His words, Exalted is He:

By the star when it sets,

That is, [by] Muḥammad ﷺ when he returned from the heavens.^{1Sūra 53:1–15 are said to describe the Miʿrāj, miraculous Night Journey and Ascension, of the Prophet. Again, for references to traditional material on the Miʿrāj see above, IC, p. 4, n. 15.}

His words, Exalted is He:

your companion has neither gone astray nor has he erred,

He said:

That is, he never ever strayed from the reality of the divine oneness (ḥaqīqat al-tawḥīd), nor ever followed Satan under any circumstances.

His words, Exalted is He:

nor does he speak out of [his own] desire,

[He said]:

That is, he never ever utters falsehoods (bāṭil).

Then he said:

His utterances were among the proofs (ḥujaj) of God, Exalted is He, so how could desire or Satan have any means of thwarting him?

His words, Exalted is He:

Then he drew near and drew closer still,

He said:

That is, he approached, drawing closer and closer.

His words, Exalted is He:

The heart did not deny what he saw.

⸢That is to say, what he saw⸣^{1The addition was made on the basis of all three MSS: Z515, f. 108a, F638, f. 50b and F3488, f. 286b.} at the witnessing (mushāhada) of his Lord, through the vision (baṣar) of his heart as a face-to-face encounter (kifāḥ).^{2There was a debate among Muslim theologians and mystics as to whether the Prophet’s vision of God during his Miʿrāj was a vision of the eyes or the heart. See Schimmel, Muḥammad, pp. 162–4; Heribert Busse, ‘Jerusalem in the Story of Muhammad’s Night Journey and Ascension,’ Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 14 (1991), pp. 1–40. Note that by using the expression ‘vision of his heart’ (baṣar qalbihi), Tustarī appears to adhere to the view that it was an inner vision of the heart. In our translation of Tustarī’s commentary on 53:1–13, reference has been made in various ways to Böwering’s translation in his Mystical Vision, pp. 150–1. For a discussion of this and other related passages in Tustarī’s commentary, see ibid, pp. 149–53.}

His words, Exalted is He:

Will you then dispute with him concerning what he saw?

What he saw from Us and through Us; and what he sees from Us and through Us is more excellent than what he sees ⸢from Us⸣ through himself.^{1The addition was made on the basis of all three MSS: Z515, f. 108a, F638, f. 50b and F3488, f. 286b.}

His words, Exalted is He:

And verily he saw him another time,

He said:

That is, in the beginning when God, Glorified and Exalted is He, created him as a light within a column of light (nūran fī ʿamūd al-nūr), a million years before creation,^{1The words wa yuqālu preceding nūran are absent from the MSS.} with the essential characteristics of faith (ṭabāʾiʿ al-īmān), in a witnessing of the unseen within the unseen (mushāhadat al-ghayb bi’l-ghayb). He stood before Him in servanthood (ʿubūdiyya), by the lote tree of the Ultimate Boundary [53:14],^{2We have taken ‘He stood before Him in servanthood’ to be referring to the Miʿrāj, whereas Böwering has understood Muḥammad’s standing in servanthood to be a reference to part of his creation — his reasons for this may well have been the other passage (in the commentary on 24:35), which speaks of Muḥammad’s prostration before God from which the mighty column appeared. However, in our view, the main part of the commentary on verse 13 is describing the time before creation when the Prophet ‘saw’ God, depicted as a witnessing of the unseen within the unseen, whilst the words ‘he stood before Him in worship’, seems to be a movement towards the next verse. This is certainly how it appears from the MSS, since there is no break between that sentence and verse 14. Moreover, this is further confirmed by the reference in the commentary on the following verse to the light of Muḥammad shrouding the lote tree.} this being a tree at which the knowledge of every person reaches its limit.

when there shrouded the lote tree that which shrouded [it].

This means: ⸢that which shrouded⸣ the lote tree (ay mā yaghshā al-shajara)^{1Significantly, the MSS have the addition of ay mā yaghshā before al-ṣidra min nūr Muḥammad fī ʿibādatihi, meaning that Tustarī is defining in his commentary what was shrouding the tree, namely an emanation from the light of Muḥammad in his worship.} was from the light of Muḥammad as he worshipped. It could be likened to golden moths, which God sets in motion towards Him from the wonders of His secrets. All this is in order to increase him [Muḥammad] in firmness (thabāt) for the influx [of graces] (mawārid) which he received [from above].^{2See above, the commentary on 43:71, where Tustarī mentions the divine empowerment (tamkīn), granted to believers upon their encounter with God in Paradise, as a reward for their realisation of God’s oneness in this life.}

The eye did not swerve, nor did it go beyond [the bounds].

He did not incline to the evidences of his self (shawāhid nafsihi), nor to witnessing them (mushāhadatihā), but was totally absorbed in the witnessing (mushāhada) of his Lord, Exalted is He, seeing (shāhid) the attributes [of God] that were being manifested [to him], which required firmness from him in that place (maḥall).

Verily he saw some of the greatest signs of his Lord.

That is, those of His attributes that became manifest through His signs. Though he saw them, he did not let slip [his gaze] from his witnessed Object (mashhūd) [of worship], and did not withdraw from the vicinity of his worshipped Object (maʿbūd), but rather [what he saw] only increased him in love (maḥabba), longing (shawq) and strength (quwwa).

God gave him the strength by which he could bear the theophany (tajallī) and supreme lights (anwār ʿaẓīma). This was out of his being favoured above the other prophets. Do you not see how Moses fell down in a swoon at the theophany. Yet twice as much did the Prophet ﷺ penetrate it (jābahu) in his contemplation, through a face-to-face encounter with the sight of his heart (kifāḥan bi-baṣar qalbihi), and yet remained firm due to the strength of his state, and his elevated station (maqām) and rank (daraja).^{1Later Sufis, such as Sulamī, Qushayrī and Maybudī contrasted the different responses of Moses and Muḥammad to the theophany. See, for example, Sulamī, Bayān laṭāʾif al-miʿrāj, trans. Colby, Nos 13, 15 and 45, and translator’s comment to the latter p. 126. Some commentators contrasted the two prophets’ experiences in order to illustrate the opposite stations of talwīn (vacillation) and tamkīn (firmness or stability) — the latter being the equivalent to Tustarī’s thabāt. See the section on talwīn and tamkīn in Qushayrī’s Risāla, pp. 232–5, trans. Knysh, p. 101; Sulamī, Risāla al-Malāmatiyya in Nasrollah Pourjavady, ed., Majmūʿa (Tehran, 1990), p. 403; French trans. Deladrière, p. 30; and Maybudī, Kashf al-asrār, vol. 2, p. 93.}

His words, Exalted is He:

and that his endeavour will be seen,^{1This and the following verses are a continuation of the question that is begun in verse 36: Has he [man] not been informed of what is in the scrolls of Moses…?}

He said:

That is, his endeavour (saʿī) will be seen, and he will know that it is not worthy of God. He will see what his endeavour is entitled to,^{2i.e. he will see that it is worth nothing in the face of God. Or it could mean, he will see who (namely God) is entitled to his endeavour.} and that if God’s grace did not reach him, his endeavour would come to nought.

His words, Exalted is He:

and that it is He who makes to laugh and to weep,

He said:

That is, He made the obedient laugh with His mercy (raḥma) and destroyed the transgressors with His wrath (sakhṭ). He made the hearts of the mystics joyful with the light of gnosis of Him and made the hearts of His enemies grieve with the darkness of His wrath.

and that it is He who brings death and gives life,

He said:

He caused the hearts of His enemies to die through disbelief (kufr) and darkness (ẓulma), and He gave life to the hearts of His friends through faith (īmān) and the lights of gnosis (anwār al-maʿrifa).

and that it is He who gives wealth and grants possessions

He said:

Its outward meaning refers to worldly possessions, and its inner meaning is that He enriches [His servants] through obedience and impoverishes them through disobedience.

Ibn ʿUyayna said, He who gives wealth and grants possessions means: He gives satisfaction (aqnaʿa) and contentment (arḍā). But God, Glorified and Exalted is He, knows best.