5:0 In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.

This is the name of the majestic whose majesty is His magnificence, whose magnificence is His brilliance, whose splendor is His exaltedness, whose being is His Essence, whose beginninglessness is His endlessness, and whose eternity is His everlastingness. He is tremendous in His dominion, king in His all-compellingness, the supervisor who is self-sufficient in essence, the unique who is everlasting in attribute.

A king in heaven in whom is my pride,

exalted in measure, hidden from Him nothing.

This is the name of a lord who is similar to nothing and no one and who is held back by no work at any time. He nurtures enemies and caresses friends, He conceals defects and takes care of things. Mentioning Him is the tongue’s celebration, seeing Him is the spirit’s life, finding Him is everlasting joy. He is a king without an army, standing firm without witness, aware of the hidden, shelter of the distressed. He is a Lord who is near to knowledge and far from imagination. The seeker of Him is slain though alive, and finding Him is the resurrection without the Trumpet. Thus the seeker is not cheated, and the wage-earner not excused. The seeker is in the whirlpool of longing, and the finder is bewildered in the waves of light. In bewilderment and confoundedness he keeps on saying,

I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand,

O guide of those bewildered in Thee!

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, everyone laments at bewilderment, but I am joyful in bewilderment. With one ‘here I am,’ I have opened the door of all disappointment to myself. Alas those days when I did not know enough to reach for your gentleness! O God, like a moth to a lamp I cling to the fire of bewilderment, its spirit not feeling the suffering of its heat, nor my heart the pain of the burning brand. O God, I have water in my head and fire in my heart, joy on the inside and want on the outside. I am sitting in an ocean that has no shore, my spirit in a pain that has no cure, my eyes fallen on what the tongue cannot describe.”

The antagonists say, “These words are not fitting.”

It’s not the sun’s sin if someone is blind.

5:1 O you who have faith!

It is narrated that Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad said that these words have four traits through which the Lord of the Worlds honored and caressed the community. One is that they are a call, second an intimation, third an allusion, and fourth a bearing witness. O is a call, you is an intimation, who is an allusion, and have faith is a bearing witness. The call is an honor, the intimation of mercy, the allusion to love, and the bearing witness to recognition.

“He called them before He made them appear, and He named them before He saw them.” They were in the concealment of nonexistence when He called them to honor. They had not yet come into the circle of existence when He named them with a beautiful name: He named you submitters from before [22:78]. He saw the faults and He approved of the faults. He saw the offenses, and He bought the offenses. He saw the pure ones of the high world, and He chose the tainted ones of the low world, for “The sinner’s sobs are more beloved to Me than the glorifier’s murmur.”

Given the beginningless solicitude of the Unneedy Threshold toward the Adamite, his situation is like that of a child whose mother sews him new clothes. She says, “Beware, beware, O child! Do not let this fancy garment get dirty!”

The child goes outside and busies himself playing with the other children and dirties the clothes. He comes back home with dirty clothes, so he hides in a corner, helpless and bewildered. He keeps on saying, “Mother, I’m sleepy.” The mother knows that the child is afraid of her rebuke. “Dearest,” she says, “come. I only sent you outside after I had soap and water in hand, for I knew what you would do.”

The Adamite’s state is like this. When that center point of good fortune and chosen one of the empire was sent out from the concealment of nonexistence to the confines of existence, the pure spirits and holy ones began to shout, and they aimed arrows of denial at the world that God was setting forth: “Wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there? [2:30]. You are creating a group who will blacken the garment of Today I have perfected your religion for you [5:3] with the smoke of disobedience and the dust of associationism. They will tear the veil of honor from the beautiful face of faith!”

He addressed them with the words, “Yes, I know what has been prepared in this oyster shell of mysteries. We honored the children of Adam [17:70]. The bounties of exaltation have made them exalted. I sent them out to the world of defilement wearing the garment of protection and the shawl of the Trust only after I had in hand the water of forgiveness and the soap of mercy.”

5:3 Forbidden to you are carrion and blood, the flesh of swine, that which has been offered up to other than God, the strangled, the beaten down, the fallen, the gored, what has been eaten by predators—except what you slaughter—what is sacrificed on stone alters, and that which you allot by divining arrows—that is ungodliness. Today those who disbelieve have despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear Me. Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you, and I have approved for you the submission as a religion.

Although carrion is vile and forbidden, a measure of it is still allowed at the time of constraint. Among the sorts of carrion is the flesh of a brother Muslim that is eaten by backbiting. In this there is never a concession in any state, whether by constraint or free choice. Hence this carrion is worse than that carrion, and its prohibition is greater. God says, “Do not backbite one another. Would one of you love to eat the dead flesh of his brother? You would abhor it” [49:12].

It has been said that an animal whose flesh is eaten has two states: One is that, when it is killed by the stipulation of the Shariah, it is pure. Taking it is allowed and eating it is permitted. When it dies by itself, it is defiled, and eating it is forbidden.

By way of allusion He is saying that when this Adamic soul is killed by the sword of struggle in the path of discipline according to the Shariah—that is, when it has been subjugated by the religion and come to be commanded by the Shariah, made a servant and abased by the burden of obedience—the soul with this description is pure. Nearness to it is allowed, being its companion is lawful, seeing it is the heart’s repose, and companionship with it is the spirit’s happiness. But whenever a soul dies in the darkness of its own heedlessness such that it no longer perceives the work of the religion and exerts no effort in the limits set down by the Shariah, this soul is like the carrion whose body is defiled and nearness to which is forbidden.

The strangled, the beaten down, the fallen to death, the gored. Beneath each of these words is an allusion in keeping with the tasting of the chevaliers of the Tariqah and according to the creed of the wayfarers of the Haqiqah’s road. The strangled is an allusion to someone who places himself in the bonds of wishes, puts the chains of avarice on his own hands and feet, and throws the rope of wanting around his neck until he is killed by avarice and appetite. It is forbidden for the wayfarers and desirers to walk on the path of someone like this or to follow someone like this.

The beaten down is an allusion to someone who stays a prisoner of caprice and a captive of Satan, beaten down by the fanciful notions of his soul and the disquieting thoughts from Satan, so that his heart dies in that beating and imprisonment. He becomes the carrion of the Tariqah, and companionship with him is forbidden.

The fallen to death is an allusion to someone who has fallen into the valley of dispersion and been destroyed, losing the road of the Haqiqah.

The gored is an allusion to someone who quarrels with his likes and similars for the sake of this world of carrion and is gored such that his adversary wins; he becomes carrion under the blows of a carrion-eater.

What has been eaten by predators is that toward which the seekers of this world turn their heads; it is carrion and its seeker is like a dog. Only dogs eat carrion.

It is nothing but rotting carrion

which dogs try to drag away.

Then He says, “except what you slaughter.” In the outward Shariah, He is saying that whenever a Shari’ite slaughtering takes place in the forbidden things that He mentioned such that it is allowed by the Shariah, then it is allowed and eating it is permitted. So also in the road of the Tariqah, whatever may be the traveling supplies of the road of the next world and the goods of this world necessary for life, taking them and having them is permissible in the religion and seeking them is allowed. The supplies for the religion’s road pertain to the road of the religion. God says, “And take along supplies, but the best of supplies is godwariness” [2:197].

What is sacrificed on stone alters. Everything that is done for the caprice of wanting and not in conformity with the Shariah is sacrificed on stone alters. Making the caprice of your soul your object of worship and going forth according to what it desires is not the work of the religious, nor is it the state of the faithful. God says, “Hast thou seen him who has taken his caprice as his god?” [25:43].

And that which you allot by divining arrows—that is ungodliness. Every transaction and companionship that does not go forth with the permission of the Shariah and in conformity with the religion, the goal being to obtain this world and what is desired by the soul, is nothing but gambling. Its form is deception and deceit, its result ungodliness and corruption, and its final outcome punishment and chastisement.

Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My blessings upon you. Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad said that “today” is an allusion to the day when Muṣṭafā was sent to creation and the crown of messengerhood was placed on the head of his prophecy. The carpet of his Shariah was pulled around the world and the rug of mercy was spread out. The smoke of associationism was wrapped up in its own misfortune and the traces and remnants of unbelief were effaced and dissolved. From the four corners of world the sound of the drum of Muhammad the Arab’s good fortune rose up: “The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished away” [17:81].

God bless the son of Āmina, who

brought him forth open-handed and generous.

Say to those who hope for Ahmad’s intercession,

“Bless him and wish him great peace.”

*

O you whose visage is everyone’s gazing place

before you all have fallen in the road.

O Venus of the months and moon of all,

your beauty has taken away everyone’s luster and rank!

The night of mortal nature still did not exist when the sun of his prophethood was set firmly in place in the heaven of its loftiness, for “I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay.”

“O great one! Show your beauty, so all of existence may become a sun. O master! Open the oyster shell of mercy, so these destitute ones may fill their pockets with pearls.

“Why don’t you take that face to the idol-worshipers—

why not display it and take the unbelief from their hearts?

“O master, We will mention your innate beauty only within By thy life! [15:72]. We will make the kiblah of the first and the last only the circle of your servants. O master, if We open up the desire of the sun you have in your heart, no crucifix will remain in Byzantium, no unbelief or sash in the world.”

Have mercy on the creatures’ hearts and come out from the veil

so that the seventy-two creeds may end their disputes.

And I have completed My blessings upon you. This is addressed to Muṣṭafā’s Companions. He is saying, “I have completed My blessings upon you in that I have singled you out among My servants to contemplate him. I have made you an argument for all the nations that will come until the Day of Resurrection.”

It has also been said that Today I have perfected for you your religion alludes to the first day of the beginningless covenant. He is saying, “In the Beginningless, I completed this religion for you and took care of your work, marking you with My brand. This is nothing new that I have done, for I have long taken care of it. But I have completed it and made manifest to you what I already knew, showing what I have done. And I have completed My blessings upon you. The completion of the work is that tomorrow in the Palisades of Holiness I will bestow upon you My approval. And I have approved for you the submission as your religion. I will make you worthy of union with My Presence, I will approve of you for My neighborhood, and I will also increase My caresses. I will say, ‘My servant. I have approved of you as a neighbor. Do you approve of Me as a neighbor?’”

It has been said that the perfection of the religion is the realization of recognition in the guidance at the beginning of the state, and the completion of blessings is the obtainment of forgiveness at the end of the work. He is laying a favor on the faithful: “At first I give recognition and at last I forgive.” This is addressed to the congregation of the faithful. And there is no doubt about the forgiveness of the community of the faithful. If there is doubt, it is about instances and individuals—whether or not they remained with faith. But the generality of the faithful are forgiven.

It has been said that this is the submission that is approved by God. And I have approved for you the submission as your religion is an allusion to it. It is like a house that is reached by four gates, behind which are four bridges, and behind the bridges are degrees and levels. As long as people do not pass through the gates and over the bridges, they will not reach the degrees and levels.

The first gate of the traveler is performing the obligations, the second is avoiding forbidden things, the third is having confidence in God’s assurance, and the fourth is having patience in trials and sufferings.

When you have passed through these gates, the bridges appear. The first bridge is approval: approving of God’s decree, placing it on one’s neck, and leaving aside the road of protest. The second bridge is trust in God: relying on God, taking Him as one’s support and refuge, and recognizing Him as one’s trustee. The third bridge is gratitude: recognizing God’s blessings on oneself and putting these blessings to work in obedience to Him. The fourth bridge is self-purification in deeds, in the Shahadah, in service, and in recognition: the Shahadah in submission, service in faith, and recognition in the Haqiqah.

Once you have passed over the bridges, then there are degrees and levels—as is worthy for everyone and as God wants. This is why the Lord of the Words says, “They have degrees with their Lord, and forgiveness, and a generous provision” [8:4].

5:6 O you who have faith, when you stand for the prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to your elbows.... If you find no water, have recourse to goodly dust.

Outward purity has three sections: First is purity after impurity. Second is purity after excretion and sexual activity. Third is purity from the sheddings of the body, such as nails, hair, dirt, and so on. Each of these three sections has an explanation and an explication, and these will be spoken of elsewhere, God willing.

Inward purity has three duties: First, purity of the limbs from disobedience, such as backbiting, lying, eating the forbidden, betrayal, and looking at women illicitly. When this purity is gained, the servant is adorned with obedience and reverence. This is the degree of the faith of the pious. Its mark is that the remembrance of the Real is always on their tongue, the fruit of the promise in their heart, the freshness of His favors in their spirit. They are always visiting the sick, going to cemeteries, hurrying to supplicate for good people, and reaching for paradise.

The second duty is purity of the heart from unapproved character traits, such as self-admiration, envy, pride, hypocrisy, avarice, animosity, and frivolity. Self-admiration ruins the mirror of friendship, envy reduces the worth of people, pride darkens the mirror of the heart, hypocrisy dries up the wellspring of obedience, avarice puts aside respect for people, animosity blocks up the water of familiarity, and frivolity takes away the tent-pole of companionship. When the servant has become pure of these defilements, he is numbered among the godwary. His mark is that he flees from concessions, he does not cling to ambiguity, he is always fearful, trembling, and fleeing from hell; he is content with a morsel and a tattered cloak, he has put aside the world and the world’s folk, and he has melted himself in the crucible of sorrow. Faith is his basis, godwariness his traveling supplies, the grave his way station, and the afterworld his goal. With all this, he constantly weeps with the tongue of pleading and says, “O God, everyone is upon something, but I don’t know what I’m upon. I fear only the moment when who I am appears. O God, I am always talking and speaking. So long as You do not show Yourself I will be searching and seeking. Because of unsettledness I run in the field of incapacity. I’m in the midst of the work, but I smell no scent. O God, my mount has stood back, my feet are worn down, my fellow-travelers have gone, and nothing has increased except bewilderment.”

I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand,

O guide of those bewildered in Thee!

The third duty is purity of the secret core from everything except the Real. God says, “Say ‘God,’ then leave them” [6:91]. This purity is their adornment today, for tomorrow the cup of pure wine [76:21] will be in their hand. Today the light of hope shines in their hearts, but tomorrow the light of face-to-face vision will shine in their spirits. Today in their yearning the liver’s water flows from their eyes, but tomorrow contemplation’s water will flow in the stream of gentle favor. Today the dawn of happiness has come up from the rising place of freedom, but tomorrow the sun of solicitude will advance in the heaven of face-to-face seeing.

The mark of this purity is that one washes away love for this world, effaces the tracks of human nature, and burns the veils of dispersion, so the heart is joyful in the garden of intimacy, and the spirit is occupied with the Real in the seclusion of face-to-face vision.

How well was it said by that chevalier! “At last will be a day then this drum will give forth a sound, and that Generous One will whisper in secret to the lover’s spirit. What a wonderful work, what a marvelous bazaar! Here we have intimate togetherness without being the same in kind. Since there is no one of the same kind, what is this intimacy? Since there is no one like Him, what is this love? Since you have not seen Him, what is this incapacity? Since the wine is still in the grape, what is this existence? Since waiting is all tribulation, what is this happiness in the heart? Since the eye of the secret core is veiled from Him, what is this ecstasy like fire? Since this path is all trial, what is this enjoyment in the midst of trial?”

Though Your ache has put me in the fire,

how I will ache if Your ache ever leaves me!

Wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows. Just as the command of the Shariah makes it mandatory for outward purity to wash the face, so also the allusion of the Haqiqah makes it mandatory for inward purity to preserve one’s honor and not to disgrace oneself by seeking the trifling things of this world. Just as the former purity makes it mandatory to wash the hands, so also the latter purity makes it mandatory to wash one’s hands of the creatures and entrust one’s work to the Real. Just as it is mandatory to wipe the head, so also it is mandatory to turn the head away from serving created things and to avoid humbling oneself before just any piece of straw or a nobody. And just as it is mandatory to wash the feet, so also it is mandatory to step into good works and walk forth in obedience to God.

It has been said that these four bodily parts were specified for purity because man finds his eminence and superiority over other animals through these parts. First is the form of the face, for the other animals do not have this attribute. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, “And He formed you, so He made your forms beautiful” [40:64]. Second is the two hands with which the Adamite eats, for all other animals eat with their mouths. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, “And We honored the children Adam” [17:70], that is, with the two worthy hands that hold for eating and so forth. Third is the head, within which is the brain, for within the brain is intellect. In intellect is the eminence of knowing, which the others do not have. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, “signs for those who possess the kernels” [3:190]. Fourth is the two legs which He pulled into an upright, beautiful stature for walking, whereas others do not have legs with this attribute. God says, “We created man in the most beautiful stature” [95:4]. Having completed these blessings on the children of Adam, He asked them to show gratitude for these bodily parts by keeping them pure.

It has also been said that purity is the cause of ease and comfort after sorrow and tribulation, as has come in the story of Mary at the time of the birth of Jesus. When that spring appeared, she made herself pure and was released from the sorrow of childbirth and the alienation of exile.

It is also the cause of repelling Satanic disquiet, as Muṣṭafā said: “When one of you is angry, let him make an ablution.” It is the cause of the removal of trial and tribulation, as has come in the story of Job the prophet in His words, “Stamp thy foot; here is a cool washing place and drink” [38:42].

It has also been said that the secret of the purity of these four members, even if they are not defiled, is in two respects. First, tomorrow at the resurrection Muṣṭafā will discern his community and intercede for their sake. Their mark will be that they have faces bright and shining because of washing; and so also their hands, feet, and head will be white, bright, and fresh because of purity’s water. Concerning the Prophet said, “Surely my community will be mustered on the Day of Resurrection white-faced and white-footed from the traces of the ablution.” The second respect is that when a slave is sold, the custom is that he is taken to a slave-trader, and his hands, feet, face, and head are shown to the customer. Even if it is a slave-girl, the Shariah instructs that they should look at the face, see her hair, and look at her hands and feet. Tomorrow, Muṣṭafā will be the slave-trader of the resurrection and the Real will be the customer. Hence the servant was commanded to do a good job of washing these bodily parts today. As much as he can, he should not take away the water from them and he should try to renew the purity. Then, tomorrow, the light of his bodily parts will increase, and when he is shown in the house of the slave-trader at the resurrection, his hands, feet, face, and head will be bright and pleasing.

If you find no water, have recourse to goodly dust. God connected purity to water or, at the time of constraint, to dust, and not to anything else. The wisdom here is that the Lord of the Worlds created Adam from water and dust, and the Adamites should always be aware of this. They should know that their own eminence lies therein and that they should give gratitude for this blessing.

Adam found eminence over Iblis because Iblis was from fire and Adam from dust, and dust is better than fire. Fire shows defects, and dust conceals them. Whenever you put something in fire, it shows its defects. It distinguishes genuine from false silver and adulterated from pure gold. Dust, however, conceals defects. It conceals whatever you give to it, so the defects do not show.

Fire is the cause of cutting off, and dust is the cause of joining. With fire there is cutting and burning, with dust there is joining and keeping. Iblis was from fire, so he broke off. Adam was from dust, so he joined.

Fire’s nature is arrogance, so it seeks to be higher. Dust’s nature is humility, so it seeks to be lower. Iblis brought higherness with his words, “I am better” [38:76]. Adam brought lowerness with his words, “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves” [7:23].

Iblis said, “I and my substance.” Adam said, “Not I, rather my God.”

They have also spoken about another wisdom in specifying water and dust for purity. They say that whenever something catches fire, the force of that fire is put out by water and dust. There are two fires in front of the person of faith: One is the fire of appetite in this world, and the other the fire of punishment in the afterworld. The Lord of the Worlds made water the cause of his purity so that today it will put out the fire of appetite for him and tomorrow the fire of punishment.

Know also that purity began in an era that was made known by a report from God’s Messenger by way of the Commander of the Faithful, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. He said, “When the angels heard talk of Adam and his description, they said, ‘What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there and shed blood?’ [2:30]. Afterwards, they regretted saying that and they feared God’s punishment. They wept and wailed and asked God for His approval. The command came from God, ‘You want Me to pass over you, lift away the heaviness of those words from you, and have mercy on you. I have created an ocean under the Splendorous Throne and named it “the Ocean of Life.” Go to that ocean and, with its water, wash your faces and hands, wipe your heads, and wash your feet.’ The angels obeyed the command. The command came, ‘Each of you now say, “Glory be to Thee, O God, and Thine is the praise. I bear witness that there is no god but Thou. I ask forgiveness from Thee and I repent to Thee.”’ They said that and the command came, ‘I have accepted your repentance and will pass over you.’ They said, ‘O Lord, is this generosity specific to us, or do we share in it with others?’ He said, ‘It is for you, for the vicegerent whom I will create, and for his children until the coming of the Hour. Whenever someone conveys water to these four members as I have commanded you, even if he has filled heaven and earth with sins, I will pass over him and bestow upon him my approval and mercy.’”

In keeping with this meaning is the sound report from ʿAlī Murtaḍā. He said, “Whenever I heard something from God’s Messenger, God gave me benefit from it. From him I came to know the certainty of knowledge and the worthiness of deeds. If I myself had not heard his report, but someone narrated it to me, I would make that person swear an oath. When he swore it, I would rely on him. Abū Bakr Ṣiddīq narrated to me, but I did not make him swear an oath to the truthfulness of his words, because he always spoke the truth. He said, ‘I heard God’s Messenger saying, “Whenever a servant with faith does a sin and, after that sin, makes an ablution and washes himself fully, then, after finishing, he performs two cycles of prayer, God will pass over that sin from him and will pardon him.”’” The explication of this report is in the Splendorous Qur’an: “Whoever does something ugly or wrongs himself and then asks forgiveness of God, he will find God forgiving, ever-merciful” [4:110].

5:35 O you who have faith! Be wary of God, and seek the means of approach to Him. And struggle in His path. Perhaps you will prosper.

Here you have a call of generosity, here you have an address with gentleness, and here you have an arrangement to be applauded, sweet to the hearts. It is a cause of familiarity and an aid to clarity. It makes one secure from distance and permits response. He is saying, “O you who are the faithful. You have heard the message, bowed your heads, and approved of the intermediary. Be wary of God. Fear God, avoid His anger, and think about Him, for everything is from Him. Say: All is from God [4:78]. Who in the world is like Him in loving kindness and servant-caressing? The hope of the disobedient is in Him, the remedy for trials is with Him. No one has pride save in His name, no one has ease save through His mark. There is no deliverance and joining without His guidance and kind favor.”

This is why He says, “Seek the means of approach to Him.” This is the means of nearness, and nearness is the cause of joining and deliverance. The means of approach is the intermediaries that mark the friendship between the servant and the Patron. The cause of the conjunction between the two is obvious. From what come union and conjunction? Revering the commands, respecting the prohibitions, tenderness towards people, serving the Real, striving in the various supererogatory acts, and building up the spirit and heart.

Striving in the various supererogatory acts can be done with three things: first, remembering the gaze of God; second, keeping one’s days away from damage; and third, recognizing one’s poverty at the halting place of exposure. When you remember God’s gaze, you are one of the godwary. When you keep your days away from damage, you are one of the worshipers. When you recognize your poverty at the halting place of exposure, you are one of the humble.

One can build up the heart with three things: listening to knowledge, mixing little with people, and curtailing wishes. As long as you are listening to knowledge, you are in the circle of the angels. As long as you are apart from the people, you are counted among the sinless. As long as you have curtailed your wishes, you are one of the sincerely truthful.

Seek the means of approach to Him. He is saying, “O you who are worshipers, seek nearness to God with the virtues; O you who are knowers, with proofs; and O you who are recognizers, by abandoning means!”

What is the worshipers’ means of approach? The repenters, the worshipers, the praisers, the journeyers, the bowers, the prostrators, the commanders to the honorable and prohibiters of the improper, the keepers of God’s bounds [9:112].

What is the knowers’ means of approach? Have they not gazed upon the dominion of the heavens and the earth? [7:185].

What is the recognizers’ means of approach? Say “God,” then leave them [6:91].

The worshipers’ means of approach is practice, the knowers’ means of approach unveiling, and the recognizers’ means of approach face-to-face vision.

The worshipers’ means of approach is truthfulness, the knowers’ means of approach friendship, and the recognizers’ means of approach nonbeing.

The worshipers’ means of approach is remembrance with need, the knowers’ means of approach remembrance with joy, and the recognizers’ means of approach remembrance with neither need nor joy. This story is long.

This is why the Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, if anyone has found You by seeking, I have found You by fleeing. If anyone has found You by remembering, I have found You by forgetting. If anyone has found You by searching, I have found searching from You. O God, the means of approach to You is You. First were You, last are You. All is You, and that’s it. The rest is folly.”

It has also been said that the means of approach is the precedent solicitude concerning which the Exalted Lord says, “those to whom the most beautiful has preceded from Us” [21:101], and the mercy that He wrote against Himself in the Beginningless: “Your Lord has written mercy against Himself” [6:54]. He caressed the servant without the servant, placed the army of solicitude in front and wrote mercy against Himself.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, where will I find again the day when You belonged to me and I was not? Until I reach that day again, I will be in the midst of fire and smoke. If I find that day again in the two worlds, I will profit. If I find Your being for myself, I will be pleased with my own nonbeing.”

And struggle in His path. This is addressed to the warriors. His words, “Struggle in God” [22:78], are addressed to the recognizers. The struggle of the warriors is with the sword against the enemies of the religion. The struggle of the recognizers is with severity against their own souls. Tomorrow the warrior’s fruit will be houris and palaces, but the realizer will be inundated by light in the ocean of face-to-face vision. The struggle of the warriors goes forth from worship and, at the time of contemplation, they will gaze on the Endless. Hence He says to them, “Perhaps you will prosper,” that is, in the Endless. The struggle of the recognizers goes forth from recognition and, at the time of contemplation, they will gaze on the Beginningless, so the Exalted Lord says about them, “He chose you” [22:78].

5:48 For every one of you We have appointed an avenue and a method.... So vie in good deeds.

The avenue is the Shariah, and the method is the Haqiqah. The avenue is the customs of the Shariah and the method is the road toward the Real. The avenue is what Muṣṭafā brought, and the method is a lamp that the Real holds next to the heart. The avenue is following the Shariah, and the method is finding access to the light of that lamp. The avenue is the message that you heard from the Messenger, and the method is the light that you find in the secret core. The Shariah belongs to everyone, and the Haqiqah belongs to some rather than others.

So vie in good deeds. The vying of the renouncers is through rejecting this world, the vying of the worshipers is through cutting off caprice, the vying of the recognizers is through negating wishes, and the vying of the tawḥīd-voicers is through abandoning people and forgetting both this world and the afterworld.^{1LI 2:123.}

5:51 O you who have faith, take not the Jews and Christians as friends. They are friends of each other. Whoso of you takes them as a friend is one of them. Surely God does not guide the wrongdoers.

The majestic compeller, the great Lord, the knower to perfection, the exalted Possessor of Majesty, calls to His servants with a call of generosity. By way of gentleness He caresses them and in the attribute of clemency and mercy He turns the faces of their hearts away from others toward Himself. He is saying, “Do not take the stranger as friend, and do not approve of the enemy for your companionship. When you take a friend and take a companion, approve of him for the sake of God. Take the friend in God’s work and approve of the companion in God’s religion. When you seek the realities of faith, seek them from friendship with God’s friends and enmity with the enemies of the religion.”

Muṣṭafā said, “The firmest handle of faith is love in God and hate in God.”

The enemies of the religion whose enmity is obligatory are first Satan, and second the commanding soul. The soul is harder than Satan, for Satan does not go after the faith of the faithful, but rather their disobedience. The soul, however, pulls him to unbelief and wants his unbelief. Satan flees from [the formula] “There is no power and no strength but in God,” but the soul does not flee.

Joseph the sincerely truthful suffered many trials—he was thrown into the well, sold into slavery, and remained in prison for years—but he never lamented the way he did at the commanding soul: “Surely the soul commands to ugliness” [12:53]. Muṣṭafā said, “Your worst enemy is the soul between your two sides.”

5:54 O you who have faith, if any of you turn back on your religion, God will bring a people whom He loves, and who love Him.

This verse contains an allusion for the knowers and good news for the faithful. The allusion is that God is the guardian and defender of the creed of submission, the unswerving religion, the Muhammadan Shariah, and that it will always remain. What will this religion lose if some people turn away? If some people turn back, the Lord of Mightiness will bring others who embrace this religion with spirit and heart and nurture it joyfully. With them God will preserve the signposts of His commands and the foundations of His prohibitions. With their places He will decorate the carpet of the Shariah. Upon them He has inscribed the letters of love, for He says, “whom He loves, and who love Him.” Upon the page of their hearts He has written with the divine script: He wrote faith in their hearts [58:22]. He has illuminated their inmost eye with the lamp of recognition: So he is upon a light from his Lord [39:22]. The Divinity is their nurturer, the lap of prophethood their cradle, beginninglessness and endlessless their warders, the playing field of gentleness the lodge of their gaze, and the carpet of awe the resting place of their aspiration. This is just what God says in another place: “So if they disbelieve, we have already entrusted it to a people who do not disbelieve” [6:89]. The Prophet said, “A group among my people will never cease supporting the Real. None who oppose them will harm them, and then God’s command will come.”

The good news is that whoever does not turn back is counted among the friends, the folk of love and faith. Those who do not fall into the abyss of turning back have the good news that the name of love will fall upon them.

God says, “If any of you turn back on your religion, God will bring a people whom He loves, and who love Him.” First He affirms His love, then the servants’ love. Thus you know that so long as God does not love the servant, the servant will not love.

Wāsiṭī said, “Gehenna was nullified when He mentioned His love for them with His words, ‘Whom He loves, and who love Him.’ What do defective attributes have to do with beginningless and endless attributes?”

Ibn ʿAṭāʾ was asked what love is. He said, “Branches that grow in the heart and give fruit in the measure of intellect.”

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “The sign of finding friendship’s response is approval, the water of friendship increases through loyalty, the basis of friendship’s treasure is light, the fruit of friendship’s tree is joy. Whoever fails to keep away from the two worlds is excused from friendship. Whoever seeks from the Friend something other than the Friend is ungrateful. Friendship is friendship for God, all the rest disquiet.”

Whom He loves, and who love Him. A great work and a magnificent bazaar rose up in water and clay and became the kiblah of the Real’s friendship and the target of union’s arrow. How could the traveler not be delighted that friendship is the nearest way station to the Protector? The tree that produces only the fruit of joy is friendship, the soil that grows nothing but the flowers of intimacy is friendship, the cloud that rains nothing but light is friendship, the drink whose poison turns into honey is friendship, the road whose dust is musk and ambergris is friendship. Friendship’s inscription is beginningless, and friendship’s burning brand endless.

When the Friend’s friendship is my habit and disposition,

I am all from the Friend, and all of me is the Friend.

Behold how long friendship’s good fortune lasts! Listen how fitting is the tale of the friends! The field of friendship is a vast heart, and the kingdom of paradise is one branch of friendship’s tree. He who drinks friendship’s wine is promised vision. Whoever is truthful will one day reach his desire.

God revealed to David, “O David, he who seeks Me will in truth find Me, but how can those who seek others find Me?

“O David, tell the people of the earth, ‘Turn toward companionship and intimacy with Me! Become intimate with My remembrance! Then I will be your heart’s intimate.’

“I have created the clay of my friends from the clay of My bosom friend Abraham, from the clay of My speaking companion Moses, and from the clay of My beloved Muḥammad.

“O David, I have created the hearts of those who yearn for Me from My light and nurtured them with My majesty. I have servants whom I love and who love Me: whom He loves, and who love Him. They remember Me and I remember them: So remember Me; I will remember you [2:152]. They are happy with Me and I am happy with them: God approves of them and they approve of Him [9:100]. They stay loyal to My covenant and I stay loyal to their covenant: And be loyal to My covenant; I will be loyal to your covenant [2:40]. They yearn for Me and I yearn for them: ‘Surely the yearning of the pious to encounter Me has become protracted, but My yearning to encounter them is more intense.’”

5:55 Your friend is only God, and His Messenger.

Abū Saʿīd Kharrāz said, “When God desires to take one of His servants as a friend, He opens for him the door to His remembrance. When he takes pleasure in the remembrance, He opens for him the door to proximity. Then He lifts him up to the sitting place of intimacy. Then He seats him on the throne of tawḥīd. Then He lifts the veils from him, puts him into the abode of solitariness, and unveils majesty and tremendousness to him. When his eyesight falls on majesty and tremendousness, he remains without himself. At this point he becomes a servant in annihilation, so he falls under His protection and is rid of the claims of his soul.”

Abū Saʿīd is saying, “When God wants to choose a servant and make him His friend among His servants, the first caress that He places upon him is to keep him in His remembrance such that he turns away from his own work toward the Real’s work and turns away from remembering himself to remembering the Real. He comes forth from love for himself to love for the Real. Once he is at rest in remembering and loving the Real, He brings him near to Himself. The mark of nearness is the sweetness of obedience, dislike of disobedience, retiring from the people, and pleasure in seclusion. Then He sits him in the sitting place of seclusion, on the carpet of intimacy, on the throne of tawḥīd, free of creatures, happy with the Real, unsettled in passion, the veils lifted, brought into the playing field of solitariness, with majesty and tremendousness unveiled. He is a stranger to himself, one with the Real, consumed within himself, having reached the Patron.” He keeps on saying, “With reports I went forth seeking certainty, fear my resource, hope my companion. The goal was hidden from me and I was striving in the religion. All at once the lightning of self-disclosure flashed from ambush. With thought they see days like that, with the Friend like this.”^{1These are words of Anṣārī, also quoted elsewhere in the text (e.g., under 37:24 and 42:28). I have corrected two mistakes in the text here on the basis of the other instances.}

Listen with your spirit to these words spoken beautifully by the Pir of the Tariqah: “O most generous supervisor! O most merciful Fount of Bounty! O veiled by majesty and disclosed by generosity, apportioner before Tablet and Pen, displayer of the celebration of guidance after a thousand misfortunes! May I be delivered one day from the bother of Eve and Adam and be freed from the bonds of existence and nonexistence! May I remove this remorse and regret from my heart and take ease with the Beloved for a breath, the cup of happiness in hand again and again in the sitting place of intimacy!”

How long talk of Adam’s attributes and creation?

How long debate about the world’s time and eternity?

How long ambushing the servants, how long

not disowning the world and Adam?

5:83 And when they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of the truth they recognize. They say, “Our Lord, we have faith, so write us down among the witnesses.”

This verse alludes to the fact that faith is to be heard, seen, recognized, spoken, and done. They hear is evidence that it is to be heard. Thou seest their eyes overflow with tears is evidence that it is to be seen. Because of the truth they recognize is evidence that it is to be recognized. They say is evidence that it is to be spoken. Then, at the end of the verse, He says “That is the recompense of the beautiful-doers” [5:85]. Beautiful-doers is evidence that its deeds are to be done.

He began with hearing because first there is hearing. The servant hears the truth, it makes him happy, he accepts it, he comes into work, and he acts upon it. The Lord of the Worlds is pleased with the group in whom all these traits are found.

It has been said that three things are the marks of recognition, and that this group has all three to perfection: weeping, supplication, and approval—weeping for disloyalty, supplication for bestowal, and approval of the decree. Anyone who claims to have recognition and does not have these traits is not truthful in his claim, is not counted among the recognizers, and has no standing among the chevaliers and the religious.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Recognition is two: the recognition of the common people and the recognition of the elect. The recognition of the common people is by hearsay, and the recognition of the elect is by face-to-face vision. The recognition of the common people comes from the source of munificence, but the recognition of the elect comes from what they find.”

Concerning the recognition of the common people He says, “When they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger.” Concerning the recognition of the elect He says, “He will show you His signs, and you will recognize them” [27:93].

When they hear is praise of the folk of the Shariah, and He shall show you His signs is a felicitation for the folk of the Haqiqah. When someone speaks of the Shariah and turns his back in any respect, he becomes a heretic. When someone speaks of the Haqiqah and looks at himself in any respect, he becomes an associater.

5:89 God will not take you to task for idle talk in your oaths, but He will take you to task for the oaths you have bound. The expiation thereof is the feeding of ten indigent people with what you usually feed your own family, or clothing them, or freeing a slave.

When overpowered by ecstasy the chevaliers of the Tariqah sometimes swear oaths renewing the covenant and affirming the compact. They say things like, “By your rightful due, I will not gaze at other than You, I will not speak to other than You, and I will not leave Your covenant!” By virtue of tawḥīd these oaths are idle talk and negligence in the witnessing of Unity. How can it be the servant’s place to give himself worth, to fancy that he is someone, or to consider his own words to have such status that he can swear an oath to Him? Rather, what is fitting for the servant is to welcome His rulings with beautiful approval. Whether He summons or drives away, he should not protest and not turn away. He should not speak of the realities of union and separation. He should take what He gives, and accept what comes. He should know that in reality it is He who is lovingly kind to perfection and it is He who determines and governs in every state.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O closer to us than ourselves, O more lovingly kind to us than ourselves, O caresser of us without us by Your generosity—not because of our worthiness, not because of our works. The burden is beyond our capacity, the practice not proper to us, the favor not within our ability. Whatever we have done has damaged us, whatever You have done subsists for us. Whatever You have done in our place You have done by Yourself, not for our sake.”

Expiation in the Shariah is well-known to the folk of knowledge—freeing slaves, feeding people, and clothing them. So also, in the tongue of allusion, expiation in the Tariqah is of three sorts: expending the spirit by virtue of ecstasy, expending the heart in the soundness of intention, and expending the soul by constant effort. If you are not able to do this, then abstain and fast from prohibited and blamable things.^{1This paragraph is derived from LI 2:140.}

5:90 O you who have faith! Wine, arrow-shuffling, idols, and divining arrows are a filth and of the deeds of Satan.

The Prophet said, “Wine is the gatherer of sin and the mother of loathsome things”: Wine is the root of loathsome things and the key to great sins, the basis of misdeeds, the seed of misguided acts, and the source of discord. It dries up the springhead of obedience, holds back the water of remembrance, and opens the door to heedlessness. The soul becomes drunk from wine and is held back from the prayer. The heart becomes drunk from heedlessness and is held back from secret whispering.

The Pir of the Tariqah spoke to these heedless people in the tongue of admonition: “O drunkards full of appetite! O sleepers in heedlessness! Have shame before that Lord who knows the treachery of the eyes and sees the inside of the hearts! He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal [40:19]. Oh, where is a whip like that of ʿUmar or a sword like that of ʿAlī to give these discourteous drunkards the Shari’ite punishment in the world of justice and to get these sleeping, heedless people to move! Does the poor wretch who drinks wine not know that when he puts the cup in his hand, the Throne and the Footstool tremble? From the Exalted Presence comes the call, ‘By My exaltation and majesty, I will give them to taste of My chastisement in boiling water and Zaqqūm!’”

Arrow-shuffling is gambling. When someone plays everything and loses all in a gambling house, he is considered great and recognized as a preceder. This is an allusion to the path of the chevaliers: They throw themselves down on the highway of predetermination so as to become abased before every piece of straw and to come out from the bonds of every color, counting themselves as nothing.

As long as you stay in bond to color, nature, the spheres, and the stars,

how can you be allowed to say, “Speak like a Qalandar”? [DS 972]

5:95 O you who have faith, do not slay game when you are ritually consecrated.

He forbade hunting to the ritually consecrated because such a person has the intention of visiting the Kaabah. In terms of allusion, He is saying, “When someone aims for My house and turns his face to the eminent, holy Kaabah, hoping to be in My neighborhood, at least desert game should be protected and secure from him, for in his undertaken goal he has brought himself into the crowd of the pious and the good, and the attribute of the pious is this: ‘They do not harm an ant, nor do they have hidden thoughts of evil.’”^{1Persian translation of the text of LI 2:143, where the saying is ascribed to “them.”}

It has been said that ritual consecration is of two sorts: the hajji’s consecration in the body, and the recognizer’s consecration in the heart. As long as the hajji is consecrated in the body, game is forbidden to him. As long as the recognizer is consecrated in the heart, seeking, wanting, and free choice are forbidden to him. The mark of the heart’s consecration is three things: to be on loan to the creatures, to be a stranger to oneself, and to be at ease from attachment. The fruit of the heart’s consecration is three things today and three things tomorrow. Today it is the sweetness of whispered prayer, the birth of wisdom, and the soundness of perspicacity; tomorrow it will be the light of contemplation, the call of gentleness, and the cup of wine.

5:98 Know that God is intense in punishment and that God is forgiving, ever-merciful.

He is intense in punishment toward the enemies and forgiving, ever-merciful toward the friends.^{1LI 2:145.}

The intense in punishment is severity and harshness toward the enemies. The forgiving, ever-merciful is caresses and generosity for the friends. He combined severity and gentleness in one verse so that the servant would live in fear and hope between severity and gentleness. When he looks at severity, he fears, and when he sees gentleness, he hopes. Fear is the fortress of faith, the antidote to caprice, and the weapon of the faithful. Hope is the steed of service, the supplies for striving, and the provision of worship.

It has also been said that the servant’s faith and certainty have two wings: fear and hope. How can a bird fly with one wing? In the same way, the faithful cannot travel the road of the religion in fear without hope or in hope without fear. True faith is like a balance: One pan is fear, the other pan hope, and the beam is love. The pans are hung from knowledge. Just as a balance must have pans, so hope and fear must have knowledge, which is why He put Know that at the beginning of the verse. Fear without knowledge is the fear of the Khawarij, hope without knowledge is the hope of the Murji’ah, and love without knowledge is the love of libertines.^{2This last sentence is quoted from Anṣārī, Ṣad maydān 333.}

5:100 Say: “The vile and the goodly are not equal, even if the manyness of the vile stirs you to admiration.”

In the tongue of the Shariah, the vile is the forbidden, and the goodly is the permitted. In the tongue of the Haqiqah, every occupation that is empty of the mention and remembrance of the Real is vile; and every occupation at the beginning of which comes the Real’s name, in the middle of which is the witnessing of the Real, and at the end of which is praise and gratitude is goodly.

ʿĀʾisha the sincerely truthful commanded that a shirt be sewn. The person who was sewing seems to have been heedless of remembering the Real. His heedlessness became known to ʿĀʾisha. She commanded him to undo the sewing. She said, “This is vile, and the vile is not appropriate for me.”

It has been said that every wealth from which God’s rightful due is taken and the alms tax given is goodly, and everything from which it is not taken is vile and on the edge of destruction. Muṣṭafā said, “No property is wasted in the land and the sea except by holding back its alms tax.”

It has also been said that the vile is what you accumulate and store up in this world, holding it back from the hand of expenditure and good. The goodly is what you send forth for yourselves, spend in the good, and store up for the next world. This is the meaning of “What we sent forward was our gain, and what we left behind was our loss,” which was already mentioned.^{1This is apparently a reference a saying of ʿAlī that Maybudī cited in the second stage of the commentary on 2:110 (KA 1:315-16), though the text there is somewhat different. The passage there reads as follows: “Whatever good you send forward for your souls, you will find it with God [2:110]. This is just like what He says in another place: ‘On the day when every soul shall find the good it has done made present’ [3:30]. In the reports it has come that when the servant leaves this world, the people will say, ‘What did he leave behind?’ The angels will say, ‘What did he send forward?’ The Commander of the Faithful, ʿAlī, went out to the graveyard and said, ‘Peace be upon you, O folk of the graves! Your possessions have been divided up, your houses are occupied, and your women have been married. That is the news of what is with us. What is the news of what is with you?’ A voice from the Unseen said, ‘And peace be upon you. What we ate was our gain, what we sent forward we have found, and what we left behind we lost.’”}

5:101 O you who have faith, do not ask about things which would harm you if they were made to appear to you.

He is saying, “Do not circle around the stations of the great ones, do not seek access to their states, and do not ask about their way stations, for then you will see that your level falls short of that and you will despair, and despair is the seed of remorse and the foundation of idleness.”

A merchant from the bazaar came to Junayd and said, “O Pir of the Tariqah! If servanthood is what you have, then what do we have? What can we hope for? This is a place for despair.”

That pir said, “The army of the commander is not all special friends and boon companions. There are also dog-keepers and herdsmen. In the empire, all are useful and all live in their own places and their own measures.”

Though you be beautiful, do not disdain the ugly,

for in this realm flies are as useful as peacocks. [DS 307]

You should consider exalted the state of the dervish who said in his whispered prayer, “O God, approve of me as a lover! If you do not approve of me as a lover, approve of me as a servant! If you do not approve of me as a servant, approve of me as a dog!”

O friend, if you won’t give me the forefront of respect,

at least keep me outside the door like the dogs.

5:105 O you who have faith! Against you are your own souls. Those who are misguided cannot hurt you if you are guided.

The tongue of commentary is what I explained. The tongue of allusion in keeping with the tasting of the folk of desire is this: “O faithful, beware! Subjugate your own soul before it subjugates you. Busy it with obedience before it busies you with disobedience.”

When Abū ʿUthmān was asked about this verse, he replied, “Against you is your own soul. If you occupy yourself with making its corruption wholesome and concealing its shameful parts, you will be too busy to gaze on the creatures and to occupy yourself with them.”

Ḥusayn Manṣūr Ḥallāj gave advice to his disciple, saying, “Against you is your own soul—if you do not keep it busy, it will keep you busy.”

Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī said, “Against you is your own soul—if you spare the creatures its evil, you will have taken care of most of its rightful due.”^{1These three sayings are from Sulamī’s commentary on the verse.}

The nature of the soul is always to be at rest with this world and to hurry toward disobedience. It counts disobedience as a small thing and is lazy in obedience. It is conceited and acts with eye-service toward the creatures. Within it are found associationism, eye-service, and hypocrisy. It is said, “The soul is duplicitous in all its states, hypocritical in most of its states, and an associater in some of its states.”

Abū Yazīd Basṭāmī said, “If in that world the Lord says to me, ‘Make a wish,’ I will ask permission to enter hell to punish this soul, for in this world it has always made me writhe and suffer.”

Muṣṭafā said, “Your worst enemy is your soul between your two sides.” He said this because when you get along with an enemy, you become secure from his evil, but when you get along with your own soul, you will perish. If you act well toward someone, he will thank you at the resurrection, and if you act badly, he will complain. The state of the soul is the opposite: If you act well toward it in this house, it will be your antagonist in that house, and if you act badly toward it in this house, it will thank you in that house.

Muṣṭafā said, “Whenever someone detests his own soul in God’s Essence, God will make him secure from the chastisement of the Day of Resurrection.” He also said, “O ʿAlī, when you see people occupying themselves with the defects of others, occupy yourself with the defects of your own soul. And when you see people occupying themselves with cultivating this world, occupy yourself with cultivating your heart.”

It has been said that in man’s makeup the heart is like the Kaabah, the soul is like a tavern, and the two are facing each other. Night and day the commanding soul raids the heart’s pavilion. Like someone stricken by affliction the heart complains each time to the Exalted Threshold, and each time a robe of honor is sent to the ledgers at the side of Eternity. “Surely in every day and night God has 360 gazes at the hearts of the servants.”