19:1 Kāf Hāʾ Yāʾ ʿAyn Ṣād

Hearing these letters is a wine that the Real pours into the hearts of His friends. When they drink it, they seek; when they seek, they rejoice; when they rejoice, they fly; when they fly, they arrive; when they arrive, they depart; when they depart, they join; when they join, they acquire. Then their intellects are drowned in His gentleness, and their hearts absorbed by His unveiling.

Listening to the disconnected letters at the beginning of the surahs and verses is a wine poured into the cup of joy and placed in the goblet of intimacy that is given by the majesty of the unity with the attribute of self-sufficiency to His friends. When the friends of the Real drink this wine of intimacy from the cup of holiness in the garden of gentleness, they rejoice. When they rejoice, they seek. They break the cage of being and fly on the wings of passion to the horizon of the Unseen, reaching the Kaabah of union. When they reach it, they reach themselves, their intellects drowned in gentleness, their hearts consumed by unveiling. The breeze of the Beginningless blows from the side of proximity. They lose themselves and find Him.^{1These two paragraphs are derived from RA 10-11.}

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “For a long time I was seeking Him and finding myself. Now I seek myself and find Him. O Remembered in the proofs, O Reminder of intimacy! Since You are present, of what use is this seeking? O God, I seek the Found. I say to the Seen, ‘What do I have, what should I seek, when will I see, what should I say?’ I am entranced by this seeking, I am seized by this speaking. O You who are before each day and separate from everyone! In this celebration a thousand minstrels are not enough for me.”

Kāf Hāʾ Yāʾ ʿAyn Ṣād. This is the Real’s laudation of Himself. With these letters He reminds His creatures of His names and attributes and He praises Himself.

Kāf: He is saying, “I am the Great [kabīr], I am the Generous [karīm].” The Great is an allusion to the majesty and greatness of the Unity, the Generous is an allusion to the beauty and generosity of self-sufficiency. The recognizers are in the unveiling of majesty, the lovers in the contemplation of beauty. When you look at His majesty, you see livers in the midst of blood. When you look at His beauty, you see the comfort of sorrowful hearts. The first is a universe-burning fire, the second a world-brightening light. The first plunders the hearts, the second comforts the spirits.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “His name is my provision, speech the adornment of the tongue, reports the plundering of the heart, face-to-face vision the repose of the spirit. When the foundation of love was laid, it was laid on this basis: at first the spirit’s peril, at last everlasting joy. At first wailing, lament, and weeping, at last solace, seclusion, and happiness.”

Wait, O chevalier, until this flood reaches the ocean and the goods reach the buyer. The cloud of kindness will begin to weep, and the rose will start to smile. The call of generosity will come from the exalted presence of the Possessor of Majesty: “My servants, My bondsmen, My travelers, My friends, ‘I pay attention to the burdens carried for My sake’: I saw the suffering that reached you, I heard those laments of yours.” The Prophet said, “Eyes will be filled with gazing on His face, and He will speak to them as a man speaks with his sitting companion.”

Hāʾ: “I am God, the Guide [hādī]: I am God, the road-shower, the heart-opener, the truth-adorner. It is I who made the tree of guidance and recognition grow in the garden of your heart, it is I who made the breeze of purity and limpidness blow in the meadow of your breast, it is I who made the sun of felicity shine from the sphere of your desire, it is I who made the long road simple and easy for you, it is I who caressed you in the Beginningless before the rushing and running of deeds, it is I who took care of your work without you, it is I who released your heart from the two realms of being for Me.” We would not have been guided had God not guided us [7:43].

Kharaqānī said, “He clings to you—you do not cling to Him.”

He has set up the pavilion of generosity, spread the carpet of blessings, and given the call: “Respond to God’s caller! [46:31]. O beggars, come to Me! I have no need of you; rather, I have secrets to whisper with you.”

That great man said, “I was walking in the desert and saw someone with one leg, hopping because of the overpowering force of his ecstasy. I said, ‘Where to?’ He said, ‘The people’s duty to God is to visit the House’ [3:97]. I said, ‘That fervor will bring suffering.’

“When I reached Mecca, I saw that he had reached it before me. I said, ‘How did you arrive before me?’ He said, ‘Don’t you know that you came with the self-exertion of acquisition, and I came by the attractions of the Unseen? How can what comes by acquisition ever reach what comes from the Unseen?’^{2The explanation of the letter hāʾ is from RA 594-95.}

Yāʾ. According to Rabīʿ Anas, the meaning is “O [yā] He who protects and is not protected against [23:88].” O Lord, You protect all, but none protects You! You have proof against all, but none has proof against You. All are under Your security, but You are under no one’s security. All are subjugated and You are the subjugator. All are compelled and You are the compeller. All are acted upon and You are the enactor. Exalted is the one You protect, majestic is Your laudation, and there is no god other than You!

ʿAyn: He is saying, “‘I am the Exalted [ʿazīz], I am the High [ʿalī].’ It is I who am potent against every contender, not resembling any being, standing through My own attributes. I am great beyond all that intelligence shows, I am pure beyond all on which fancy falls.” He is solitary, and thoughts are misguided in describing Him; He is unique, and eyesights are dulled by His Essence. All things have traces bearing witness that He is the exalted, the compeller. He is enduring without disappearance, solitary without companion, knower of all that is in minds and secret cores, turner of the turning wheel, creator of night and day, subjugator, strong, exalted, and compeller.

Ṣād: He is saying, “I am the Truthful [ṣādiq], I am the Form-giver [muṣawwir]. I am the Lord who is true in speech, true in decree, true in work. I am the painter of faces, the adorner of beauties.” God says, “And He formed you, so He made your forms beautiful” [40:64]. He brought the one hundred thousand marvels, wonders, and artifacts into the realm of being—from the concealment of nonexistence into the world of existence—but He did not deliver this address to any existent thing or bestow this eminence on any created thing, only this handful of dust: “So He made your forms beautiful.” This is so you may know that the dust-dwellers are those caressed by gentleness and pulled up by compassion. They are the narcissus of the meadow of munificence, the cypress of the garden of existence, the jewel-box of the pearls of wisdom, the light in the pupil of the world of power, the blossoms of the garden of creativity. They are the peerless creation, and He is the peerless Creator. About Himself He said, “the most beautiful of creators” [23:14], and concerning them He said, “in the most beautiful stature” [95:4].

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, Your beginningless solicitude planted the seed of guidance, You watered it with the messages of the prophets, You cultivated it with help and success-giving, and You brought it to fruit with Your own gaze. O Lord, now it would be fitting if You keep the poisons of severity away from it and You help with endless kind favor what You planted with beginningless solicitude.”^{3A good deal of the previous paragraph is drawn from RA 82, and the prayer that makes up this paragraph is apparently derived from RA 84. Maybudī again attributes the prayer to the Pir of the Tariqah under 52:2, and he uses it without attribution under 44:32. About it, Samʿānī simply says, “They say,” so it is conceivable that it does go back to Anṣārī. Given the fact that Maybudī takes material from the passage leading up to the prayer from RA, however, it is more likely that he is using “Pir of the Tariqah” in a generic sense.}

19:2 The mention of thy Lord’s mercy to His servant Zachariah.

Here you have the largesse of the Lord’s mercy toward His servant. You have the utmost gentleness, perfection, and generosity that He shows through His loving kindness—a mercy that doubt does not reach, a gentleness that thought does not touch. This mercy is bestowed because of the divine bounty and lordly solicitude, not because of worship and the acquisitions of servanthood.

As much as the servant strives in disobedience, God conceals it with His covering. As much as he strives for disgrace, He pours down His blessings upon him. This is why that pir of the Tariqah said, “I reached the point where I do not count God’s blessings upon me when I have so many acts of disobedience. I do not know for what I should thank Him: for the beauty of that to which He eases me or the ugliness of what He conceals.”

It has been reported that the followed verse was recited before the Messenger: “Say, ‘O My servants who have been immoderate against yourselves, despair not of God’s mercy. Surely God forgives the sins altogether’” [39:53]. The Messenger said, “Indeed He does, and He does not care.” Then he said three times, “May God curse those who make people flee,” that is, those who make people despair of God’s mercy.

It is told that in former times a renunciant worshiped in a monastery for one hundred years, but then caprice overcame him and he acted with disobedience. He regretted that, and he wanted to go back to his devotions in the niche of worship. When he stepped into the niche, Satan came and said to him, “Are you not ashamed that you did something like that and you now come before the Majestic Presence of the Real?” He wanted to make him despair of the Real, so that his despair would add to his sins. In that state he heard a call, “My servant, you have Me, and I have you. Say to this meddler, ‘What do you have?’”^{1This story is from RA 339.}

19:3 When he supplicated his Lord secretly.

The mark of response to supplication is firm fixity in the supplication. If you are firmly fixed in supplication and you remain deprived of the response that is your portion, you will be given the eminence of the worship that is God’s rightful due, and the latter step is beyond the former step. This station is greater than that station. The Prophet said, “Supplication is worship.”

Know also that in supplication there must be distress, for the Real says, “He who responds to the distressed when he supplicates Him” [27:62]. There must be seeking aid, for He says, “When you sought the aid of your Lord” [8:9]. There must be pleading, for He says, “Supplicate your Lord in pleading and secret” [7:55]. There must be eagerness and dread, for He says “They were supplicating Us in eagerness and dread” [21:90]. It must be continuous, not cut off, for He says, “Those who supplicate their Lord morning and evening” [18:28]. There must be self-purification, for He says, “And supplicate Him, purifying the religion for Him” [7:29]. In a report has come, “God does not respond to the supplication of an inattentive heart.” There must be permitted morsels, for the Prophet said, “And his clothing is forbidden, his food is forbidden—so how should he receive a response?”

The servant who has put the preconditions of supplication in place is like a caged bird whose voice is loved by the Lord of the Worlds. People have the custom of catching birds, making cages for them, and keeping them supplied with water and food so that in the morning they will sing. In the same way the Lord of the Worlds brought the worshipers and recognizers into existence, made this world their cage, and prepared benefits and wholesome things for them in this world. He set up their work and then said in the firm text of the Book, “And in the dawns they would ask for forgiveness” [51:18]. The servants lament and wail at their own incapacity at the time of dawn, and in His gentleness the Real hears and listens.^{1The commentary on this verse is derived from RA 381, 383.}

19:39 Warn them of the day of remorse.

The Day of Remorse is the Day of Resurrection. Wretchedness preceded for one group without their having committing disobedience, and felicity for another group without their having done beautiful deeds.

The Day of Remorse is the first day in the era of the Beginningless, when it was ruled and decreed that everyone would be given what was suited for him: One would be driven away without any offense, and the other caressed but not because of obedience. For one a robe of elevation was woven without bias, and the other was burned in the fire of severance without iniquity. One was full of joy on the carpet of gentleness and heard the address, “So rejoice in your sale!” [9:111]. The other was in the pit of abandonment with the attribute of deprivation and tasted the venom of “Die in your rage!” [3:119]. Yes, He put into effect the precedent as He knew it, and He laid down the outcome as He wanted it. He brought into existence a frail arrow compounded of mortal nature and put that arrow into the bow of the beginningless knowledge, firing it at the target of the decree. If it goes straight, the laudation and bravo belong to the shooter; if it goes crooked, the criticism and curse belong to the arrow.

Bewilderment upon bewilderment, thirst upon thirst—

sometimes supposition becomes certainty, sometimes certainty supposition.

His presence is exaltation and majesty, His carpet unneediness—

a hundred thousand caravans have been waylaid in this road.^{1Most of the preceding paragraph is taken from or inspired by RA 183, which also has the first line of the poetry; both lines are found in RA 167.}

19:65 The Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between the two. So worship Him, and be patient in His worship.

The keeper of heaven and earth, of Throne and Carpet, of land and sea, is He. His command dominates over all, His will penetrates all. The world and the world’s folk are all His servants and servitors. The seven heavens and the seven earths and everything within them are all His possession and kingdom.

This is a king whose kingship has no removal, whose exaltedness has no abasement, whose seriousness has no levity, whose decree has no rejection, and from whom there is no escape. He revealed to Moses, “‘I am the remedy that clings to you, so cling to the remedy.’ O Moses, I am unavoidable to you. Everything can be avoided, but there is no avoiding Me. Everything can be escaped, but there is no escaping Me. Be a servant, for a servant has no artifice better than servanthood.”^{1Except for the last sentence, this is from RA 13.}

This is why the Lord of the Worlds says in this verse, “So worship Him, and be patient in His worship.” The burden of servanthood is a heavy burden, and the road of the Law’s prescription is difficult. Since you know who placed this burden and how to take care of the burden in this road, be patient and do not complain. Whenever someone recognizes the Real’s majesty and knows the destination of this road, the hands of his self-determination will fall short of the two realms of being and the feet of his passion will always be in the road. For him the bottom of a well will be like chieftainship and status.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, sometimes I say I’m in the devil’s grasp, so much covering do I see. Then at times a light shines next to which all mortal nature disappears.

“O God, since the eyes are still waiting for face-to-face vision, what is this trial of the heart? Since this path is all trial, why is there so much pleasure?

“O God, sometimes I spoke to You and sometimes I listened. In the midst of my offenses I thought of Your gentleness. I suffered what I suffered. All became sweet when I heard the voice of acceptance.”

19:85 The day We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves.

He did not say, “to the Gardens in droves,” so as to mollify the hearts of the elect among the lovers, for they do not worship Him in hope of the Garden or fear of the Fire. Rather, they worship Him for His sake, for He has promised them that He will muster them to Him.

The paradise-seekers are one thing, the God-seekers something else. He ascribed the paradise-seekers to paradise: “Surely the companions of the Garden today are in an occupation, rejoicing” [36:55]. Concerning the God-seekers He said, “The day We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves.”

Mamshād Dīnawarī was in the throes of death. A dervish was standing before him and supplicating: “Lord God, have mercy on him and grant him paradise.” Mamshād looked at him and shouted out, “O heedless man! It has been thirty years that paradise with its marvels and chambers, its houris and palaces, has been disclosing itself, but I have never glanced at it. Now that I am arriving at the drinking place of the Haqiqah, you intrude and want paradise and mercy for me!”^{1This paragraph is from RA 171.}

O chevalier, this talk will not fit into just anyone’s craw. It happens that in the pavilions of observation and the stations of generosity these chevaliers become seeking itself—sometimes in the robe of struggle, sometimes in the shirt of contemplation; sometimes in the intoxication of gratitude, sometimes in the sobriety of effacement; they both are and are not, they are both sober and drunk; their hearts are burnt by the fire of jealousy, their spirits drowned in the ocean of bewilderment. They are runners standing still, silent speakers.^{2To this point the paragraph is derived from RA 273.} When tomorrow people are mustered to the Presence of the Possessor of Majesty, everyone will have a mount. One will have the noble horse of obedience, another the Burāq of aspiration, but they will be in the grasp of Unity’s exaltedness.

According to a report, “The spirits of the martyrs are in the craws of green birds.” When the spirits of the martyrs are commanded to depart from this world, they will be put into the craws of green birds and in lamps of light; or, it is said, in the meadows of paradise. As for these chevaliers, the craw of their love is vaster than that they could enter into the craw of a bird.

What is their station? “The spirits of the lovers are in the grasp of Exaltedness. He unveils His Essence to them and is gentle toward them with His attributes.”^{3These two paragraphs are from RA 348-49.}

What is their conduct? They keep themselves totally occupied with the Beloved; they expend their spirits, hearts, and bodies in His path; they seek conformity with Him silently and aloud, openly and secretly; and they give priority to His portion over their portion. They also recognize themselves as thrown down by incapacity and broken by shortcomings.

What caress do they receive from the Presence of the Possessor of Majesty? Surely those who have faith and do wholesome deeds, to them the All-Merciful will assign love [19:96]. We are your friends in this world’s life and in the next world [41:31]. He loves them, and they love Him [5:54].

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “This love is not attached to dust. His love is attached to His own beginningless gaze. If the cause of love were dust, there is plenty of dust in the world.”^{4In fact this quote is taken from RA 425, where Samʿānī ascribes it to his father (Abu’l-Muẓaffar Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad Samʿānī, d. 1096).} It is not everywhere that there is love. Rather, He drew lots from His power, and we came out. He took an omen from wisdom, and there we were. When He looks at you, He looks at the property of the Beginningless, not the property of the present moment.

Abū Sulaymān Dārānī wrote to Abū Yazīd, “If someone is heedless of Him and sleeps at night, is it possible that he may reach the way station?”

Abū Yazīd wrote in response, “When the wind of solicitude blows, he will reach the way station without trouble.” If the wind of the beginningless gentleness should blow into his heart from the air of solitariness, he will reach the way station without trouble.

He sees His servants in disobedience and knows that they will repent. His decree for them derives from this repentance, not from that disobedience. He sees that the servant is sinning right now, but he knows that he will become good. He counts him among the wholesome, not the corrupt. In wrath Moses threw the tablets of the Torah on the ground, but God did not rebuke him. Solomon hamstrung the innocent horses, but God said nothing to him about that, for He did not look at the outward act; He looked at the beginningless precedent.

Sometimes He takes to task for a straw, sometimes He pardons for a mountain. He takes to task for a straw because of power; He pardons for a mountain because of mercy: “When I affirmed friendship for you in the Beginningless, I drew a line around you. If you had had to be without sin, I would have created you without sin. I created you as you had to be. Have no confidence in the friendship of someone who loves you only as sinless. If I had given you sinlessness and there had been nothing but purity from you, you would have been a partner with the majesty of Unity. But I am a Lord without partner, without peer, without equal, and without need. Whenever I have written out friendship for someone, I indeed take care of his work and I suffice for his adversaries. Whenever anyone comes forth as an adversary to one of My friends, I am his adversary. ‘When someone torments a friend of Mine, he is competing with Me in a battle.’ You saw that Iblis said one word about you and became accursed forever.^{5Up to here these five paragraphs are derived from RA 425-26.} Nimrod, with all his height and breadth, I destroyed with half a gnat as retribution for the pain in Abraham’s heart. In the era of Noah I drowned a world of creatures as recompense for the pain in Noah’s heart because of the cruelties that had reached him from them. Yes, whenever someone is chosen by Me as the locus of My secrets and the springhead of My lights, his heart is adorned with My remembrance, and My work is to make his work wholesome.”