowledge is better than beautiful form. As the proverb says, “Knowledge bestows, though it be slow.” Since Joseph’s knowledge of visions was the cause of his kingdom in this world, why is it surprising that knowledge of the Patron’s attributes is the cause of the recognizer’s kingdom in the afterworld? God says, “When thou seest it, thou wilt see bliss and a great kingdom” [76:20].

12:52-53 That, so that he may know that I did not betray him secretly.... But I do not acquit my own soul. Surely the soul commands to ugliness.

When [the governor’s wife] said, “That, so that he may know that I did not betray him secretly,” she saw the success-giving and protection of the Real. When she said, “I do not acquit my soul; surely the soul commands to ugliness,” she saw the shortcoming of her own service. The first clarifies gratitude for God’s success-giving, the second clarifies apology for shortcoming.

The servant must always be passing back and forth between gratitude and apology. Whenever he looks at the Real, he should see blessings, take delight, and increase in gratitude. Whenever he looks at himself, he should see sin. He should burn and come forth in apology. Through the gratitude, he becomes worthy of increase, and through the apology he becomes deserving of forgiveness.

This is why the Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, when I look at myself, I ask who is more miserable than I. When I look at You, I ask who is greater than I.”

When my gaze falls on my own clay,

I see nothing worse in the world.

When I pass beyond my attributes,

I look at myself from the Throne.

Fuḍayl ʿIyāḍ was seen retired from the people and sitting in the corner of a mosque, having made the Real’s remembrance his intimate friend. He had brought to hand the chevaliers’ retreat with the Real, on the carpet of expansiveness in the tent of He is with you [57:4]. A friend arrived and saw him alone. He took seeing him as a blessing and sat before him. Fuḍayl said, “My brother, what has made you sit with me?” What has made you intrude upon me in this seclusion? Such detachment, that you attend to me!

The dervish said, “Please excuse me. I did not know. I was unaware of your present moment and ecstasy. Now tell me something about your present moment and speak of a fine point about your traveling so that I may not remain without a portion of companionship with you.”

Fuḍayl said, “I will say what is fitting for you. Know that Fuḍayl is not attending to others because he is giving gratitude for the blessings of the Blessing-Giver and asking pardon for his slips. In his heart there is no place for anything. When I look at myself, I ask pardon for slips, and when I look at Him, I show gratitude for blessings.”

Then Fuḍayl turned his face toward heaven and said, “O God, who has the capacity in himself to give gratitude to You? Who is able to serve You as is fitting for You? O God, when someone’s portion of Your friendship is talk, he has been defrauded! When someone’s spirit and heart are of use in this road, what business has he with Your union? O God, for me it is enough of Your blessings that I have never had patience in love for You; with spirit and heart I sniff the dust at the top of Your street and with the hand of hope I bang the knocker on the door of friendship. Wherever in the world I find someone lost, I tell him my story.”

Then he turned his face to the dervish and said, “Fear your place, guard your tongue, and ask God to forgive your sins and those of the faithful, men and women.”

Surely the soul commands to ugliness. Know that the soul has four levels: first the commanding soul, then the deceiving soul, third the sorcerous, and fourth the serene.

The commanding soul has not been placed in the crucible of discipline, nor has the skin of its existence been taken to the tanner. In dealing with God’s creatures it rises up with antagonism and keeps the attributes of a predator. It constantly talks ill of people, speaks up only for itself, and always takes steps in its own desires. It grazes in the world of mortal nature and drinks water from the spring of caprice. It knows nothing other than eating, sleeping, and doing what it wants.

Concerning the owners of this soul, the Exalted Lord says, “Leave them to eat, enjoy, and be diverted by hopes—they will soon know” [15:3]. Their form has a human color, but their attribute is satanic. This is why He says, “satans of jinn and men” [6:112].

This soul is a tremendous veil and the disrupter of the religion, the quarry of every sort of ungodliness and the center of evils. If a person is able to escape from it, he will escape by opposing it, for the Splendorous Qur’an reports like this: “As for him who fears the standing place before his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter” [79:40-41]. All the prophets and messengers commanded the people to act with severity and to struggle against this soul. Muṣṭafā said, “We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle.” “The most arduous struggle is the struggle against the soul.”

Struggle in God as is the rightful due of His struggle [22:78]. The rightful due of struggle is that you not nurture the attributes of the commanding soul—like avarice, appetite, greed, rancor, pride, enmity, and hatred—but you hold them in check. Whenever they stick up their heads, you keep them away from yourself with the stone of struggle, just as that chevalier said:

“The serpent-soul is coiled around your heart’s treasure—

strike it with struggle’s stone for the heart’s covenant!

If you are ill in spirit and fear the jests of the Turning Wheel,

pour a draft on your spirit from the cup of striving.”^{1Though the verses are typical of Sanāʾī’s style, they are not found in the printed edition of his divan.}

As for the deceiving soul, it is lower than the commanding soul. It does not have the strength to resist a man, but it always lies in ambush to see how it may gain a hold. For example, it sees a desirer in the station of togetherness on the road of struggle and discipline, so it places one of the journeys of obedience before him, like the hajj, or war, or a pilgrimage. It says, “This is better and higher in the way stations of obedient acts.” In what it says, it speaks the truth, but it is deceiving and scheming, for it wants to throw the desirer out of the station of togetherness and scatter his thoughts and perplex him in this journey. He may reach his goal and he may not. And, if he does reach it, he may never again see this togetherness. Thus Junayd said, “A thousand desirers entered this road along with me, but all of them fell short and I came out on top.”

This is why desirers need a pir in the road of desire, for the pirs have recognized the way stations of this road, and the deceiving soul’s ambuscades are not hidden from them. They keep track of the states of the desirers and guide them to what is suited for their steps.

The great ones of the religion have said that as long as a man has not become a possessor of stability, he will not be safe from the deceiving soul. A little bit of water is defiled by a small amount of impurity, but the ocean never becomes defiled. The state of the beginners is delicate: a blameworthy thought arises from the deceiving soul and moves it. But the state of the folk of stability and the lords of the end is a mountain, and the wind cannot move a mountain.

After the deceiving soul is the sorcerous soul. It circles around the folk of the Haqiqah. When it sees them consolidated in acts of obedience and various sorts of discipline, it says, “Be merciful to your own soul—‘Surely your soul has a rightful due against you.’” When the man is not a realizer, it brings him from the station of the Haqiqah to the station of the Shariah and places a concession before him. Whenever a concession comes forth, the ease of the soul appears. The soul gains strength from it and takes him back to the first step—once again the commanding soul comes forth.

Ibrāhīm Khawāṣṣ said, “For forty years I quarreled with my soul, which wanted bread and yoghurt from me. One day I felt merciful toward it. I brought to hand a dirham of lawful silver and was walking in Baghdad to buy bread and yoghurt. I entered a ruins and saw an old man, fallen in the terrible heat. Bees were flying down and taking his flesh. I felt mercy for him and said, ‘Poor indigent!’ The man lifted up his head and said, ‘Khawāṣṣ, what indigence do you see in me? Is the crown of submission not on my head and the pearl of recognition not in my heart? You’re the indigent. After forty years you’re still not able to prevent your soul from its appetite for bread and yoghurt.’”

In brief, know that the sorcerous soul does not command a man to disobedience, rather to obedience. When the man steps into the street of obedience, a color rises up from the obedience itself. It says, “After all, you are better than the wine-drinking, ungodly man.” He comes to believe this in himself and he looks upon himself with the eye of approval, while looking at others with the eye of disdain, until finally he is destroyed.

Abū Bakr gazed on himself with the eye of the Haqiqah and saw the reality of his self. He said, “Dismiss me, for I am not the best of you.” O Abū Bakr, you keep on saying this, but the religion of the submission and the holy Shariah address you with these words: “The best of the people after God’s Messenger is Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq.”

From here begins the serene soul. It is the soul of the prophets and the friends. It has the bond of protection from sin and the curtain of kind favor. The prophets are inside protection’s pavilion and the friends inside the curtain of guarding and kind favor. If for one instant the bond of protection were to be taken away from the prophets, the same thing would appear from them that appeared from Pharaoh and Haman. If for one moment the guarding, preservation, and kind favor were to be cut off from the friends, all of them would put on the sash of unbelief. If the Arab Prophet had gone forth for a thousand years, and if there had not been Then He drew close, so He came down [53:8], where would he have gotten to?

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, I am happy that at first I was not but You were. You mixed the fire of finding with the light of recognition. You stirred up the breeze of proximity from the garden of union. You poured down the rain of solitariness on the dust of mortal nature. You burned water and clay with the fire of friendship. Thus You taught the recognizer’s eyes how to see You.”

12:76 Thus We schemed for Joseph.... We raise in degree whomsoever We will.

Ibn ʿAṭāʾ said, “We tried him with various sorts of trial until We conveyed him to exaltedness and eminence.”

In terms of allusion He is saying, “We turned Joseph over to various sorts of trial and kept him for a long time in the station of bewilderment on the carpet of remorse until We conveyed him to the place of generosity and elevation and let him taste the wine of nearness and intimacy. In face of this blessing that tribulation was not heavy, and next to this nearness that remorse was no loss.” The wont of the Lord of the universe is this: The foundation of happiness is all suffering, and beneath one disappointment lie a thousand treasures.

If you want the wisdom of this clearer and an explication fuller, it means, “We ruled and decreed in the beginningless that Joseph would be king of Egypt. First We showed him the abasement of slavery so that he would be informed of the remorse of captives and slaves. Then We tried him with the trial of prison so that he would be aware of the burning and grief of prisoners. We threw him into the gloom of exile so that he would not be heedless of the helplessness of exiles.”

Be a mother to orphans, nurture them with gentleness,

be noble to askers, fulfill their requests.

The generosity We showed to you in your poverty and orphanhood—

you show the same, O generous in character, to Our creatures. [DS 36]

We raise in degree whomsoever We will. First there is going straight, then unveiling, then contemplation: “We give whomsoever We want a high standing, and We lift up his degrees: first the success of obedience, then the realization of recompense; first the self-purification of deeds, then making states limpid; first the resoluteness of service in the station of the Shariah, then the finding of contemplation in the Haqiqah itself.”

Going straight alludes to the Shariah, unveiling alludes to the Tariqah, and contemplation alludes to the Haqiqah itself. The Shariah is servanthood, the Tariqah is selflessness, and the Haqiqah is freedom in the midst of both.

Become free of everything in the realm of being—

be that Heart-taker’s “companion of the cave.”

12:81 Return to your father and say, “O our father! Surely thy son has stolen.”

When Jacob became distracted and distraught in separation from Joseph, helpless in his pain without remedy, he wanted to make the remembrance of that dear one a balm for his wound and to be passionate with someone linked to Joseph. He made Benjamin his reminder and sympathizer, for he had drunk water from the same drinking place as Joseph and had been nurtured on the same lap. The heart of the passionate man always inclines toward someone who has a link or some sort of similarity with the object of passion. Do you not see that Majnūn of Banī ʿĀmir went out to the desert hunting for a gazelle? He saw that its eyes and neck were like those of Laylā. He was passing his hands over its neck, kissing its eyes, and saying, “Your eyes are her eyes, your neck is her neck!”

When Jacob fastened his heart to Benjamin and when a part of him came to rest in him, the venomous sickle was once again drawn from the sheath of time and Benjamin was separated from his father. Then the name of thief was thrown on him, and this added trial to his trial—salt was sprinkled on his wound and the burn was once again burned. Just as fire wants to kindle burnt rags, so also the pain of separation wants to settle down with a burnt heart.

Whenever pain steps forth from this heart of mine

another pain takes its place in the breast.

I become the companion of every pain

for fire flares up when it reaches the burnt.

Whenever Jacob saw Benjamin, he was consoled by him, for “He who is prevented from gazing is consoled by a trace.”^{1This is a saying of Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq, cited by Qushayrī in his explanation of 12:84 (LI 3:200).} Then, when he was held back from Benjamin, the burning reached the utmost limit and he moaned at the pain in his heart. With the tongue of longing he said,

12:84 “Oh, my grief for Joseph!” And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow that he was suppressing.

Revelation came from the Compeller of all engendered beings: “O Jacob! You grieve so much for him, but you do not grieve for what you are missing of Me by being busy with grief for him!” O Jacob, how long this sorrow and regret at separation from Joseph? How long will you suffer grief and coldly sigh? Do you not suffer grief that you are held back from Me while busy with him?

“With two kiblahs you can’t walk straight on the road of tawḥīd—

either the Friend’s approval, or your own caprice. [DS 488]

“O Jacob! Be careful not to pass Joseph’s name over your tongue any more, or I will remove your name from the register of the prophets.”

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Jacob’s remembrance of Joseph was the seed of heartache, and Joseph’s remembrance of Jacob was the seed of ease. Since Jacob had all that rebuke for remembering Joseph, everything other than remembering God is loss. It is said that remembering the Friend is like the spirit. Look more carefully: remembering the Friend is the spirit itself!”

When Jacob saw the harshness of the Real’s rebuke, he no longer mentioned Joseph’s name. Then the mercy and gentleness of the Exalted Threshold gave this command to Gabriel: “O Gabriel, go to Jacob and remind him of Joseph.” Gabriel came and mentioned Joseph’s name. Jacob sighed. Revelation came from the Real: “O Jacob, I know what is beneath your moaning. By My exaltedness, were he dead, I would resurrect him because of the beauty of your loyalty.”

And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow that he was suppressing. Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq said, “Jacob wept because of a created thing, so his eyesight went. David wept more than Jacob, but his eyesight did not go, because his weeping was for the sake of his Lord.”^{1LI 3:200.}

Weeping for the Real is of two sorts: weeping from the eyes and weeping from the heart. Weeping from the eyes is the weeping of repenters in fear of God; they weep at seeing their own disobedience. Weeping from the heart is the weeping of the recognizers; they weep because of veneration of the Real in seeing tremendousness. Repenters weep because of remorse and need, recognizers weep because of secret whispering and joy.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, I have a long weeping in my head. I do not know if I weep from remorse or from joy. Weeping from remorse is the portion of an orphan, and weeping from joy is the portion of a candle. What is it like to weep from joy? That story is long.”

Muṣṭafā said, “Tomorrow at the resurrection, all eyes will be weeping from the terror of the resurrection and the Greatest Fright, except four: One is the eye of a warrior who was wounded and died in the road of God. Second is the eye turned away from forbidden things so as not to look at the inappropriate. Third is the eye that was always sleepless from standing in prayer at night. Fourth is the eye that weeps in fear of God.”

It has been narrated that David said, “O God, what is the recompense of someone who weeps in fear of You until tears flow down his face?”

He said, “His recompense is that I will make him secure from the Greatest Fright and will make his face forbidden to the scorching of the Fire.”

It has been narrated that God said, “By My exaltedness and majesty, no servant will weep in fear of Me without My pouring for him the nectar of My mercy! By My exaltedness and majesty, no servant will weep in fear of Me without My exchanging that for laughter in the light of My holiness!”

And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow. He did not say, “Jacob became blind,” lest that be cruelty, for in reality “blindness” is the heart’s inability to see, as He said: “Surely it is not the eyes that are blind, but blind are the hearts in the breasts” [22:46]. Jacob had perfect seeing and clarity of heart, but his eyes were veiled from witnessing anyone but Joseph. This is because, under the ruling power of passion, during the absence of the object of passion the eyes of the passionate man must be veiled from others, for, in the religion of friendship, seeing another in place of the beloved is nothing but associationism. In this meaning someone sang,

Once I was certain that I would not be seeing you,

I shut my eyes and gazed on no one.

*

Eyes are useful to me for seeing the Friend—

what will I do with eyes without seeing the Friend?

12:93 Go with this shirt of mine and cast it upon the face of my father so that he may come to seeing.

Joseph said, “Take my shirt to Jacob, for his pain has not ceased from the time he saw the shirt stained with the wolf’s blood. The balm will also be my shirt.” When they took the shirt from Egypt, the morning breeze was commanded to take the shirt’s scent to Jacob’s nostrils so that, before Joseph’s messenger could give the good news, he would receive it from the Real’s messenger and recognize the Real’s perfect gentleness and favor toward him. According to the tasting of the recognizers, this is the divine breeze that wanders furtively around the world to the doors of the breasts of the faithful and the tawḥīd-voicers to see where there may be a limpid breast and an empty secret core in which to dwell.

Her love came to me before I knew love—

it came across a carefree heart and took possession.

To this alluded the Prophet: “Surely your Lord has breezes in the days of your time,” and so on. As for Jacob, this generosity was shown to him by means of passion for Joseph. Beneath this lies a magnificent secret. Its explanation is that contemplating Joseph for Jacob was by means of contemplating the Real. Whenever Jacob saw Joseph with the eyes of his head, he was gazing on the Real in contemplation with the eye of his secret core. So, when he was veiled from contemplating Joseph, his heart was also veiled from contemplating the Real. All of Jacob’s anxiety and grieving was because of the loss of the contemplation of the Real, not the loss of companionship with Joseph. His longing and lamenting at separation from Joseph was because he had lost his mirror. He did not weep for the mirror itself, but for his heart’s intimate, which he no longer saw. He burned because of losing that. Hence, on the day when he saw him again, he fell down in prostration, for his heart was contemplating the Real. He was prostrating before the contemplation of the Real, for none other than God is worthy of prostration.

12:94 Their father said, “Surely I find Joseph’s scent.”

The wonder is that the bringer of the shirt found nothing of that scent, but Jacob found it at the distance of eighty farsakhs. For that was the scent of passion, and the scent of passion blows only on the passionate. Moreover, it does not always blow. As long as a man has not been cooked by passion and pounded by the trial of passion, the scent will not blow on him. Do you not see that at the beginning of the work and the outset of the story, when Joseph was taken away from him, the first stage was not reached when they threw him into the well. Jacob had no awareness of this and caught no scent. Finally, at Canaan, he reported about Joseph’s scent: “Surely I find Joseph’s scent.”

It is said that in the House of Sorrows, Jacob wept a great deal every dawn. Sometimes he lamented miserably, sometimes he wailed at his abasement, sometimes he opened the journal of passion and began the chapter on passion. Sometimes he put his head on his knees, sometimes he placed his face in the dust, his two hands raised in supplication. Sometimes he recognized Joseph’s scent from the dawn wind and said with the tongue of his state,

“The wind at dawn brings your scent, my dear—

I am the dawn wind’s slave in the tracks of your scent.”

Thus it is that on the day of relief the morning breeze brought the scent of Joseph to Jacob and brought him into proximity. This is the custom of the lovers: asking in the lands, conferring with ruined encampments, and sniffing news from the winds. In this meaning someone sang,

“I will let the winds guide me to your scent

when they blow from your direction

And ask them to carry my greetings to you.

Respond to me if they come one day.”^{1The poem and the previous sentence are from LI 3:206-7.}

12:99-100 So, when they entered in upon Joseph, he embraced his parents.... And he lifted his parents to the throne, and they fell prostrate before him.... “He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison and brought you from the desert after Satan had sowed dissension between me and my brothers. Surely my Lord is gentle toward what He will.”

In going to Egypt, all were the same. But at the time of proximity and caresses, they were different, for he put his father and maternal aunt on the throne of generosity and singled them out for the companionship, nearness, and embrace, as the Exalted Lord says: “And he lifted his parents to the throne.” But he brought his brothers down to the place of service: “And they fell prostrate before him.” This is an allusion that tomorrow at the resurrection, all the faithful will be brought into paradise, both the disobedient who have been forgiven and the obedient who have been approved. Then those who were the folk of disobedience, the ones received by the Real’s forgiveness, will be set down in paradise, and the folk of recognition will be singled out for the special favor of proximity and nearness. They will be brought to the Presence of At-ness: at an Omnipotent King [54:55].

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The folk of service are one thing, the folk of companionship something else. The folk of service are prisoners of paradise, the folk of companionship commanders of paradise. The prisoners are in joy and bliss, and the commanders dwell in secret whispering with the Beneficent.”

He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison. The beautiful-doer is not he who acts beautifully at the beginning. The beautiful-doer is he who acts beautifully after your disloyalty. Joseph saw the disloyalty of his own soul at first, when he sought refuge with the cup-bearer in prison and said, “Remember me to your lord” [12:42]. Then he saw that his deliverance from the prison was through the Real’s bounty and generosity, and he counted that as beautiful doing. He said, “He acted beautifully toward me when He brought me out of prison.” Even though he had seen the trial of the well, he did not speak of it again, for he saw this trial as a blessing for him. In the well he had received the revelation of the Real, heard the message of the King, and seen Gabriel, the messenger of the Presence. God says, “We revealed to him, ‘Surely thou shalt inform them’” [12:15]. So he counted the tribulation as a blessing and saw that the trial was bestowal itself. This is why he did not mention the trial of the well, but he did talk about the prison. He said, “God acted beautifully toward me, for I was worthy of blame, but He showed generosity toward me. He saw bad from me and had mercy through His own bounty, delivering me from the prison and, after separation, bringing me together with the honored ones. He did all that out of His own gentleness, servant-caressing, and loving kindness. Surely my Lord is gentle toward what He will. He is a Lord who through His own gentleness comes back to loyalty toward the hopeful and through His own generosity passes over the hidden things of the servants and sets their work aright in the two worlds.”