76:0 In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.

This is the name of the Compeller. In the realms of His beginninglessness He was one in the attribute of His all-compellingness, and in the eras of His endlessness He will be solitary in the description of His dominion, for His beginninglessness is His endlessness, and His all-compellingness is His dominion. He is unitary in description, self-sufficient in Essence, everlasting in attributes. Nothing is similar to Him in His Essence and His attributes, no diversion stirs Him in the establishment of His artifacts, no negligence befalls Him in His knowledge and wisdom, no blunder occurs for Him in His speech and words, for He is wise and not diverted, knowing and not negligent, generous in affirming and effacing. Truthfulness is His words, the creatures His creation, and the kingdom His possession.

In the name of Him in whose majesty and tremendousness intellects are dazzled, in the name of Him in the world of whose causeless will intelligence is dizzy, in the name of Him the proof of whose magnificence is His very magnificence, in the name of Him the evidence for whose being is His very being, in the name of Him whose praise and laudation are expressed by His permission and whose remembrance and mention by His command. In the name of Him whose seeking is through His pulling and whose finding is through His solicitude.

Which soul do you see that is not melted in His severity? Which heart do you see that is not caressed by His gentleness? Which spirit has not been clutched by the claws of His falcon’s exaltedness? Which secret core is not drunk with the wine of His love? Which eye is not waiting to see Him? Which ear is not hoping to hear His words? Go, pass by the nook of the dervishes to see the burn of seeking for Him. Go to the street of the tavern-goers to see the pain of not finding Him. In the church of the Christians is the elation of seeking Him, in the synagogue of the Jews the desire to find Him, in the fire-temple of the Zoroastrians the pain of being held back from Him.^{1This paragraph is derived from RA 35-36.}

I see so many hearts given away, the Heart-holder one,

countless seekers of the Friend, the Friend one.

O God, the whole world wants You. What does the work is what You want. Happy is the one You want, for even if he turns back from You, You will be waiting in his road.^{2This is a saying of the Pir of the Tariqah (according to Maybudī under 41:1).}

76:1 Has an era come upon man when he was not a thing remembered?

The commentators say that man here means Adam and that era alludes to the days when he was thrown down for forty years as a body without spirit between Mecca and Taif. Someone may ask what wisdom there was in leaving Adam like that for forty years between Mecca and Taif and in delaying his creation. The answer is that although Adam was made outwardly from clay, with which there is no need for delay, delay is needed with the heart. I am not talking about the delay of power, but rather the delay of greatness. Adam was not like the other created things, which were created with “Be!”, so it comes to be [2:117]. In creation Adam was the root, and the other creatures were his followers. He created whatever He created for Adam’s sake, and He created Adam for Himself: “You I created solitary for the Solitary.”

“In Adam’s makeup there must be a heart that recognizes Me, a tongue that praises Me, an eye that sees Me, a hand that takes the cup of union, a foot that walks in My road. If I were to bring him into existence in an instant, I would make My power apparent. By putting many years in the midst, I make apparent his greatness and magnificence. I would rather make the greatness of My friends apparent than show My own power.”^{1These two paragraphs are drawn from RA 235.}

What good fortune and generosity the Exalted Threshold placed before Adam! He brought him into the road with a hundred thousand endearments and exaltations, placing the embroidery of Surely God chose Adam [3:33] on the cape of his good fortune. He fixed the prosperous mole of I have blown into him of My spirit [15:29] on the beautiful cheek of his chosenness. He clothed him in the elevated robe of what I created with My two hands [38:75]. He conveyed him to a station where He gave him the wine of love in the row of chosenness on the carpet of witnessing. From the tip of the Pleiades to the end of the earth, He made him the trustee of greatness. He commanded the angels of the Dominion to prostrate themselves before him. Then, despite all this honor done toward him, his greatness, level, and rank had still not appeared. His greatness did not appear until he was addressed by the declaration, “And Adam disobeyed” [20:121]. This is because caressing at the time of conformity is no proof of honor. Caressing at the time of opposition is the proof of exaltation and honor.

When Adam was put on the throne of beauty and perfection, with the crown of prosperity on his head and the robe of honor on his breast, why would it be surprising if the angels and the spheres were to serve him? The surprise is that, after he fell to the lowland of his slip and the inscription And Adam disobeyed was written out for him, then, despite this disobedience and opposition, he saw on his head the crown of Then his Lord chose him [20:122].

When a man has a wife and is her companion, he does not know that he loves her, for the love is hidden by the blessings and companionship. Wait until they fall into separation! It is then that friendship appears. Adam was the friend, but his friendship was hidden by the blessings of paradise. Not everywhere that has blessings also has friendship. Byzantium is full of the blessings of gold and silver, but not an iota of love. So, when the veil of paradise was lifted from before Adam, the reality of love became apparent.

When Iblis was Iblis, no one knew he was Iblis, nor did he know. He appeared as a worshiper and a prostrator, the belt of his service bound, his face washed with the water of conformity. When his foot slipped, it became apparent that he was neither friend nor servant. Adam the Chosen was the friend, but the friendship was concealed by blessings. When his foot slipped, it became clear that he was both friend and servant.^{2Much of the discussion from the last three and a half paragraphs is inspired by RA 150-52.}

76:5 Surely the pious shall drink of a cup whose mixture is of camphor.

In truth tomorrow in paradise the good people and the good men will drink wine from the cup of gentleness, a wine in the color of camphor with the scent of musk, a wine in worthy measure—nothing less than worthy measure, nothing added to it. Less and unworthy are both defects, but paradise is free of defects.

76:6 A fountain from which drink the servants of God, making it gush forth with a gushing.

This is a spring that flows forth from the region of paradise, and it flows forth at the paradise-dwellers’ command. They will make it flow as they want wherever they want, up or down, over the palaces and chambers, over the rugs and carpets, flowing on the silk and brocade [18:31], overflowing, traveling, and inanimate. No cloth will become wet from it, nor will it pass over anything opaque. Eyes will be open while shut. Camphor will be in the ginger, ginger in the camphor, the latter released from its cold, the former far from its heat, each one kept in equilibrium. It will not be the artifact of creatures, nor will they be kept back from it: a wine without opacity, a drinker without intoxication, a cup-bearer who sees—the wine of intimacy in the cup of holiness in the session of finding on the carpet of witnessing from the hand of the Friend in face-to-face vision itself, without any trouble in the midst.

O chevalier, wine is that wine, poured by the hand of the Unseen into the cup of the heart and drunk by the eye of the spirit.

The people became drunk with the passing of the cup

but I became drunk with the one who passed it.

“The wine made a group drunk, but for me it was seeing the cupbearer. Hence they were annihilated in that drunkenness, and I subsisted in this drunkenness.”

A great man was shown in a dream that Maʿrūf Karkhī was circumambulating the Throne and the Exalted Lord was saying to the angels, “Do you recognize him?” They said they did not. He said, “That is Maʿrūf Karkhī, drunk from Our love. He will not become sober until his eyes fall on Me.”

When friendship makes someone drunk,

the world is debased before his aspiration.

In his friendship nonbeing is made being,

and he is made drunk with the wine of union.

Wines are two: one is today, the other tomorrow. Today’s is the wine of intimacy, tomorrow’s the wine of the cup. Today the wine flows from the source of gentleness, tomorrow the pure wine will come from the hand of the All-Merciful:

76:21 And their Lord will pour for them a pure wine.

Whoever does not have the wine of love today will not have the pure wine tomorrow. Today they swallow down the wine of love from the cup of recognition, tomorrow they drink the pure wine in the presence of the Forgiving King—today the wine of love in the paradise of recognition, tomorrow the pure wine in the paradise of approval.

Today the paradise of recognition is the heart of the recognizers. Its walls are faith and submission, its floor self-purification and recognition, its trees glorification and reciting the formula of tawḥīd, its rivers godwariness and trust, its abodes and palaces knowledge and abstinence, its rooms and views truthfulness and certainty, its approval approval of the decree. Today when someone has adorned the paradise of his heart with obedience and worship, tomorrow he will have the paradise of approval. The walls of that paradise are silver and gold, the floor ruby and emerald, the soil musk and ambergris, and the rivers water, milk, wine, and honey. The wine is Tasnīm [83:27], fine wine [83:25], and Salsabīl [76:18], the food the flesh of birds [56:21] on the table of everlastingness, the servants the serving boys and slaves, the sympathizers houris and wide-eyed maidens, the kind companions Muḥammad and Abraham, the comrades Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī. The sitting place will be goodly dwellings [9:72] and the gazing place the seat of truthfulness [54:55]. The Palisades of Holiness will be the place of seeing the Real’s majesty and beauty.

Tomorrow all the faithful will see the Real, but each in the measure of his own recognition. “God discloses Himself to the faithful generally and to Abū Bakr specifically.” Since no one has the recognition of Abū Bakr, no one will share with him in that vision.

The Pir of the Tariqah said, “What sort of pleasure is there in shared seeing? There must be a session empty of the intrusion of others, the Friend disclosing Himself and the gazer annihilated in what is seen. The eye that gazes on Him is never shut, the eye that sees Him has no partner. The one called by Him is never unfortunate, the one brought near to Him has no place in the two worlds, the one made His companion has no need for paradise, the one drunk with Him has only Him to pour: And their Lord will pour for them a pure wine.”