26:1 Ṭāʾ Sīn Mīm

Ṭāʾ is an allusion to the purity [ṭahāra] of His exaltedness, sīn an allusion to the brilliance [sināʾ] of His all-compellingness, and mīm an allusion to the splendor [majd] of His majesty. He is the Lord whose love is the repose of hearts, whose remembrance is the adornment of the eras, whose words are the banquet of the ears, whose seeing is the celebration of the eyes, whose assurance is the promise of caresses, whose face-to-face vision is the ease of the spirits, whose street is the home of the chevaliers, whose conversation is the goal of the recognizers, and from whose direction blows the breeze of union. All is from Him, all is in Him and indeed, all is He. Say “God,” then leave them [6:91].

26:3 Perhaps thou tormentest thyself because they are not of the faithful.

He is saying, “O master, they are a handful of the estranged, the objects of My harsh and forceful severity. Why do you occupy your heart with them? Why do you make yourself suffer because they will not believe? Turn them over to My decree and busy your heart with My love and companionship. Whenever a heart takes its ease in My love and companionship, it has no room for any other.”

Sahl ʿAlī Marwazī was asked, “What is the greatest of God’s generous gifts to the servant?”

He said, “That He empty his heart of everyone but Him.”

Junayd was asked, “When is the heart happy?”

He said, “When He is inside the heart.”

Shaykh al-Islām said, “He is not in the heart by His Essence. Rather the remembrance of Him is in the heart, love for Him in the secret core, and gazing upon Him in the spirit. In contemplation there is first the heart’s vision, then the heart’s proximity, then the heart’s finding, then the heart’s seeing face-to-face, then proximity’s mastery over the heart, then the heart’s dissolution in face-to-face vision. Beyond that, nothing can be expressed.”

I set off on the oceans of love not knowing their measure—

oceans that do not quench the fire of those who drown.

26:22 And the blessing that you have laid on me as a favor is that you have enslaved the Children of Israel.

When Moses came to Pharaoh, inviting him to tawḥīd and making manifest a few signs and miracles for him, Pharaoh refused to accept tawḥīd, and then he laid gratitude and obligation on Moses: “Was it not I who brought you up from childhood and conveyed you to adulthood?”

In denial Moses answered, “Why are laying gratitude on me for the fact that you took the Children of Israel into servanthood? Indeed, who can take servants and act as a lord other than the God of the world’s folk, the Enactor of the universe and its folk?”

26:23 Pharaoh said, “And what is the Lord of the worlds?”

“What and who is this ‘Lord of the worlds’?” Pharaoh asked this question in a discourteous manner, but Moses showed reverence and said,

26:24 “The Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between the two.”

“Pharaoh, even if you do not know and do not have access to His tawḥīd, nonetheless the seven heavens, the seven earths, and everything in between are the mark and testimony of the Lord and His oneness. The engendered and newly arrived things are all the signs and banners of His power.”

In each thing He has a sign

showing that He is one.

The chronicle of the Beginningless and the Endless is one instant at the beginning of His welcome, the blessings of both houses are a dust mote in the ray of the sun of His bounteousness, those prepared for service are the ones burned by His love, and those wounded by tribulation are the ones exalted by His presence. He is the Lord who is worthy of all laudations, with no equal in Essence and no companion in attributes. He does what He wants according to His choice, takes care of things without testing, forgives the disobedient, does the beautiful toward the destitute, brings forth the darknesses, brings out the lights, sees the states, and knows the secrets.

Next to the color of your face, tulips are worthless;

next to the scent of your tresses’ tips, perfume is trifling.

Know that in these verses, the Real ascribes creation to Himself in four places. He says, “the Lord of the worlds” [26:23], “the Lord of the heavens, the earth, and whatsoever is between the two” [26:24], “The Lord of you and your fathers, the first ones” [26:26], and “the Lord of the east, the west, and what is between the two” [26:28]. This sort of ascription—that is, of God’s Essence to His creation—comes in the Qur’an in two respects: one is partial ascription, and the other universal ascription.

Thus He says to Muṣṭafā, “Remember thy Lord [7:205], And worship thy Lord [15:99], And when thy Lord said [2:30], And for thy Lord be patient [74:7], And thy Lord magnify [74:3], And thy Lord creates [28:68].” In the Qur’an there are many examples of this, and all of them bestow eminence and honor on Muṣṭafā. The Real is the Lord of all created and newly arrived things, but He singled out Muṣṭafā by mentioning him in order to make him great in the hearts of the servants. In the same way, He is the king of all sites, but He singled out the Kaabah by mentioning it in order to make it great in the hearts of the servants: “Surely I have been commanded to worship the Lord of this city [27:91]. So let them worship the Lord of this house [106:3].”

As for the universal ascription, it is like what He says in these four verses, similar to which there are many more in the Qur’an. The purpose is to explain power and to make manifest awesomeness and exaltedness.

26:61 And when the two hosts saw each other, the companions of Moses said, “We have been overtaken.”

Generous and great is the Lord who has everywhere a concealed artisanry and in everything a hidden gentleness! Look at what the concealed artisanry did with Pharaoh the enemy and what the hidden gentleness prepared for Moses the speaking companion. Moses fled from the enemy at night and turned his face toward the sea, and Pharaoh with his troops and retinue followed in his tracks. The Children of Israel said, “O Moses, the sea is before us and the enemy behind us. What can be done?” They have caught up to us, they are upon us.” Moses said,

26:62 “No indeed, surely with me is my Lord; He will guide me.”

Do not despair, for the hidden gentleness is our guide and the concealed artisanry is lying in wait for Pharaoh.

Surely with me is my Lord. In this statement Moses made himself solitary. He did not say “with us is our Lord,” because the decree had already gone forth that after the destruction of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, a group of the Children of Israel would become calf-worshipers. This is why he made himself solitary. Again, when Muṣṭafā was in the cave with Abū Bakr, the greatest of the sincerely truthful, he had recognized the realities and meanings of the states of that sincerely truthful man, so he joined him with himself in declaring with-ness. He said, “Surely God is with us” [9:40].

A subtle point: Moses brought forth with me because he was looking from himself to the Real. But Muṣṭafā said, “Surely God is with us” because he was looking from the Real to himself. This is like His words, “Dost thou not see thy Lord, how He stretched out the shadow?” [25:45]. He did not say, “the shadow, how thy Lord stretched it out.” Moses had the state of the desirers, but Muṣṭafā had the state of the desired. The former is the road of the travelers, the latter the attribute of those snatched away.

It has been said that when Pharaoh reached the shore and saw the sea split open and the roads apparent, he said to his people, “This sea has split in fear of me, and I am your Lord the most high [79:24].” When he said that, Gabriel wanted to chastise him, so he spread his wings to knock him to the ground. The command came from the Compeller of the World, “No, Gabriel. Only those who fear death should be hurried to punishment.”

It has also been said that Moses said about himself, “Surely with me is my Lord,” and the Exalted Lord said about the community of Aḥmad, “Surely God is with those who are godwary” [16:128]. God did not reject what Moses said about himself, for He showed him the road of deliverance and lifted the deceit of the enemy away from him. What then do you say about what the Real Himself said concerning the community of Aḥmad? It is even more appropriate that He fulfill the promise He gave, deliver them from the sorrow of sins, and convey them to His mercy and forgiveness.

26:77-78 Surely they are an enemy to me, save the Lord of the Worlds, who created me, so He is guiding me.

The mark of love is that, when the lover comes to the description of the Beloved, he turns his heart away from others. He remembers only the Beloved and speaks only in laudation of the Beloved. He does not become sated by remembering Him, lauding Him, and thanking Him, nor can he remain silent. This was the case when Abraham began to remember and praise God. Look how he clung to plentiful remembrance and laudation and much supplication and pleading!

What a difference between these two groups—the owners of requests and the companions of the realities! The owners of requests strive, bring forth obedience, and count out litanies, and then, after that, they present their requests. Their hearts are attached to the reward, and they implore by supplicating and requesting what they want. A report has come: “Surely God loves those who implore in their supplications.” This is the station of the lords of the Shariah. Moses was in this station when he said, “My Lord, open my breast and ease my task!” [20:26] and so on.

Above this is the station of the companions of the realities. In remembering and lauding the Beloved they never turn to requesting what they want. Sometimes their tongues cling to laudation and sometimes their hearts are mixed with contemplation, their secret cores having reached union. Annihilated from themselves, they subsist through the Real. This was the state of Abraham when he said, “who created me, so He is guiding me.” In other words: “He is guiding me from me to Him, for my existence has been effaced, and none but the Object of my worship guides me in myself.”

This is why the Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, show me the road to Yourself and release me from the bonds of myself. O He who makes arrive, make me arrive at Yourself, for no one arrives by himself!

“O God, remembering You is delight, loving You celebration, recognizing You the kingdom, finding You joy, companionship with You the spirit’s repose, proximity to You light. Your seeker is slain though alive, and finding You is the resurrection without Trumpet.”

26:79 And who gives me to eat and gives me drink.

Abraham was shunning delicious and refreshing foods and clear and refined drinks. They said to him, “Why do you not want this and why do you not eat?”

He answered, “Surely His are the creation and the command [7:54]. This form of ours is commanded by His creation, and this soul of ours is commanded by His command. We have tied ourselves to His desire and pulled ourselves into the stable of His graciousness so that He will not leave us without nourishment.”

The compass of Power had not yet turned around the circle of existence when He gave everyone what was suited for him and was done with him. “God is finished with creation, character, moment of death, and provision.”

One person is in bondage to the nourishment of the soul, another hopes for the nourishment of the heart. The nourishment of the soul is food and drink, and the nourishment of the heart is recognition and love. One person lives through the soul—he lives by food and air. Another lives through the Real—he lives by love and remembrance.

Whenever this verse was recited Dhu’l-Nūn Miṣrī would say, “Who gives me to eat of the food of recognition, and gives me to drink of the wine of love.” Then he would sing,

“The wine of love is the best wine—

every other wine is a mirage.”

Abū Bakr al-Warrāq said, “Who gives me to eat without food and gives me to drink without drink. Metaphorically, ‘He satiates me and quenches me without attachment.’ There is evidence for this in the account of the cup-bearer during the era of God’s Messenger. For three days the Prophet was heard reciting ‘There is no creature crawling on the earth but that its provision rests on God’ [11:6]. He had doubts about his proximity. Then someone came to him in a dream with a cup of the wine of the Garden and gave him to drink of it. Anas said, ‘After that he lived twenty-some years never eating or drinking because of appetite.’”

26:105-6 The people of Noah cried lies to the messengers when their brother Noah said to them, “Will you not be godwary?”

The purport of this verse is to explain how to invite and to explain the attribute of the inviter. Whenever someone invites and calls another to God, his road is first to command godwariness, just as God recounts from the prophets that they said, “Will you not be godwary?” Then, when they speak to them, they should speak with the utmost gentleness so that the words will get to them and be easier for them to accept. Do you not see that the Exalted Lord sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and commanded them to speak gently? He said, “Speak to him with soft words. Perhaps he will remember or fear” [20:44]. He commanded Muṣṭafā in the same way: “Say: ‘I admonish you in but one thing, that you stand up for God’” [34:46].

In these accounts, when the prophets spoke to their communities with gentleness saying, “Will you not be godwary?,” they did not say, “Be wary of God,” or “Be wary of His punishment,” for in that there would have been a kind of harshness, and the hearts of the people would have found it repellent. This is like when someone says to someone else, “Do such and such!” This is a peremptory command, empty of benevolence and gentleness. If he were to say, “Will you not do such and such?,” this is the same command, but mixed with a gentleness and benevolence that will cling to the listener’s heart.

Will you not be godwary? is a command to godwariness, and godwariness is the root of all excellent qualities and the basis of all obedient acts. For the lords of certainty, there are no supplies for the promised return other than godwariness: And take along supplies, but the best of supplies is godwariness [2:197].

There are all sorts of clothing. The clothing that you yourself can put on and take off is trifling. What does the work is the clothing of godwariness that the Real puts on someone. One person is draped in the clothing of submission, and he then sometimes falls and sometimes rises; finally, at the end, he is saved. Another is given the clothing of faith. He also falls and rises, but he seldom falls and mostly rises, so he is saved quickly. Another is draped in the clothing of godwariness. He lives happy, dies happy, and rises up happy. Another is draped in the clothing of love. He lives unsettled, dies yearning, and rises up drunk.

Know also that the aspects of godwariness in the Qur’an are many, and all go back to five meanings: One is to be wary of associationism by means of tawḥīd: He said to Moses, “I shall write it for those who are wary of Me” [7:156], that is, in the next world He will make it, that is, mercy, necessary for those who were wary of associationism.

Second is to be wary by purifying oneself of hypocrisy, as He says, “O you who have faith, be wary of God! [9:119]: O you who have faith, avoid rising up against My torment. Do not mix hypocrisy and doubt with purifying your deeds. Flee from My torment, know your own measure, and rise beyond the road of delusion so that you will not burn in the fire of severance. And be with the truthful [9:119]: Be with the upright and the straight speakers.”

Third is to be wary by truthfulness against eye-service, as the Exalted Lord says in the story of Abel: “God accepts only from the godwary” [5:27]. Yes, the work of the worthy is worthy and that of the washed washed, but what will be accepted from a striver who is not wanted? How can the one whose feet are tied with the bonds of unwantedness arrive? Musk did not buy its scent, nor did honey search for its sweetness. Colocynth and dates grow in the same soil and the same water. So, the work is tied to solicitude, not to obedience. He does what He wants, and He does not add or subtract from what He wants. The desire is His desire, the will His will: God does whatsoever He wills [14:27] and He decrees whatsoever He desires [5:1].

Fourth is to be wary of innovation in the Sunnah, as the Exalted Lord says: “Surely those who lower their voices with God’s Messenger, they are the ones whose hearts God has tested for godwariness” [49:3]. God made the hearts of the Sunnis clean and pure for abstaining. He scoured their hearts of innovation and adorned them with the Sunnah. He tanned them with fear, brought them to life with shame, and brightened them with purification for the sake of companionship with Him.

Fifth is godwariness by avoiding acts of disobedience, as He says in the story of Joseph: “Surely whosoever is godwary and patient” [12:90]. This godwariness is an allusion to the day when he was alone with Rāʿīl, and the patience is an allusion to the day when he was thrown into the well. Whoever avoids acts of disobedience and is patient in tribulation, surely God does not leave to waste the wage of the beautiful-doers [12:90].

26:109 I ask from you no wage for this; surely my wage falls on God, the Lord of the Worlds.

This is a report about each of the prophets. Each of them said, “I ask from you no wage for this.” Thus everyone who acts for God’s sake will know that it is not appropriate to seek wages from other than God.

If one day someone takes a step in God’s road and desires a reward or lifts up a request, let him never desire it from other than Him! To Moses it was revealed, “Lift up your request to Me! Whatever you ask for, ask from Me, even the salt for your dough or the straw for your sheep.”

This indeed is the degree of the wage-earners, for they act with an ear to the reward. The recognizers have another state and another work. When they act, they do not do so for the sake of the reward. They consider reward a freckle on the face of the deed.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “In any case, calling to account will be for the wage-earners. What calling to account could there be for the recognizers? The recognizer is indeed a guest. The wage of the wage-earner befits the wage-earner, and the feast of the guest befits the host. The resource of the wage-earner is bewilderment, and the resource of the recognizer is face-to-face vision.

“The recognizer’s spirit is radiant with His love; his spirit is all eye, his secret core all tongue. His eye and tongue are helpless in the light of face-to-face vision.

“The wage-earner’s heart has the shining light of hope, but the recognizer’s spirit has face-to-face vision. The wage-earner wanders in the midst of blessings, but the recognizer cannot fit into expression.”

The worth of the recognizer’s spirit is not apparent. Do you know why? Because his spirit is not separate from the Presence. His bodily frame is like a shell, and his soul is like a pearl that originated from the Presence and returned to the Presence. If the soul had come from here, it would be soulish, and if it were soulish, the veil of dispersion would not have been incinerated. The fire of hell does not burn like the fire that burns in the recognizer’s soul, for his fire is lit by friendship.

For in the lover’s heart is the fire of love,

hotter than the hottest fire of hell.

How can the recognizer be aware of the sound of the Trumpet, or preoccupied with the terror of the Resurrection, or touched by the smoke of hell, or cling to the bliss of paradise? Today, the whole world is preoccupied, but the recognizers are with the One. Tomorrow, all creatures will be drowned in bliss, but they will still be with the One.

In glorifying You enough for me is to describe Your beauty.

Of the eight paradises enough for me is union with You.

Everyone’s heart has a different goal—

enough goal for my heart is Your image.

26:217 And trust in the Exalted, the Ever-Merciful!

“Sever yourself from all but Us! Seek protection with Us! Take Us as the means of approach to Us!”^{1LI 5:20.}

“O Muḥammad, O unique pearl! I brought you out from the depths of the ocean of power and displayed you to the world’s folk so that the whole world would take on the color of your being’s beauty. I created all for your sake, and I created you for My sake. Support yourself with Me and entrust yourself totally to Me. O Muḥammad, Adam was still between caresses and harshness when I inscribed gentleness in your heart and, with the hand of generosity, poured the wine of approval for you to taste. I lifted up the curtain between Myself and you, and I showed Myself to your spirit.”

26:218-19 Who sees thee when thou standest and when thou movest about among those who prostrate themselves.

“I see My friends constantly, and nothing of them is veiled from Me. Were something to be veiled, they would not stay alive.”

O chevaliers! Know that the body lives by serving Him, the heart lives by gazing on Him, and the spirit lives by loving Him. The body that does not live by serving Him is idle, the heart that does not live by gazing on Him is carrion, the spirit that does not live by loving Him is captive to death.

My joy from time is encountering You,

my abode of peace is Your house.

You are the object of my hope as long as I live;

my life would not be happy without You.

*

Who is the heart that it should scatter pearls without You?

What is the body that it should run a kingdom without You?

By God, intelligence does not know the way without You,

the spirit has not the gall to stay without You

Who sees thee when thou standest and when thou movest about among those who prostrate themselves. With this verse, He severed him from the witnessing of creation, for when someone knows that he is witnessed by the Real, he looks to the details of his own states and his hidden affairs with the Real. The toil of the compact of the acts of worship becomes easy for him because He has reported that He sees him. There is no hardship for him who knows he is seen by his Patron.^{1The paragraph to here is from LI 5:21.} In the report has come, “Worship God as if you see Him, for even if you do not see Him, He sees you.”