20:5 The All-Merciful sat on the Throne.

In the Qur’an He mentioned seven times that He is sitting on the Throne.

Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī said, “The sitting of the Lord on the Throne is in the Qur’an, and I have faith in it. I do not seek interpretation, for interpretation in such topics is rebellion. I accept the outward meaning and surrender to the inner meaning. This is the belief of the Sunnis, whose path is to accept with the spirit what is not perceived.

“My faith comes by hearing, my Shariah comes by reports, my recognition comes by finding. I assent to the reports, I realize the found, and I follow the heard with the tool of intellect, the witnessing of His artisanry, the evidence of light, the allusions of the revelation, the message of the Messenger, and the condition of surrender.

“Nonetheless, I know for sure that He is not one who takes up place out of need, for He shows places for argument. The Throne does not elevate God, for God elevates and preserves the Throne. He made the Throne for seekers of God, not recognizers of God. The God-seeker is one thing, the God-recognizer something else. He says to the God-seekers, ‘The All-Merciful sat on the Throne.’ He says to the God recognizers, ‘And He is with you’ [57:4] on the Throne by Essence, in knowledge everywhere, through companionship with the spirit, and through nearness with the soul.”

O chevalier, do not put down your bags in the seclusion of He is with you, for High indeed is God, the King, the Real [20:114] applies to Him. Do not relax on the carpet of We are nearer [50:16], for beneath it is They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure [22:74]. Do not be bold because of Faces that day will be radiant, gazing upon their Lord [75:22-23], for above it is Eyesights perceive Him not [6:103]. Whatever He is the First gives, He is the Last snatches away; whatever He is the Outward shows, He is the Inward [57:3] effaces.

What is all this? This is so that the person of faith will circle around between fear and hope, and the recognizer between contraction and expansion. You cannot say that you cannot find, for the Shariah disputes that. Nor can you say that you can find, for the Exaltedness does not approve.^{1These two paragraphs are derived largely from RA 430-31.}

He is exalted and tremendous, one whose measure is not recognized and whose rightful due is not perceived. He is gentle and loving, one who loves them, and they love Him [5:54].

20:7 Even if thou speakest aloud, yet surely He knows the secret and the most hidden.

The soul is not informed of what is in the heart, the heart is not informed of the secrets of the spirit, and the spirit has no access to the realities of the secret. As for that which is most hidden, no one is aware of it but the Real.^{1LI 4:118.}

What does the soul know of what is placed in the treasure-house of the heart? What does the heart know of the subtleties inside the sanctuary of the spirit? What does the spirit know of the deposits in the pavilion of the secret core? What does the secret core know of the realities in the most hidden?

The soul is the locus of the Trust, the heart the house of recognition, the spirit the target of contemplation, and the secret core the place where passion puts down its saddlebags. As for the most hidden, the Real knows what it is—people’s imaginations and understandings are empty of knowing it.

20:8 God, there is no god but He. To Him belong the most beautiful names.

Whenever a sultan is about to dismount at a house, a chamberlain must go beforehand and sweep the house. He cleans it of rubbish and refuse and puts down the sultan’s royal seat. Then, when the sultan enters, the work will be finished and the house ready. When the exalted sultan of but God descends into the breast of the servant, the chamberlain of no god comes beforehand. It sweeps the courtyard of the breast with the broom of disengagement and solitariness and destroys the rubbish and refuse of mortal nature and satanity and throws them out. It sprinkles the water of approval and spreads the carpet of loyalty. It lights up the sandalwood of limpidness in the incense-burner of friendship. It puts down the royal seat of felicity and the cushion of mastery. When the sultan of but God arrives, it leans on the sofa of the secret core in the cradle of the Covenant.

Depend upon My spirit—may it be your sacrifice!—

Why do you depend on your corner of the world’s house?^{1The paragraph and line are from RA 7-8.}

20:9-10 Hast thou received the story of Moses when he saw a fire?

Fire is a mark of munificence and a proof of generosity. The Arabs would light up a fire to bring guests. But no one has ever found a banquet through a fire like Moses, and no one has seen a host from a fire like God. Moses was seeking a fire to light up a tent. He found a fire that burns spirit and heart. All fires burn the body, but the fire of friendship burns the spirit. No one can be patient with a spirit-burning fire.

Fires are of different sorts: the fire of shame, the fire of yearning, the fire of love. The fire of shame burns away dispersion, the fire of yearning burns away patience, and the fire of love burns away the two worlds such that nothing remains but the Real. The evidence of having found friendship is that the two worlds are burned away. The mark of the realizer is that he does not attend to anything other than the Real. The mark of nonbeing is to reach oneself. When rain reaches the ocean, it has reached it. He who reaches the Patron reaches himself.^{1These two sentences, often quoted by Maybudī, are from the discussion of annihilation in Anṣārī’s Ṣad maydān 333; usually Maybudī quotes them without ascription, but under 47:19 he attributes them to the Pir of the Tariqah, one of the few instances in which he acknowledges using one of his treatises other than the unknown “commentary” (cf. the introduction).}

20:12 Surely I am thy Lord. Take off thy shoes!

Moses had reached the head of tawḥīd’s drinking place when he heard the words, “Surely I am thy Lord.” He was commanded to step into the world of solitariness. He placed his feet on the two worlds and made his aspiration one for the Patron. Take off thy shoes! That is, empty your heart of talk of the two worlds and become disengaged for the Real with the attribute of solitariness. O Moses, be one for the One, first in the disengagement of the intention, and second in the breeze of intimacy. Disown the two worlds so that the breeze of intimacy may begin to blow from the desert of the Endless. The veil of division has been lifted, and the call of gentleness has reached the spirit.

20:17 What is that in thy right hand, O Moses?

When Moses heard the address, “Surely I am thy Lord,” the ruling power of awe began to attack and he fell into bewilderment and confoundedness. Because of the force of that awe, ease did not remain in its place. His body was not able to bear it with patience, and his heart was not able to busy itself with intellect. The Lord of the Worlds attended to his heart with the call of gentleness; He began speaking about his staff. He said, “What is that in thy right hand, O Moses?”

He said, “It is my staff” [20:18].

The command came, “Throw it down, O Moses! [20:19]. Throw down this staff concerning which you say that it is your staff.”

Moses threw it down and it became a snake. When he saw that the snake aimed to come after him, he was frightened and fled. The call came, “Take it, and fear not! [20:21]. O Moses, pick up the snake and do not fear. This is that very staff of which you spoke, claiming it was your staff. O Moses, what do you have to do with making claims? The men of the road make no claims and ascribe nothing to themselves.”

It was the attribute of Moses’ own being and the traces of his claim that turned toward him in that Presence, for the claims of mortal nature were still staining his innate disposition. The stain appeared with the claim my staff, so it was said to him, “O Moses, there is still something of egoism in you.” It was a mercy from the Real to Moses that He said, “What is that in thy right hand, O Moses?,” for the claim appeared from his makeup, and when he was made aware of it, he left the claim behind and shook the dust from the cloak of his sinlessness.

20:22 Clasp thy hand to thy side. It will come forth white without ugliness, as another sign.

Moses had two miracles. One was outside of himself, namely the staff, and the other was within himself, namely the white hand. The staff was a sample of the signs of the horizons, and the white hand was a sample of the signs of the souls. The Lord of the Worlds built the road of tawḥīd on the recognition of these two. He says, “We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in their souls until it is clear to them that He is the Real” [41:53].

20:23 That We may show thee some of Our greatest signs.

The greatest sign was the witnessing and finding that came to him, the varieties of states perceived by the servant’s tasting that do not derive from self-exertion and self-determination.^{1LI 4:125.}

In reality the greatest sign is that which is hidden from the eyes of the creatures and free of the servant’s self-exertion and self-determination. Unasked for, a wine comes from the Unseen and reaches the servant’s secret core, so he finds its taste in his spirit—a spiritual delight with a hundred thousand hidden drums, an everlasting resurrection. The soul is mixed with companionship, the spirit clinging to its desire, the heart drowned in the light of finding. Because of the drowning the servant does not discern the seeking from the finding. Because of the radiance of finding, it cannot be expressed. He burns in the fire of love and does not turn back from joy.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, when that which cannot be asked for comes to be found, who asked for it? When something is beyond reward, what is asking next to it? Everything that comes from the rain of favor is the springtime of that very moment, and everything that comes from undertaking and asking is aid sought by the servant. O God, knowledge and striving are the Adamite’s tribulation, but everyone’s portion from You is worthy of Your beginningless deed.”

20:40 And We tried thee with trials.

In other words, “We cooked you well with trial until you became limpid and immaculate, then We took you totally to Ourselves, so that you would not belong to any other.”^{1The second half of this sentence is from LI 4:129.}

“O Moses, We took you to the oven of trial and put you into self-purification so that nothing would remain in your heart but My love and nothing on your tongue but My remembrance.”

What were those trials and troubles that sat on his head? When he was first born he was born in secrecy, in a house without lamp, poor, without pleasures. His mother could not have a son because of fear of Pharaoh, who was killing sons. She put him into the casket and threw it in the river. His first home was the river. His second home was the sword, the execution ground, and seeing the enemy. His third home was fear of the Egyptians, because he had killed one of them. Then he fled looking back at them, his heart upset, his spirit bewildered, his feet bare, and his stomach hungry. He did not know where to go, and then he reached Midian and became a wage-earner and a shepherd with Shuʿayb. In burning and remorse because of constant tribulation he said,

“How long will You drive me to every street?

How long will You make me taste every poison?

First You toss me in the river,

then You show me to the enemy.

Then You throw me into exile

working for Shuʿayb as a shepherd.

How could a shepherd have the worth

for You to call him without intermediary?

Then You bring him to Mount Sinai,

You speak with him countless words.

And if he says, ‘I want vision from You,’

You say to him, ‘Moses, thou shalt not see Me’ [7:143].”

Thus He threw him into trial mixed with gentleness, He adorned him with wounds mixed with tenderness, and He washed him with many sorts of trial. What was all this for? It was so that he would belong to Him, just as He says:

20:41 “I chose thee for Myself.”

“O Moses! You were not worthy—you had little worthiness—for Me to choose you. That was not for you, but rather for Me.” This is why, when he seized his brother by the head and pulled him severely, He did not say, “Why did you do that?” When he punched out the eye of Azrael with his fist, He did not say, “Why did you do that?” When he threw the tablets of the Torah on the ground, He did not say, “Why did you throw them?” Yes, within the curtain of friendship things go on that outside the curtain of friendship would all be faults, but inside the curtain of friendship are tolerated.

When the beloved comes with one sin,

his beautiful traits come with a thousand interceders.^{1The line of poetry and the last sentence of the preceding paragraph are from RA 169.}

20:55 From it We created you and to it We shall return you.

Know that the Adamite is two things: spirit and body. The spirit is from light, and light is celestial. The body is from dust, and dust is terrestrial. The spirit wants to go up because it is celestial. The body wants to go down because it is terrestrial. In the perfection of His power, the King bound the two together. The spirit was bound to the body, and the body was bound to the spirit, so both are in bonds. The spirit and the body settled down together.

On the day of death, when the life of the servant comes to an end and the moment of death arrives, the bonds are loosened, as when a bird comes out of its cage. The spirit rises up from the body and goes skyward to its nest. The body takes the road of the earth to its center. The spirit is put into a lantern of light, which is hung from the tree of blessedness. The body is wrapped in a shroud and entrusted to the earth. This is why the Lord of the worlds says, “From it We created you and to it We shall return you.” After a few days pass, the spirit comes to gaze on the body. It sees the state of the body changed and it laments. It says, “O heed-taking eyesight, O narcissus-like eyes, where is your seeing? O wisdom-speaking tongue, where is your sweet talking? O painted, lovely face, where is your adornment and beauty? O you who came from dust, were supported by dust, were provided for by dust, were put back into dust, and became nothing in dust!”

O father of dust, is not our creation

from dust, and our return to dust?

So what is the meaning of regret when we bury

dust in dust, O father of dust!

It is as if the King is saying, “Once I make dust the cause of being, and then again I make it the cause of nonbeing. Thus the world’s folk will know that I am perfectly powerful, and I give being to all that is.”

O chevalier! If you ever pass through a graveyard, be careful to look at that encampment with an eye to taking heed. It is not dust that you see, it is the bodies of the dear ones, the flesh and skin of the young, the elegant stature of those nurtured in joy, the hair and beards of the old folk.

We have decayed, but the rising stars have not.

The mountains remain after us, and the artifacts.

Thābit Bunānī said, “I went to the graveyard with the intention a making a visit. A caller called out, ‘O Thābit! Do not be deluded by the silence of its folk, for there is many a grief-stricken soul within!’”

Mujāhid said, “When the servant is put into the dust, the dust speaks to him, saying, ‘I am the house of worms, the house of loneliness, the house of exile, and the house of darkness. This is what I have prepared for you. What then have you prepared for me?’

“If the servant had been a rememberer in this world, the Exalted Lord will say, ‘My angels! There is an exile whose folk have turned away from him, a lonely man whose relatives have become disloyal toward him. He was remembering Me in the world. O helpless and hapless servant! O you whose hope’s army has taken the road of flight! O you whose life’s furnishings have been plundered! O you whose means and work have been disabled! O you whose spirit reached the edge in the agonies of death! O you whose talking tongue has been silenced! O you whose knowing heart has turned to blood in terror of the Hour! All have gone, and I remain. All have turned back, and I am still loyal. All have left you, and I have picked you up. My servant, they have abandoned you. By My exaltedness and majesty, I will cover you with My mercy!”

From it We created you and to it We shall return you. The Adamites are frames and deposits. The bodies are the frames, and the spirits are the deposits. The frames are related to dust, and the deposits are described by proximity. He nurtures the frames with His bounteousness, and He nurtures the deposits with the unveiling of His majesty and the gentleness of His beauty.

Today the frames cling to the carpet of worshiping Him, and the deposits are qualified by constantly recognizing Him. The deeds of the frames are fasting and prayer, and the gifts of the deposits are whispered secrets and delight. He says to the frames, “When thou art idle, labor” [94:7]. He says to the deposits, “And be eager for thy Lord” [94:8].

He gives the caressing of the frames on credit, for He says, “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]. The deposits give themselves over only to the hard cash of the present moment, for He says, “I am the sitting companion of him who remembers Me,” “I am with My servant’s opinion of Me,” and “He is with you wherever you are” [57:4].

In the beginningless Covenant, He said to the frames in the manner of the powerful, “I am God.” He said to the deposits in the manner of friends, “I am the friend.” The former was to make manifest lordhood and power, the latter was to make manifest love and affection. To the frames He said, “You belong to Me.” To the deposits He said, “I belong to you.”^{1The discussion of frames and deposits is partly quoted from and certainly inspired by Samʿānī’s discussion of frames and hearts, RA 154-55.}

20:74-75 Whoever comes to his Lord as an offender will have Gehenna, wherein he will neither die nor live, and whoever comes to Him faithful, having done wholesome deeds—they will have the highest degrees.

In the tasting of the lords of recognition and the chevaliers of the Tariqah, these two verses allude to two groups: The exalted threshold of the Possessor of Majesty will show its face to one group in the attribute of vengeance. It will lift away the curtain of splendor from their work by the decree of severity, pull back the mask of respect from the face of their status, write the inscription of abandonment on the hem of their present moment, and make them the kiblah of the whole world’s rejection. Sometimes they will be bewildered in the claws of contraction, and sometimes they will be terrified by the fear of severity. There will be no caressing of the heart and no poison with which to kill the soul: wherein he will neither die nor live. He will not be bold enough to return, nor will he have the gall to go forward. With the tongue of misery he will say in his helplessness,

“I am not drunk from the cup of my existence, neither am I not.

I am not low beneath the kicks of the spheres, neither am I not.

Neither the spirit’s ease nor the heart’s pain—woe is me!

O Lord, who am I that I am not in being, neither am I not?”

The self-disclosure of the beautiful gaze of the Real’s gentleness will join with the other group. They receive one caress today, another tomorrow. Today they are on the carpet of expansiveness, taking their ease in the garden of intimacy and delight. At every moment and instant, overflowing cups are poured for them from the wine-house of love. Tomorrow in the Gardens of Refuge and the highest degrees, they will be wearing the waistcoat of endless subsistence and the robe of the everlasting kingdom, seated on the couch of prosperity in contemplation of the King, the Possessor of Majesty, the cups of union continuous, the robes of bounteousness successive, at each moment a caress and an acceptance, at each instant an opening and an arrival, for the Lord of the Worlds says,

20:76 Therein dwelling forever; that is the recompense of those who purify themselves.

As for the marks of the coming of this good fortune and the traces of finding this rank and way station, these are that the servant lifts the veil of heedlessness from his road and pulls back his cloak from the legs of seriousness. He disciplines his soul with the courteous acts of the Shariah and takes the rightful due of the religion from the days of intelligence. He strives to straighten out his deeds and words according to the yardstick of the Shariah and the requisites of the Haqiqah. He makes the decree of the following verse requisite on himself. He knows that the Exalted Lord says,

20:82 Surely I am all-forgiving toward the one who repents and has faith and does wholesome deeds, and then is guided.

All-forgiving is an intensive form and requires manyness. In other words, God is vast in forgiveness. Toward the one who repents is the act of the servant, and the act does not require manyness. The allusion of the verse is that if the servant should turn back to the Real once in regret, the Exalted Lord will turn to him many times in gentleness and mercy. From the servant there will be one step in the road of struggle, and from God a thousand generosities by virtue of solicitude. “My servant, from you a little obedience, from Me great mercy; from you a bit of service, from Me much blessing.” This is the same as what Muṣṭafā said, narrating from the Eternal Enactor: “When someone comes near to Me by a span, I come near to him by a cubit, and when someone comes near to Me by a cubit, I come near to him by a fathom.”

Surely I am all-forgiving toward the one who repents and has faith. It is known that repentance without faith is not sound. So what is the profit here of and has faith? It means and has faith that his salvation does not come through his own repentance and obedience. His salvation comes only through His mercy.

Ghaffār [all-forgiving] comes from ghafr, and the meaning of ghafr is to cover. It is to keep the servant concealed and to hold the curtain of pardon and mercy over his words and deeds, both obedience and disobedience. Not only do the servant’s acts of disobedience need concealing, but also his obedience needs concealing. If the blights of the servant’s obedience were brought forward, he would fear obedience more than he fears disobedience.

ʿĀʾisha narrated as follows: “I asked Muṣṭafā the meaning of the verse, Those who give what they give, their hearts quaking [23:60]. ‘Are they the ones who fornicate, steal, and drink wine’

“He replied, ‘No, they are the ones who pray, fast, give alms, and then fear that these will not be accepted.’”

Rābiʿa ʿAdawiyya often used to say, “I ask forgiveness from God for my lack of truthfulness in saying, ‘I ask forgiveness from God.’”

Know, O chevalier, that the curtains are two: One has been lifted, and may it never be let down! The other has been let down, and may it never be lifted! The curtain that has been lifted is the veil of reflective thought before the hearts of the tawḥīd-voicers and the breasts of the faithful. The curtain that has been let down is the covering of generosity before the words and deeds of the disobedient, the obedient, the sincerely truthful, and the godwary.

By the decree of eternity the curtain of generosity was lifted from the obedience of Iblis, so all of it became disobedience.

When someone is not worthy for union,

all of his beautiful doing is sin.

By the decree of gentleness and generosity, the curtain of pardon was let down over the slip of Adam. The beginningless solicitude loosened its tongue and said, “But he forgot, and We found in him no resoluteness” [20:115].^{1Most of this discussion of forgiveness and the two curtains is drawn from RA 87-88.}

When someone is not worthy for separation,

all of his bodily members are hearts.

20:83 “And what has made thee hurry from thy people, O Moses!”

This is a rebuke of Moses, for he left his people behind and went on ahead of them. He hurried to the promised meeting with the Real, who said: “O Moses, do you not know that I love the weak and I caress the broken more than others? I am always looking into their hearts, and I love all those in whose hearts I look.”

Then Moses offered an excuse:

20:84 He said, “They are close upon my footsteps, and I hurried to Thee, my Lord, that Thou mayest approve.”

“They are close upon my footsteps. I did not leave them behind out of neglect, and I hurried to Thee, my Lord, that Thou mayest approve. O Lord, You Yourself know and You are aware of my secret core. With this hurry I did not want to neglect them, nor was I aiming to abandon attending to the rightful due of companionship with them. Rather, I wanted Your approval and I was seeking an increase in Your satisfaction.”

He said, “O Moses, My approval lies in taking care of their hearts. ‘I am with those whose hearts are broken for My sake.’ ‘I am the sitting-companion of him who remembers Me.’ O Moses, when you seek Me, seek Me in their hearts, for I sit with the rememberers in the solitariness of And He is with you [57:4]. I am the intimate of the hearts of the poor, the remembrance of the spirits of the recognizers, present with the mystery of the lovers, the light of the eyes of the familiar, the resource of the frightened, the traveling supplies of the distressed, and the refuge of the weak. O Moses, wherever you see a poor man, thrown down by the iniquity of the days, wounded by the times, be his servitor. As long as you can, do not seek to be apart from him. Be the purchaser of his companionship, for his makeup is the storehouse of the secrets of the Beginningless and preparation for the bazaar of the Endless.”

He gave Muṣṭafā the same advice: “And let not thine eyes turn away from them [18:28]. O Muḥammad, be careful not to turn your eyes away from them. Do not sell them to others, for they are the ones pulled up by My remembrance, named by My bounty, adorned by My gentleness, lifted up by My will. They have come forth from knowledge, are displayed by predetermination, have found the mark of the desire, and were pulled up by the signet of the decree.

“In the Beginningless they were made apparent by My knowledge, today they are existent by My command, tomorrow they will be kept by My decree. Knowledge has the rulership of the Beginningless, the command has the rulership of the present moment, the decree has the rulership of the Endless.

“When a sultan has special friends, he gives each of them a rulership. The rulerships are three: the rulership of the Beginningless, the rulership of the present moment, the rulership of the Endless. O knowledge, you take the side of the Beginningless! O command, you take the road of the present moment! O decree, you seize the skirt of the Endless!

“O child of Adam! I gave you three attributes, and in the end I conveyed you to Myself. First I entrusted you to the sultan of knowledge, then I gave you to the king of the command, then I surrendered you to the emperor of the decree. Then I gave this call in the world: ‘Surely the final end is unto thy Lord’ [53:42]. O knowledge, you give to the command. O command, you give to the decree. O decree, you give to Me.”

Knowledge is all limpidness, the command is all trial, the decree is all subsistence. Who knows what is made ready inside these secrets?^{1These last four paragraphs are taken from RA 235.}

20:105-6 They ask thee about the mountains. Say, “My Lord will scatter them as ashes.”

In the outwardness He is showing His awesomeness, forcefulness, and exaltation to the creatures. In the inwardness He is bestowing eminence on His servants and friends: “We turned this earth into your bedspread and made it your carpet. If you are not there, of what use is the carpet? We made the heaven your roof, the stars your indications, the sun your cook, the moon your burning candle. When you go, of what use is the candle, what will be done by the indications? When a carpet is prepared for a friend and he goes, it must be taken up. When you go, We will take up this carpet, for We will not create anyone else. He it is who created for you all that is in the earth [2:29]. Heaven and earth, moon and sun, unshakeable mountains and surging oceans—these are the go-betweens of your road. Each has a torch in its hand and holds it over your road.

“Tomorrow at the time of gazing, We will lift away everything from before you. We will say, ‘The reports have gone, the gaze has come.’”

Proofs are needed when there is no face-to-face vision. When face-to-face vision comes, what good are proofs? Go-betweens are useful as long as the friend has not reached the friend. When the friend reaches the friend, what use are go-betweens? Since the days were the days of reports, the hoopoe was needed to give the reports [to Solomon]. But when the era of the gaze arrives, the hoopoe is of no use. As long as Muṣṭafā was in Mecca, Gabriel used to come and go. When he reached the Lote Tree of the Final End, Gabriel stood still. He said, “Now I have become a veil. The friend has reached the friend, and the intermediary is of no use, the go-between is nothing more than a veil.”^{1The commentary on this verse is derived from RA 481-82.}

20:115 And We made covenant with Adam before, but he forgot, and We found in him no resoluteness.

Until the end of this section is the story of Adam and the compact of his vicegerency. First he was addressed by awesomeness. He saw the whip of rebuke, and he stepped into the street of fear and wept. Then he was sat down on gentleness. The beginningless solicitude arrived, he saw the crown of chosenness, and he was happy on the carpet of hope. Yes, it was a work already done, a decree made ready in the Beginningless. Adam had not yet slipped when the tailor of gentleness sewed the waistcoat of his repentance, and Iblis had not yet stepped into disobedience when the druggist of severity mixed the draft of the poison of his curse.^{1This sentence is from RA 71.}

The beginning of the traces of the beginningless solicitude for Adam was that the exalted majesty of the Unity Itself in Its perfect self-sufficiency took a handful of dust from the earth: “Surely God created Adam from a handful taken from the entire surface of the earth.” Then He placed it in the mold of the stature, as He said: “Surely We created man in the most beautiful stature” [95:4]. Then He brought him into the ferment of bringing to be: “He fermented the clay of Adam in His hand for forty days.” Then He sat the spirit-king on the royal seat of his makeup: “I have blown into him of My spirit” [15:29]. Then He read out the edict of his vicegerency and sultanate in the kingdom of the beginningless: “Surely I am setting in the earth a vicegerent” [2:30]. He recorded the names of all existent things with the pen of the gentleness of Eternity on the tablet of his heart: “And He taught Adam the names, all of them” [2:31]. He commanded the glorifiers and hallowers of the Holy Palisades and the Gardens of Intimacy to prostrate themselves before the throne of his good fortune: “And when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam’” [2:34].^{2This paragraph is derived from RA 63.}

Know that this level, distinction, and rank was not for the clay. Rather, it belonged to the sultan of the heart. In the core of Adam’s heart He deposited one of the divine subtleties, royal secrets, and unseen meanings, a secret concealed by the curtain of Say: “The spirit is of the command of my Lord” [17:85].

God gave back a mark of this hidden secret on Muṣṭafā’s tongue made pure: “He created Adam in His form.” When the Higher Plenum saw his greatness and elevation, they threw their spirits on the holy doorstep of dust.^{3The paragraph is from RA 164.}

O chevalier! Adam was dust. He had not yet seen the mold of Power and had not come out from behind the curtain of subtle artisanry. The light of the secret of Knowledge had not yet shone on him and the secret of union and the reality of the with-ness of love had not yet shown their faces. Once these meanings became manifest and these pearls of the realities were placed in the drawer of his heart, do not call him “dust” [khāk], call him “pure” [pāk]. Do not call him “fetid mud” [15:26], call him “hidden pearl” [52:24]. If the alchemy that is made by creatures is worthy of turning copper into gold, why should the love that is the attribute of the Real not be worthy of purifying dust of its opacity and making it the crown on the head of the spheres? If a rose comes from the clay that you mold, what wonder if a heart comes from the clay that He molds?^{4Derived from RA 234.}

20:121-22 And Adam disobeyed his Lord, so went astray. Then his Lord chose him, so He turned toward him and guided.

One of the pirs of the Tariqah was asked, “Given all the good fortune, rank, standing, and proximity that Adam the chosen had with the Real, what wisdom is there in the call that went out concerning him, ‘And Adam disobeyed’?”

The Pir answered with the tongue of wisdom and the tasting of recognition: “The seed of love had been thrown into the earth of Adam’s heart. Then the canal of his eyes was opened for the water of remorse, and the sun of And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord [39:69] shone forth on that good clay, receptive to the seed of pain. The tree of love grew up, and the air of But he forgot [20:115] nurtured it in the field of paradise. The sun of We found in him no resoluteness [20:115] dried it. Then He cut it down with the scythe of Then his Lord chose him. Then, with the wind of So He turned toward him and guided, He made it pure. Then He wanted to cook it with fire, so He heated an oven with the harshness of And Adam disobeyed and cooked that food of passion in the oven. The flavor of that food had still not reached Adam’s taste buds when he let loose the tongue of need and said, ‘Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves’ [7:23].”

It has also been said^{1From here to the end of the commentary on this verse, the text is almost identical with RA 91-92.} that Adam had two existences. The first existence was in this world, not paradise, and the second was in paradise. The command came, “O Adam, come out of paradise and go into this world. Gamble away your crown, belt, and cap in the road of passion! Put up with pain and trial. Then tomorrow We will bring you back to this precious homeland and this domicile of subsistence with a hundred thousand robes of gentleness and every sort of honor, as the leader of the witnesses and in the presence of the one-hundred-twenty some thousand center points of prophecy, the possessors of purity and the sources of limpidness.”

Tomorrow, you will see Adam go into paradise with his children. The angels of the Dominion will look with wonder and say, “This is that solitary man who moved out of paradise a few days ago in poverty and indigence!”

“O Adam, bringing you out of paradise was a curtain over this business and a covering over the mysteries, for your loins were the ocean of the one-hundred-twenty some thousand center points of prophethood’s pearls. Suffer a bit of trouble, then in a few days, take the treasure!”

“O Muḥammad! When We put the Meccans up to throwing you out of Mecca, We also commanded you—‘Make the hijrah, go to Medina, put on the clothing of exile, and go to the corner of remorse with Abū Ayyūb Anṣārī.’^{2When Muḥammad entered Medina on his camel, he refused to accept the hospitality of any of those who offered it and instead let his camel wander until it found a place that suited it. It finally knelt down near the house of Abū Ayyūb Khālid ibn Zayd, who took the saddle into his house. It was there that Muḥammad lived until he built his own house and a mosque on the site where his camel had knelt. Abū Ayyūb participated in most of the early battles of the Muslim community and was finally killed in the year 52/672 on the outskirts of Constantinople, now known as Istanbul. His tomb there is an important site of pilgrimage.} All this was making ready. The goal was to bring you back to Mecca on the Day of the Conquest along with ten thousand sword-wielding, spear-throwing warriors so that the nobles of Quraysh and the leaders of the unbelievers would be in wonder: ‘This is that man who fled all alone. Now look at what his work has reached!’

“In the same way We said to the pure, holy spirit, ‘You are the quarry of subtleness and the source of repose and comfort! It is We who sent you to the homeland of exile, kept you in the company of the turmoil-inducing soul, and imprisoned you in this dustbin. The goal was to call you back at the end of this business to Our own Presence with a hundred thousand robes of gentleness, kindly gifts, and secret bestowals: O serene soul, return to thy Lord, approving, approved! [89:27-28].’

“O Adam, though We sent you to this world in the companionship of the serpent and Iblis, We brought you back in the companionship of mercy and forgiveness with the escort of prosperity and good fortune. O Muḥammad, though We brought you out of Mecca with the attribute of abasement, We brought you back with conquest, victory, and triumph in the attribute of exaltedness. O exalted spirit, though We afflicted you for a few days in this dustbin, this domicile of grief, this house full of the sorrows of separation, and We kept you for a time in the company of the commanding soul, in the end We brought you back in the company of approval and with the escort of the address, ‘Return to thy Lord’ to the neighborhood of generosity.”

20:124 And whosoever turns away from My remembrance, he shall have a life of narrowness, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall muster him blind.

Concerning this verse Jaʿfar Ṣādiq said, “Had they recognized Me, they would not have turned away from Me. When someone turns away from Me, I will restore him to turning toward the kinds and colors appropriate for him.”

Whoever recognizes Him remembers Him in every state and turns away from remembering everything except Him. Whoever knows Him will always be remembering Him and persevere in performing the obligatory and supererogatory acts, putting aside his own steps and seeking everything rightfully due to Him. Whenever someone turns aside from remembering the Real for one instant in his life and turns to remembering the creatures, the veiled virgin of recognition will conceal her face from him and he will never have a portion of her beauty. This is the case of someone who turns away from His remembrance for one instant in his whole life. How about someone who does not turn toward the remembrance of the Real for one instant in his whole life?

The paragon of the world, the center point of the circle of newly arrived things, was addressed by the Compeller of the engendered beings, “O master! It does not please Me that in the two worlds you should rely on any but Me, that on your tongue should be the remembrance of any but Me, that in your heart should be love for any but Me. I will bring everyone out against you and make them all your antagonists so that you will remember none but Me in the two worlds.” The first He brought out against him were his family, tribe, and relatives so that, when he saw disloyalty from his near ones, he would not place his heart in his far ones. The Real wanted to turn his heart away from the creatures and unbind his secret core from the whole world and join it with Himself, “for conjunction with the Real is in the measure of disjunction from the creatures.”^{1These two paragraphs are based on RA 342.}

Wāsiṭī said, “Whoever looks at Him does not look at himself. Whoever remembers Him forgets to remember himself.”

Remembrance of self and remembrance of creatures are the seeds of sorrows. Remembrance is remembrance of the Real—the rest is nothing but loss.

If He had not remembered you in the Beginningless, how would you have the gall to remember Him? If this lofty signet had not come forth from the Presence of Exaltation—“So remember Me; I will remember you” [2:152]—how would you have dared to dream of His remembrance or to pass His name through your mind?

There were people in the deserts of bewilderment and the darknesses of reflective thought. The lordly gentleness and divine assistance traveled into the world of dust and turned the orphan of Abū Ṭālib into the unique pearl of every seeker. When that master of the two realms of being came, he spread the tablecloth and called out an invitation. The chieftains of the Quraysh like Abū Jahl and Abū Lahab did not respond. They said that chieftains and paragons disdain to be present at the beck and call of beggars. That invitation of the paragon of the two realms of being traveled around the regions of the world looking for someone burnt who would respond. Bilāl Ḥabashī heard the paragon’s invitation and set out on the road. Ṣuhayb heard it in Byzantium—head spinning, he hurried off. Salmān set off from Persia like one of the passionate. When they arrived, they sat down at the tablecloth. Good fortune clapped its hands, and the sun of felicity reached perfection in the heaven of desire.

The stalwarts and the proud looked at them and saw their own ill-fortune next to their good fortune. They became envious and wanted to chase them away from the tablecloth. They said, “O Muḥammad, drive them away so that we may be neighborly with you. It is beneath our dignity to sit with beggars.” The paragon had such an eager desire for their submission that he wanted to do that. This address came from the Exalted Presence: “Do not set out to torment the hearts of the burnt, for it is not the habit of the generous to drive away beggars from the tablecloth. And drive not away those who supplicate their Lord [6:52].^{2Up to here, this and the preceding paragraph are taken from RA 500.} O Muḥammad, do not drive these poor men away, for their life lies in remembering Me. And do not obey him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance [18:28]. Do not obey those chieftains, for their hearts are empty of remembering Me.”

The attribute of the poor was this: who remember God, standing and sitting [3:191]. Their habit was this: who call upon their Lord morning and evening [18:28]. Their conduct was this: preferring others over themselves [59:9]. Their outcome was this: He loves them, and they love Him [5:54]. But the attribute of the chieftains of the Quraysh was this: who wage war against God and His Messenger, striving for corruption in the earth [5:33]. Their aspiration was this: to confine thee, or kill thee, or expel thee [8:30]. Their habit was this: whosoever turns away from My remembrance. This is why on the Day of Resurrection We shall muster him blind.

20:131 Extend not thine eyes to what We have given pairs of them to enjoy, the flower of this world’s life so that We may entrance them thereby; and thy Lord’s provision is better and more subsisting.

This is another balm that He lays on the hearts of the poor. He is showing the insignificance and feebleness of this world to people, exposing its defects and blemishes, and holding His friends back from seeing and loving it. He is saying, “the flower of this world’s life so that We may entrance them thereby”: This world is a blossom whose moisture, freshness, and comeliness will last a few days. Then it will wither and become nothing, but its entrancement will remain in the heart.

Why are you in love with the loveless one who took Alexander’s life?

Why are you passionate for the friend to whom Darius lost his kingdom? [DS 53]

“The rich turn back to this world and the poor turn back to the Patron. How far apart are these and those!” Whatever happens to the rich, they come back to this world. In every state the heart of the poor is with the Patron. From here is known the eminence of the poor over the rich.

Junayd considered poverty more excellent than wealth. In contrast, Ibn ʿAṭāʾ considered wealth more eminent than poverty. One day there was a debate between the two. Junayd argued that God’s Messenger said, “The poor of my community will enter the Garden one-half day before the rich, and that is five hundred years.” He said that someone who goes into paradise is more excellent than someone who remains five hundred years in the reckoning.

Ibn ʿAṭāʾ said, “No, it is more excellent to remain in the reckoning, for the person in paradise has the pleasure of blessing, but the person in the reckoning has the pleasure of the Real’s rebuke. Talking with the Friend, even in the station of rebuke, is beyond being occupied with other than the Friend, even if that is in the station of blessing. This is because being tried by the Friend is sweeter than being in the Friend’s blessing without the Friend.”

Junayd answered, “Even if the rich man has the pleasure of rebuke, the poor man will have the pleasure of apology.” This is in Anas ibn Mālik’s narration from the Prophet: “On the Day of Resurrection God will come to the poor servant and conceal him from the people under His wing. Then He will apologize to him just as a man apologizes to a man in this world. He will say, ‘My servant, by My exaltation and majesty, I did not hold back this world from you to scorn you, but because of the generosity and excellence I had prepared for you. Go out into those ranks and gaze upon him who fed you and gave you to drink for My sake or who clothed you, desiring nothing from that except My face. Then take his hand, for that belongs to you.’

“On that day the people will be drowning in sweat. He will come out, pass through the ranks, and examine the faces of the people. When he sees someone who did something of that, he will take him by the hand and tell him that the Garden has been given to him.”

Junayd mentioned this report as evidence and then said, “Although He rebukes the rich man, He apologizes to the poor man. The pleasure of apology is beyond the pleasure of rebuke, for both friend and enemy are rebuked, but apology is only for friends.”^{1The story of Junayd and Ibn ʿAṭāʾ, though not the long hadith, is taken from RA 355-56.}

He holds the poor back from this world not because they are being deprived of this world, but because this world is being deprived of them. Their aspiration is better than this world, their desire better than the afterworld, and their goal is seeing the Patron.

Once Luqmān Sarakhsī’s hair had become long. It passed into his mind to wish that he had a dirham so that he could go to the bath and have his hair cut. He still had not brought this completely to mind when he saw a desert full of gold. He lifted his eyes and said to himself,

“I did say some words in drunkenness,

but why did You attach that camel to my train?”^{2The story of Sarakhsī is from RA 357.}

20:132 And command thy family to the prayer, and have patience therein. We ask thee for no provision. We shall provide for thee.

And command thy family to the prayer, and have patience therein. He is commanding the servant to teach and telling him to manifest servanthood and constancy in obedience. So long as the servant is not worthy and approved, He will not accept him in service at His threshold and will not give him access in the prayer to the presence of secret whispering.

There is no good fortune beyond the fact that five times a day, by the decree of bounty, He sends the baggage-steed of the court of union at the hand of the stirrup-holder of gentleness to the hut of the servant’s incapacity and records this exalted sigil on the edict of his good fortune: “I have divided the prayer between Me and My servant into two halves. When the servant says, ‘Praise belongs to God,’ God says, ‘My servant is praising Me,’” and so on.

He kept Moses the speaking companion waiting for forty days at the promise of whispered prayer. When the turn of this community arrived, He took away the tablecloth of waiting and, five times a day, again and again, He placed the goblet of whispered prayer in the hand of the cupbearer of gentleness: “Prostrate thyself and draw near” [96:19]. This is not a bestowal of eminence on the communities over the prophets, but rather, “The weaker someone is, the gentler the Lord is to him.” The Lord of the Worlds takes care of the work of the weak such that all the strong are in wonder. A hundred thousand proximate angels dove into the ocean of bowing and prostrating, and no one talks about them. But this penniless beggar wakes up from sleep and says, “Oh, it’s late.” In the splendorous scripture the Lord of the Worlds wrote this inscription of exaltation on the cape of his secret whispers: “Their sides shun their couches as they supplicate their Lord in fear and want” [32:16].^{1Most of the commentary on this verse is derived from RA 125-26.}

We ask no provision of thee, and it is We who shall provide thee. Whenever someone believes that the provider in reality is the Lord and that all provision comes from Him and that the secondary causes are by His predetermination, his mark is that his heart trusts totally in Him and he cuts himself off from others. Then the Exalted Lord, in His gentleness, takes care of his work and at every moment caresses him with various sorts of generosity.

A man came before Ḥātim Aṣamm and asked him, “How are you able to pass your days, for you have no belongings and no estates.”

He said, “From His storehouse.”

He said, “Does He throw bread to you from heaven?”

He said, “Did He not have the earth, He would cast bread to me from heaven.”

Then the man said, “You are just talking words.”

He said, “Because nothing descends from heaven but words.”

He said, “I am not able to argue with you.”

He said, “Because falsehood has no ability before truth.”^{2Up to here the commentary on this verse is from RA 108, and the rest is from RA 110.}

O poor man! There is no illness more difficult than weak certainty. Fix your certainty on the Real, and the hand is yours.

There is the name of certainty, the knowledge of certainty, the eye of certainty, the truth of certainty, and the reality of the truth of certainty. The name of certainty belongs to the common people, the knowledge of certainty to the elect, the eye of certainty to the elect of the elect, the truth of certainty to the prophets, and the reality of the truth of certainty to Muṣṭafā. A man who becomes a man becomes so through certainty. Certainty must reach the tongue for him to be a speaker, the eye for him to be as seer, the ear for him to be a hearer, the hand for him to be taker, the foot for him to be a goer.

Muṣṭafā said, “Jesus walked on water. Had his certainty increased, he would have walked on air.” The master Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said, “He alluded to himself, meaning, ‘When I was walking on air on the night of the miʿrāj, that was because of the perfection of certainty.’”