17:1 Glory be to Him who took His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque.

At the beginning of this surah He praised Himself, then He disclosed the nobility of Muṣṭafā and uncovered his eminence over the creatures. First He testified to His own faultlessness and mentioned His own purity. He Himself praised Himself and showed the creatures His perfect power. He turned over the Messenger’s miʿrāj to His own act, not the Messenger’s act, so that the faithful will not fall into uncertainty and there would be an argument against the deniers. Thus the faithful will know that the marvels of power have no limit and that this state is not strange given the perfect power of the Powerful.

Another meaning is to display the nobility of Muṣṭafā and his eminence over the creatures of the world. Then the world’s folk will know that his station is that of those snatched away on the carpet of companionship, not that of the travelers in the way stations of service. He who is snatched away is being pulled by the Real, but the traveler is traveling by himself. When someone is being pulled by the Real, he is in the way station of whispered secrets and joy and is fitting for generous bestowal and exaltation. But when someone is himself traveling, he keeps on wanting to gain access to the threshold of service and seeking for a rank to appear for himself. The former is the station of Muḥammad, the Real’s beloved, and the latter is the station of Moses, the Real’s speaking-companion.

Do you not see that He said about Moses, “Moses came to Our appointed time” [7:143], but He said about Muṣṭafā, “who took His servant by night.” Moses was a comer, traveling by himself. Muḥammad was taken, snatched away from himself. He who walks with His feet is not like him who walks toward Him, and he to whose secret core revelation comes is not like him who is called to Him. The one who was traveling was absent through distance, so after separation he found union. The one who was taken was in the elevation of union at the outset, and he received the robe of bounty at the end.

Then He says, “His servant by night.” When He takes His servant to the presence of whispered secrets and joy, He takes him by night, because night is the meeting place of the recognizers, the moment of the seclusion of the friends, the resting place of the yearners, and the time of caressing the servants. When night comes, the friends find the moment of seclusion, for the watchers are asleep and the enemies far away: the house is empty and the friend waiting:

It’s night, there’s wine, and your servant’s alone—

get up and come, my dear, for tonight is our night.

Among the reports about David is this: “O David, he who claims to love Me is a liar if night comes, and he goes to sleep on Me.”

“O Muḥammad! Everyone who puts up with suffering will afterwards find a treasure. I commanded you, ‘And of the night, keep vigil therein as a supererogatory act for thee! [17:79]. Get up at night and pray.’ It was I Myself who commanded you to get up at night, to come, and to whisper in secret with Me. Thus you came to know that I do not neglect anyone’s suffering and I convey everyone to what is fitting for him.”

Another subtle point has also been made: The Lord of the Worlds affirmed for Muṣṭafā an act appropriate to his servanthood, and He spoke of His own act as fitting for His lordhood. The act of Muṣṭafā was ascending: who took His servant by night from the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque. The act of God was descending: “He descends every night to the lowest heaven.” The ascent of Muḥammad was fitting for his mortal nature, and God’s descent was fitting for His divinity and appropriate for His Essence and attributes. Then He made the time of His descent be night, and He willed that Muḥammad’s ascent also be at night, for He called Muḥammad His “beloved,” and the meaning of love is nothing other than conformity.

From the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque. He was taken from the Holy Mosque to the Farthest Mosque and from the Farthest Mosque to the Lote Tree of the Final End and the highest way station so that he would see the states and terrors of the Resurrection face-to-face. Thereby the foundations of intercession would be laid down. Tomorrow when the resurrection takes place, the harshness and tremendous of the Compeller will surround the creatures. In fear and fright at the resurrection, the terror, and the harshness of the Exalted Threshold, the creatures will all fall into themselves, bewildered, terrified, and having tasted the horror, for they will be seeing what they had never before seen. They will not turn away from their own business and work to anyone else’s work. Everyone will be saying, “My soul! My soul!” But Muṣṭafā had already been shown the Dominion, the Greatest Signs, and the wonders of the Unseen. He will have no fear, and the awesomeness and harshness of that day will have no effect on him. He will give his heart over to intercession for the community. He will be saying, “My community! My community!”

If you want an example of this state, consider the work of Moses. It had been predetermined that Moses and the army of the enemy would one day come together, the sorcerers would work a tremendous sorcery, and Moses’ staff would become a serpent to swallow down that sorcery. But before that day, in the presence of whispered prayer with the Lord of the Worlds, it was said to him, “Cast thy staff! [7:117]. O Moses! Throw down your staff!” Moses threw the staff and it became a serpent. Moses was afraid of that, and the Exalted Lord said, “Take it and fear not! [20:21]. O Moses, pick it up and do not fear!” Hence on the day when he was face-to-face with Pharaoh and the staff became a serpent, all who saw it were afraid, for they had never seen it before, but Moses was not afraid, because he had seen it once.

It has also been said, “The Real sent him so that the folk of the earth would learn worship from him. Then He raised him to heaven so that the angels would learn the courteous acts of worship from him. God says, ‘The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass’ [53:17]. He did not turn to the right nor to the left. He did not desire any station or any bestowal of honor. He was free of every wish and every joy.”^{1LI 4:6.}

Listen to a wonderful subtlety: It was said to Adam, “Fall down!” [2:36]. It was said to Muṣṭafā, “Ascend!”: “O Adam! Go to the earth so that the world of dust may settle down because of the majestic guise of your sultanate. O Muḥammad! Come up to heaven so that the summit of the spheres may be adorned by the beauty of your contemplation. O Muḥammad! My secret in saying to your father, ‘Fall down!,’ was so that I could say to you, ‘Ascend!’ Sit on the steed of aspiration and make the top of the spheres the carpet dust for the soles of your blessed feet. Travel away from the corporeal and the spiritual and then gaze upon Me. Bring to the Presence the pure gift of ‘The salutations, the blessed things, the prayers, and the goodly things belong to God!’ Then the overflowing goblet of the good fortune of ‘The peace be upon thee, O Prophet, and God’s mercy!’ will be sent to you on the hand of the cupbearer of the Covenant. Take it with the fingers of acceptance and drink it down! And, like the noble, pour a draft on the earth of the hearts of the community, for, as the noble have said,

We drank, and we poured on the earth its share,

for the earth has a portion from the cup of the noble.

*

Make everyone’s cup the like of his spirit,

make everyone’s reports equal to his intellect.^{2The two lines of poetry and the previous paragraph are derived from RA 206.}

Jaʿfar Ṣādiq said, “When the beloved approached in utmost nearness, the utmost awe overcame him, so his Lord treated him with the utmost gentleness, for the utmost awe is endured only by the utmost gentleness.” On the night of the miʿrāj when the Master reached the Presence, he found the utmost proximity and saw the utmost awe from that utmost proximity. When the Exalted Lord prepared his heart, He brought him near Himself with the utmost gentleness and infinite generosity. The gentle favors of honor surrounded him and he reached the way station of Then He drew close [53:8] and found the seclusion of Or closer [53:9]. He heard the mystery, he tasted the wine, he saw the vision of the Real, he fled from the two worlds, he took his ease with the Friend. What happened happened, what he heard he heard, what he saw he saw, and no one is aware of these secrets, for intellects and imaginations are dismissed from perceiving them. A mystery went behind the curtain of jealousy and was conveyed to the prophetic hearing without the intrusion of others—light within light, joy within joy, delight within delight. God reported the story to us so as to honor him, and He concealed the secrets to magnify him.

I have a secret with the night, a wonderful secret—

the night knows and I know; I know and the night.^{3The paragraph and poem are derived from RA 212-13.}

17:2 And We gave Moses the Book, and We made it a guidance for the Children of Israel.

God’s many mentions of Moses in the Qur’an are among the signs of His honoring him and the marks of His love for him. When someone loves someone, he often mentions him. Muṣṭafā said, “When someone loves something, he mentions it much”: When someone loves something he is always mentioning its name and remembering it. Do you not see that the Lord of the world, the lovingly kind Enactor, said to Moses, “I cast upon thee love from Me” [20:39]. Hence you should look at how many times He mentioned Moses in the Qur’an: the promised time of Moses, the Mount of Moses, the promise to Moses, the exile of Moses, the whispered prayer of Moses, the brother of Moses, the sister of Moses, the mother of Moses, the traveling companion of Moses, the sea of Moses, the Pharaoh of Moses, the suffering of Moses, the caressing of Moses. He did not leave anything of the states and character traits of Moses without mentioning it in the Qur’an and making the faithful happy by hearing about it. Thus you will know that much mention is the fruit of the tree of friendship and the mark of the road of friendship.

17:4 And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: “You will surely work corruption in the earth twice and you will become high with great height.”

“We ruled and decreed, bringing the work out from the Unseen, so as to show the creatures that all of that was We, and all are We. In the Beginningless were We, in the Endless are We. Good and bad are by Our desire, profit and loss are by Our predetermination, the engendered beings and the newly arrived things are ruled over by Our prescribing and subjugated by Our determining. From the beginningless to the everlasting Our knowledge goes everywhere and We rule and command everything. The existence and nonexistence of you, who are creatures, are the same for the threshold of Our Majesty. We do not benefit from your existence nor are We harmed by your nonexistence. The perfection of Our exaltedness has no need for your obedience.”

17:7 If you do the beautiful, you will have done the beautiful for your own souls, and if you do the ugly, it will be against them.

If you do the beautiful, you will earn your reward, and if you do the ugly, you will attract your punishment. The Real is more exalted than that ornament or stain should go back to Him from the acts of the servant.^{1LI 4:9.}

The exalted majesty of the Unity and the perfection of the Self-Sufficiency is more exalted and purer than that it should be adorned by the obedience of the obedient or stained by the disobedience of the disobedient. If you come as a good man, you yourself will profit, and if you come as a bad man, you will bring harm upon yourself. He is saying, “For the majesty of Our Unity, the beauty of Our Self-Sufficiency is enough.”

Her own face had itself as a moon,

her own eye had itself as collyrium.

If you do the beautiful, you will have done the beautiful for your own souls. This is the degree of the generality of the faithful in their deeds. As for the degree of the elect in their deeds and states, it is as was said by Abū Yazīd concerning the allusion of this verse: “He who acts for his own soul does not act for God, and he who acts for God does not act for his own soul, nor does he see it.”

Abū Sulaymān Dārānī said, “In this world the doers act in various ways, each of them seeking his own share in his deeds. Thus an ignorant person acts in heedlessness, a doer acts out of habit, a fearful man acts in fear, a trusting person acts while detached, a renunciant acts in seclusion, and a sincerely truthful man acts with love. Those who act in God are fewer than the few.”

17:8 Perhaps your Lord will have mercy upon you. And if you return, We will return.

This verse is a strong handhold and a beautiful caress for the hopeful. In other words, “Perhaps He who nurtures you and feeds you with His bounty will have mercy upon you. There is hope that the Lord who created you gratis out of His bounty, who nourished you with His blessings, who kept you in His guarding and solicitude with His gentleness, and who preserved you from blights and disliked things will have mercy on you in the end and finish the work that He Himself began with bounty.”

And if you return, We will return. Sahl ibn ʿAbdallāh said, “If you return to fleeing from Us, We will return to taking the path against you so that you will return to Us.” This is just like what Muṣṭafā said, recounting from God: “When I know that occupation with Me has overpowered My servant’s heart, I put My servant’s appetite into asking from Me and whispering to Me. When My servant is like that and he desires to be negligent of Me, I come between him and his negligence of Me.”

17:11 Man supplicates for evil just as he supplicates for good.

Sahl said, “The safest of supplications is remembrance and the abandonment of choice in supplication and asking, for in remembrance there is sufficiency, and perchance man will supplicate and ask for that within which is his destruction, while he is not aware. Do you not see that God says, ‘Man supplicates for evil just as he supplicates for good.’”

When someone remembers constantly and abandons choice in supplicating and asking, the best of his wishes will be freely given to him and the blights of asking and choice will fall away from him. The Prophet said, recounting from his Lord, “When someone’s remembrance of Me keeps him too busy to ask from Me, I will give him the best of what I give to the askers.”

17:13 And every man, We have fastened his omen to his neck. And We shall bring forth for him, on the Day of Resurrection, a book he will meet wide open.

What is appropriate for each person was fastened to his neck and written out for him in the Beginningless. One had the crown of felicity placed on his head, the tree of his hope filled with fruit, the bounties brought out, the night of separation taken away, the day of union brought forth. By the decree of wretchedness another had the blanket of ill fortune pulled over his head and he was wounded by the sword of deprivation and fastened down with the spikes of rejection. Yes, this apportioning happened in the Beginningless; nothing will be increased and nothing decreased. What can be done, for the Greatest Judge wanted it this way. The poor Adamite who has no awareness of his own Beginningless, and who sits heedless of his own Endless! Between what was and what will be, he has been taken by the sleep of heedlessness. He will awake from the sleep of heedlessness on the day when he is handed the book of his deeds.

And We shall bring forth for him, on the Day of Resurrection, a book he will meet wide open, a book whose pen is his tongue, whose ink is his saliva, whose paper is his bodily parts and joints, and which he himself has dictated from beginning to end. The angels are the scribes and the witnesses against him, and not one letter will be added or subtracted. It will be said to him,

17:14 Read thy book! Thy soul suffices thee today as a reckoner against thee.

“Read your book and see your own deeds.” If you deny one letter of it, that very bodily member from which that deed went forth will testify against you, as God says: “On the day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet bear witness against them concerning what they were doing” [24:24]. This is why He says, “Thy soul suffices thee today as a reckoner against thee,” that is, as a witness of what came from you against you.

It has been said that the books are two: One is written by the angel against the servant, and that is his words and deeds; the other is written by the Real against Himself, and that is His pardon and mercy toward the servant. If the beginningless solicitude takes the servant by the hand, His reckoning with him will be from the book of His own mercy, not the book of the servant’s deeds.

This is just like what has come in the traditions: When the servant’s book is placed in his hands, it is said, “Read thy book!” The servant looks into the book and sees written on the first page, “In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.” He says, “Lord God, first discharge for me the account for this one line and issue its decree for me.”

God says, “My servant! I have taken account of it and I have forgiven you through My bounty and mercy. In the Beginningless, I wrote mercy for you and said about Myself, ‘Forgiver of sins and Accepter of repentance’ [40:3].”

Thy soul suffices thee today as a reckoner against thee. ʿUmar Khaṭṭāb said, “Take an accounting of yourselves before you are brought to account, weigh your deeds before they are weighed, and prepare for the Greatest Exposure.” Anyone who is aware of the Tribunal of Wrongdoing and the calling to account at the resurrection, who has found a whiff of the recognition of the states and terrors of that day, should know that whatever was his companion during his days—little and much, spots and specks—its talk will be asked from him tomorrow and he will be called to account for it. Hence today he should lift the veil of heedlessness away from his road and keep his deeds and words straight in keeping with the yardstick of the Shariah. From his days he should ask for truthfulness in interaction before he is made present at the tribunal of the King of Kings and his activities and moments of rest are compared with the scale of justice; if there are any deficiencies or losses, one hundred thousand proximate holy ones will open the truthful tongue of bearing witness against him. In shame he will seek the road of flight, but there will be no place to flee.

The story is told that a father said to his son, “Whatever you say to people today and whatever you let pass over your tongue, tell it all to me at the time of the night prayer, and expose to me your activities and moments of rest.”

That night at prayer, with great effort and suffering and complete self-exertion, the boy told his father about that one day of words and deeds. The next day he asked him to do the same thing. The boy said, “Protect me father! Lay upon me any suffering and toil you want, but do not ask me this one thing, for I am unable to bear it.”

His father said, “You poor boy! My goal is for you be awake and aware and for you to fear the standing place of calling to account and the exposure of the resurrection. Today you cannot bear taking account of one day with your own gentle father. How will you be able to bear being called to account for a whole lifetime tomorrow—with severity and contention that do not leave aside even the spots and specks?”

17:23 And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and beautiful doing toward your parents.

In this verse the wise Lord, the eternal Enactor, the lovingly kind and generous Beautiful-Doer commands the servants to servanthood. Servanthood is three things: seeing favor, striving in service, and fear of the end. Seeing favor belongs to Abraham the bosom friend, who said, “Who created me, so He is guiding me” [26:78]. Striving in service belongs to Muḥammad the beloved, to whom it was said, “We did not send down the Qur’an upon thee for thee to be wretched” [20:2]. Fear of the end belongs to Joseph the sincerely truthful, who said, “Receive me as a submitter” [12:101]. When someone stands in the field of servanthood in the row of service and sets his feet in the clay of what he desires, making the Exalted Presence the Kaabah of his wishes, God will put the folk of the empire into his service and will take care of his work in the two worlds without him. This is why Muṣṭafā said, “When someone belongs to God, God belongs to him.” Whenever someone has no watchfulness in servanthood, he will have no contemplation on the carpet of proximity.

Know also that the wayfarers in the road of servanthood are three men: One is the worshiper, whose soul is subjugated by the fear of punishment. One is the recognizer, whose heart is subjugated by the forcefulness of proximity. One is the lover, whose spirit is subjugated by the unveiling of the Haqiqah.

Whenever the worshiper wants to lift away the bond of struggle from his days, at once he looks at the title-page of the Real’s rebuke and throws down his head in the station of shame.

Whenever the recognizer wants to make manifest the banner of happiness and expansiveness by virtue of proximity, at once the ruling power of the Real’s awesomeness appears and he falls into the lowland of confoundedness.

Whenever the lover gazes at majesty, at once he melts in awe, seeing only bewilderment in bewilderment. Whenever he gazes at beauty, he delights in happiness and revelry, seeing only light and joy. In the tongue of his state he says,

“Your beauty is my pleasure, Your approval my delight,

and among all the religions Your love is my religion.

*

Along with Your face the world has no night,

along with Your good fortune the universe has no grief!

When an eye sees You, it is relieved of pain.

When a spirit finds You, it is exempt from death.”

This is the state of the Adamite: sometimes in the garden of yearning, sometimes in the pit of separation, sometimes imprisoned by himself in the claws of contraction, sometimes caressed by the Real’s gentleness in the grasp of expansion.

One of the pirs of the Tariqah said, “I was traveling with Khawāṣṣ and we stopped in a way station. A lion came near us and slept. Out of fear I got up and climbed a tree. I was on the tree’s branch until dawn. Khawāṣṣ slept without thinking about the lion. The next day we stopped at another way station. A gnat sat on him and until morning he complained about the gnat’s torment. I said, ‘O shaykh! Last night you had no fear of a lion with all that tremendousness and thought nothing of it. Why are you complaining tonight about such a frail gnat?’

“He answered, ‘Last night I was taken away from myself. I was snatched from myself, the inscription of nonbeing written over me. I was selfless of self and standing through the Real. Today I have been given back to myself, so this frail gnat has made me captive to its days.’”

That you worship none but Him, and beautiful doing toward your parents. The Real commands the servant to observe all that is rightfully due to his parents, and they are of the same kind as he. It the servant is incapable before what is rightfully due to his own kind, how will he undertake what is rightfully due to his Lord?^{1LI 4:16.}

Abū ʿUthmān was asked about kindness toward parents. He said, “You should not raise your voice toward them and you should not look at them angrily. They should not see any opposition from you outwardly or inwardly. You must respect them as long as they live and pray for them after they die. You should stand in service of their friends after them, for the Prophet said, ‘One of the kindest of kind deeds is that a man take care of those his father loved.’ When the Prophet slaughtered a sheep, he would take some of it to the friends of Khadīja.”

Concerning what is rightfully due to father and mother, it has been said that this is nine things, five during their lives and four after their death. The five things during their lives are loving them with the whole heart, speaking beautifully to them with the tongue, serving them extensively with the body, helping them with property, and obeying them in that of which God approves. The four that are after death are satisfying their plaintiffs, appointing for them a portion of your own good works, making supplications for them, and avoiding everything that would torment their spirits.

17:53 And say to My servants that they should say what is more beautiful.

“O Muḥammad, say to My servants that the words they speak should be more beautiful, more true, and more pleasing. That is remembering and lauding God, mentioning Him on the tongue, and keeping His remembrance in the heart.”

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O You who open the tongues of those who whisper in prayer, who increase the intimacy of the seclusions of the rememberers, and who are present in the souls of the keepers of the mystery! I have no traveling companion but the mention of You, no supplies but keeping Your remembrance, no guidepost and no one to show the road to You but You. O God, look upon the need of someone who has nothing other than one need!”

It has also been said, “The most beautiful word of sinners is attesting to offenses, and the most beautiful word of recognizers is attesting to the incapacity to recognize. The Prophet said, ‘I do not number Thy laudations: Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself.’”^{1LI 4:24.}

The most beautiful words that a sinful man may say is to attest to his own offense and acknowledge his own sin so that the Exalted Lord may bestow on him the success of repentance and complete the work of his repentance for him by forgiving his sins, for that is the promise He has given: “And others who have acknowledged their sins. They mixed a wholesome deed with another, an ugly deed. Perhaps God will turn toward them” [9:102]. And the most beautiful word that a recognizing man may say is to attest to his own incapacity to recognize the Real. He knows that no one recognizes Him, nor can anyone do so, as is worthy of Him in the reality of His rightful due and the limits of His exaltedness. This is why Abū Bakr Ṣiddīq said, “Glory be to Him who made no path for the creatures to recognize Him save the incapacity to recognize Him!” Pure and faultless is the Lord, who considers the servant’s incapacity to recognize Him as recognition!

Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said, “O God, he who recognizes You has not recognized You. What then about the state of him who in fact has not recognized You?!”

Naṣrābādī and Shāh [Kirmānī] disagreed with each other. One said that He can be recognized and the other said that He cannot be recognized. Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “Both spoke the truth. When the one said that He cannot be recognized, that is the reality of the Real, which no one reaches but He, for He knows Himself and recognizes Himself in His reality. When the other said that He can be recognized, that is the general recognition that there is no god other than He, that He has no associate or partner, that He has no equal or need, and that there is no assertion of similarity or ineffectuality.”

This is the same as was said by Abu’l-ʿAbbās ʿAṭāʾ: “There are two recognitions, the recognition of the Real, and the recognition of the reality of the Real. The recognition of the Real is the recognition of His oneness and uniqueness, which people recognize from His names and attributes. The recognition of the reality of the Real is not within the capacity of creatures. No one perceives the bounds of His magnificence and qualities, and there is no access to encompassing Him. He says, ‘They encompass Him not in knowledge’ [20:110]. ‘They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure’ [22:74].”

17:55 And We made some of the prophets more excellent than others.

The prophets have the generous gifts of states and the specific characteristics of proximity. One of them has chosenness [Adam], another bosom friendship [Abraham], another speaking with God [Moses], and still another the miʿrāj, intercession, and vision. Then He made some of them superior to others in specific characteristics. He made the prophets superior to the world’s folk, He made the messengers superior to the prophets, He made the Possessors of Resoluteness superior to the messengers, and He made Muṣṭafā superior to the Possessors of Resoluteness. The furthest limits of the stations of all of them are the beginning of the station of Muṣṭafā; the furthest limits of their stations is apparent, but the end of his station is not apparent. He is aware of the secret core of all of them, but no one other than the Real is aware of his secret core. That is why he said, “‘I am the master of the children of Adam, without boasting.’ How should I boast of that? For I am separate from them in my state and I stand with the Real in beautiful courtesy. Were I to boast, I would boast of the Real, proximity, and closeness, for He says, ‘Then He drew close, so He came down’ [53:8]. If I do not boast about the place of closeness and proximity, how could I boast about being the master of all the races?”

That paragon of the world was a sun whose eastern horizon was Mecca and whose western horizon was Yathrib. Its eclipse was in the cave, but that was an eclipse within which a hundred thousand deposits of gentle favor were unveiled. On his forehead was the splendor of By thy life [15:72], on the sleeve of his covenant the exalted embroidery of Muḥammad is God’s messenger [48:29], on the door of the pavilion of his secret core this flag of rulership: Surely We have opened up for thee a clear opening [48:1]. The rug of that paragon’s messengerhood was thrown from the east of the world to the west of the world, the carpet of his prophethood was spread from Qāf to Qāf, the shadowy banners of unbelief were overthrown with his appearance, the seat of his secret core’s joy was set up higher than the throne of Ursa Major. The long and short of it is that first of all was his aspiration, in the middle his honor, and at the end his burning for his community.

Adam was exalted and ennobled, but the devil instilled him with disquiet until he slipped. But the luster and greatness of Muḥammad the Arab leapt at the devil and brought him into the work. Thus he said, “There is no one who has not been entrusted a comrade from among the jinn.”

They said, “Not even you, O Messenger of God?”

He said, “Not even I, but God has helped me against him, so he has submitted.”

Adam was brought in by the door of severity. The shadow of His severity fell on an angel, who became a heretic. Muḥammad the Arab was brought in by the door of gentleness. The shadow of His gentleness fell on a devil, who became one of the sincerely truthful.^{1A few sentences of the commentary, the hadith about the jinn becoming a Muslim, and the general tenor of the discussion are drawn from RA 248-50.}

17:70 We indeed honored the children of Adam, and We carried them on land and sea, and We provided them with goodly things, and We made them much more excellent than many of those We created.

It was a great felicitation, a complete bestowal of eminence, and a tremendous honor that God gave to the faithful children of Adam. On the Day of the Compact, at the outset of the work and the commencement of existence, He gave them a place in the grasp of His attributes and addressed them with the quality of gentleness, binding them to the covenant and compact of friendship.

Then, when they came into this world, He gave them a beautiful form, a lovely shape, and a complete robe of honor, adorning them with knowledge, intellect, speech, understanding, and excellence. He did not hold them back from the outward success of struggle or the inner realization of contemplation and recognition. He opened the door of His mercy and generosity to them, and He kept them on the carpet of whispered prayer. Whenever they want, they call upon Him, ask from Him, and tell Him their secrets. It has been transmitted in one of the traditions that God said, “My servants, confide your secrets in Me. If you will not, then whisper and speak to Me. If you will not, then listen to Me. If you will not, then gaze upon Me. If you will not, then be at My door and lift up your needs before Me, for I am the most generous of the generous.”

Part of the honor is that He bestowed before they asked and He forgave before they begged forgiveness, as has come in the report: “I bestowed upon you before you asked from Me, and I forgave you before you asked Me to forgive you.”

Part of the honor is that among all the created things, He specified them for affection and love. That which He did not bestow on the angels and did not say about the cherubim and the spirituals of heaven, He said about them: “He loves them, and they love Him [5:54]. God approves of them and they approve of Him [9:100]. Those who have faith are more intense in love for God [2:165]. So remember Me; I will remember you [2:152].”

Remember Me is the rivulet of your remembrance, and I will remember you is the ocean of the Real’s remembrance. When the rivulet of the servant’s remembrance reaches the ocean of the Real’s remembrance, the water of the ocean of I will remember you enters the rivulet of Remember Me and all of it becomes the ocean’s water. Nothing remains of the rivulet. This is exactly what the Pir of the Tariqah said: “When someone falls into the Real’s grasp, he burns, and then the Real is his successor.”

O God, You are the meaning of the call of the truthful, You light up the souls of the friends, You are the repose of the hearts of the exiles! You are present in the midst of the spirit, so it is with my lost heart that I say, “Where are You?” You are the life of the spirit and the mirror of the tongue. You Yourself are the spokesman for Yourself. By Your rightful due against Yourself, do not seat us in the shadow of delusion! Convey us to union with You!

He said, “We indeed honored the children of Adam.” He did not say “the faithful,” or “the worshipers,” or “the strugglers.” Thus He declared this honoring pure of being the counterpart of activity, or being caused by a conformity with something, or being the result of a worthiness in some respect.^{1LI 4:32.}

The reason He did not tie His generosity and gentleness toward the servants to their deeds or struggle is so that you would know that His caressing has no cause and His honoring is not a compensation. He caresses because He wants to, not because of the servants’ obedience. He bestows because of His bounty, not because of their effort. The servant who finds the Real’s generosity does not find it because of his obedience. Rather, he has obedience because he has found the Real’s generosity. It is not the servant’s supplication that led to the response of the Real; rather, it is the Real’s response that has led the servant to supplicate. The servant who finds the Real does not find from seeking; rather, he finds seeking from finding. Being carried is the act of him who was not; carrying is the bounty of Him who always was.

And We carried them on land and sea. The mounts of the common people on land and sea are one thing, and the mounts of the elect something else. Concerning the mounts of the common people He says, “He appointed for you, from ships and cattle, what you mount upon so that you may sit on their backs” [43:12-13]. In these friend and enemy, familiar and stranger, are all the same. Concerning the mounts of the elect on the sea He says, “And the wind was Solomon’s, its morning course a month and its evening course a month” [34:12]. About Muṣṭafā He said, “Who took His servant by night” [17:1]. Solomon had the wind and Muṣṭafā had Burāq.

In the afterworld, the mounts of the friends and the near ones will be what He says: “We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves” [19:85]. Concerning this verse God’s Messenger said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul! When they emerge from their graves, they will be welcomed by white she-camels with wings, upon which are saddles of gold and each of whose strides is the length of eyesight. They will take them as far as the gate of the Garden.”

He also said, “Make your sacrificial animals large and fat, for they will be your mounts on the Narrow Path.”

Among them is he who says, “Everyone will mount upon the deeds he did in this world and upon which he died.” And among them is he who says, “No one will pass over the Narrow Path except with the light of recognition.”

And We provided them with goodly things. Goodly provision is that which is in remembrance of the Provider. When someone is not absent in his heart or heedless of his Lord, his every provision is goodly,^{2LI 4:33.} for when encountering the Beloved colocynth is honey, and when the Beloved is absent honey is colocynth.

Yaḥyā ibn Muʿādh said, “Goodly provision is what is opened to a man without his asking or looking for it.”

And We made them much more excellent than many of those We created: With knowledge of God and His rulings We made the knowers more excellent than the ignorant, and with recognition We made the friends more excellent than all creatures.

17:84 Say: “Each acts according to his own manner.”

What comes from the Adamite other than disloyalty? What comes from water and clay other than error? What will be seen from the Lord’s generosity other than loyalty?

In the whole Qur’an, no verse offers more hope than this. He is saying, “Everyone does what comes from him, and from everyone comes what is worthy of him. The servant returns to sin and the Lord returns to forgiveness.”

One of revealed books tells us that God said, “O child of Adam! You keep on returning to sins, and I keep on returning to forgiveness.”

It was said to the abandoned one of the empire, the despairing Iblis, “Prostrate yourself before Adam!”

He said, “I will not, for Adam is from dust, and I am from fire.”

It was said to him, “O unlucky one! No doubt everyone does what is worthy of him, and from everyone comes what is inside him. When fire dies down, it becomes ashes, which can never be renewed. Dust, even if it is old, is renewed by sprinkling water on it. O Iblis, O you who are of fire, you left aside one command, so you will die and never come to life! O Adam, O you who are of dust, you let one tear of remorse fall from your eyes, so I have forgiven your sins and will caress you. O Iblis, what you did comes from fire. O Adam, what you saw is born of dust. Say: ‘Each acts according to his own manner.’”

17:85 They ask thee about the spirit.

Man is body, heart, and spirit. The body is the place of the Trust, the heart is the threshold of being addressed, and the spirit is the center point of contemplation. All blessings are largesse for the body; its nourishment is food and drink. All favors are gifts for the heart; its nutriment is remembering and mentioning the Friend. All vision and contemplation are the portion of the spirit; its nourishment is seeing the Friend. The body is under the severity of power, the heart in the grasp of the attributes, and the spirit in the embrace of exaltedness—the carpet of intimacy spread, the candle of compassion lit, the beginningless Friend having lifted the veil.

17:107 Say: “Have faith in it, or do not have faith.” Surely those who were given knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in prostration.

The side of Unity, the exalted Majesty, is alluding to the fact that He has never had and will never have any need for an obedience that was not and then came into being. He is saying, “You have no worth, for nothing is worthy of Me. If you want, have faith, and if you do not want, do not. I have no need for your faith. Beginningless majesty and beauty gain no adornment from the obedience of newly arrived things. I had still not written out existence for any existent thing when My majesty was contemplating My beauty and I was pleased with Myself in Myself. Today that I have created the creatures, I am what I was. I have no need in Myself for any causes and no need in My perfection for any seeking.”

17:109 They fall down on their faces weeping.

Weeping is the state of the beginners and the attribute of the travelers—everyone according to his own state and every traveler in the measure of his own deeds. The repenter looks upon his own sin and weeps in fear of punishment. The obedient person looks upon his own lax obedience and weeps in fear of shortcoming. The worshiper weeps in fear of the outcome: “What will be done with me tomorrow?” The recognizer looks at the beginningless precedent and weeps: “What was done to me and decreed for me in the Beginningless?”

All this happens to travelers on the path and is a mark of the weakness of their state. As for those who have been snatched away from themselves, the folk of stability, for them weeping is an imperfection and defect in their road. Thus it is related that Junayd was sitting with his wife and Shiblī entered. The wife wanted to cover herself, but Junayd said to her, “Shiblī is not aware of you, so sit.” Junayd kept speaking to her, and then Shiblī wept. When Shiblī began to weep, Junayd said to his wife, “Cover yourself, for Shiblī has come back from absence to awareness.”