On the various Religions and the Acts of Worship (al-Adyān wa-l-ʿIbādāt), and the subtle point of all the states and the stations

Know that God (exalted is He) created all the existents only for His worship; so they are molded upon that, originated upon it by [their] very root.

So there is, in existence, nothing but that it worships God (exalted is He) by its state, its speech, and its deed -- nay, by its essence and its attributes. So everything in existence is obedient to God (exalted is He), by His saying to the heavens and the earth: "Come, willingly or unwillingly"; they said: "We come, obedient" (41:11, Fuṣṣilat). And nothing is intended by "the heavens" except their people, nor by "the earth" except its dwellers.

And He (exalted is He) said: "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me" (51:56, al-Dhāriyāt). Then the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) bore witness for them that they [all] worship Him, by his saying: "Each is made easy for what he was created for."

because the jinn and mankind are created for His worship, and they are made easy for what they were created for; so they are the worshippers of God by necessity.

But the acts of worship differ, by the difference of the requisites of the Names and the Attributes -- because God (exalted is He) is self-disclosed by His Name the Misleader (al-Muḍill), just as He is self-disclosed by His Name the Guide (al-Hādī).

So, just as the appearing of the trace of His Name the Bestower-of-grace is necessary, likewise the appearing of the trace of His Name the Avenger is necessary. And the people differed in their states, by the difference of the lords of the Names and the Attributes. God (exalted is He) said: "Mankind was a single community" (2:213, al-Baqara) --

meaning, [they were] the worshippers of God, molded upon His obedience by [their] original primordial-nature.

So God sent the prophets as bearers of glad tidings and warners -- that whoever follows the messengers might worship Him by way of His Name the Guide, and that whoever opposes the messengers might worship Him by way of His Name the Misleader.

So the people differed, and the religious communities split, and the sects appeared; and each group went to what it knew to be right -- even if that knowledge, with another [group], was error -- but God made it seem good to it, that they might worship Him from the direction that the attribute effecting that affair requires.

And this is the meaning of His saying: "There is no creature but He holds it by its forelock" (11:56, Hūd). So He is the Doer with them, according to what His will wills -- and that is the very thing His attributes have required.

So He (glory be to Him, exalted is He) requites them according to the requirement of His Names and Attributes; so no one's acknowledgment of His lordship benefits Him, and no one's denial of that harms Him.

Rather, He (glory be to Him, exalted is He) disposes in them according to what He merits of that -- of the diversity of His [forms of] worship that befit His perfection.

So everyone in existence is a worshipper of God (exalted is He), obedient to His saying (exalted is He):

"And there is nothing but that it glorifies His praise; but you do not understand their glorification" (17:44, al-Isrāʾ) -- because of their glorification is what is called opposition, disobedience, denial, and other than that.

So not everyone understands it. Then the negation fell only upon the totality, so it is valid that some [individuals] understand it. So His saying, "but you do not understand their glorification," means by way of the totality; so it is admissible that some of them understand it.

Then know that God (exalted is He), when He brought this existence into being and sent Adam down from the Garden -- and Adam was a friend [of God] (walī) before his descent to this world.

So when he descended to this world, God (exalted is He) gave him prophethood -- because prophethood is legislation and [legal] charge, and this world is the abode of [legal] charge -- unlike the Garden, for he was, in it, a friend [of God], because it is the abode of marvel and witnessing, and that is friendship (al-walāya).

Then our father Adam did not cease to be a friend [of God] in himself, until his progeny appeared; so he was sent to them, and he used to teach them what God (exalted is He) had commanded him.

And he had scriptures (ṣuḥuf) that God sent down upon him; so whoever of his children learned the reading of those scriptures believed of necessity, for what is in them of the exposition that no contemplator can reject.

These are the ones of his progeny who followed him. And whoever occupied himself with his pleasures, away from learning the reading of those scriptures, and followed his caprice -- the darkness of heedlessness led him to delusion by this world, then that led him to denial and the absence of faith in what is in the scriptures, of what God sent down upon Adam (upon him be peace); and these are the unbelievers (al-kuffār).

Then when Adam (upon him be peace) died, his progeny split: a group, of those who believed in the nearness of Adam (upon him be peace) to God (exalted is He), went to form a figure of stone in the likeness of Adam, to preserve his honor by serving it, and to establish the law of love by the perpetual witnessing of his person --

perhaps that might be a means of bringing [him] near to God (exalted is He) -- because he knew that the service of Adam, in his lifetime, had been a means of bringing him near to God (exalted is He), so he supposed that, were he to serve the [image of] the person of Adam, it would be likewise.

Then a group followed it, after it, and they went astray in the service, so they worshipped the image itself -- and these are the idol-worshippers (ʿabadat al-awthān). Then another group went to analogy by their intellects, and discredited the idol-worshippers, and said: "It is more fitting that the four natures be worshipped, because they are the root of existence,"

since the world is composed of heat, cold, dryness, and moisture.

"So the worship of the root is more fitting than the worship of the branch -- because the idols are a branch of the worshipper, since they are beneath him, so he is their root." So they worshipped the natures; and these are the naturalists (al-ṭabīʿiyyūn).

Then a group went to the worship of the seven planets, and said: "Heat, cold, dryness, and moisture -- none of them has, in itself, a voluntary motion, so there is no benefit in worshipping them; and it is more fitting to worship the seven planets, which are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon -- because each of these is independent in itself, coursing in its sphere,

moving with a motion that has an effect in existence -- at times benefit, at times harm; so it is more fitting to worship the one who has the [free] disposal." So they worshipped the planets; and these are the philosophers (al-falāsifa). And a group went to the worship of light and darkness, because they said: "The singling-out of the lights for worship is a neglect of the second side, because existence is confined to light and darkness; so the worship of these [both] is more fitting."

So they worshipped absolute light, wherever it was, without singling out a star or other [thing],

and they worshipped the absolute, self-disclosing darkness, wherever it was; so they named the light Yazdān, and named the darkness Ahriman -- and these are the dualists (al-Thanawiyya). Then a group went to the worship of fire, because they said: "The foundation of life is upon the innate heat, which is a meaning, and its existential form is fire; so it [fire] alone is the root of existence." So they worshipped fire, and these are the Magians (al-Majūs). Then a group went to abandoning worship entirely, claiming that it does not benefit, and that Time (al-dahr), by what it requires, is [merely] molded -- by way of the divine primordial-nature -- upon what [actually] occurs;

so there is nothing there but wombs that push forth and an earth that swallows -- and these are the materialists (al-Dahriyya), and they are also called the godless (al-malāḥida). Then the People of the Book are divided: Brahmins (Barāhima) -- and these claim that they are upon the religion of Abraham and that they are of his progeny, and they have a particular [form of] worship;

and Jews -- and these are the Mosaists (al-Mūsawiyyūn);

and Christians -- and these are the Jesuites (al-ʿĪsawiyyūn);

and Muslims -- and they are the Muhammadans (al-Muḥammadiyyūn).

So these are ten religious communities, and they are the roots of the differing communities -- which are endless in their multitude; and the axis of all is upon these ten communities.

And they are: the unbelievers, the naturalists, the philosophers, the dualists, the Magians, the Brahmins, the materialists, the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims.

And there is none of these groups but that God has created, of it, people for the Garden and people for the Fire.

Do you not see that the unbelievers, in the earlier time, from the regions which the call of the messengers of that time did not reach, are divided into a doer of good whom God requited with the Garden, and a doer of evil whom God requited with the Fire?

And likewise the People of the Book. So the good, before the sending-down of the sacred laws, is what the hearts accepted, the souls loved, and the spirits rejoiced at;

and after the sending-down of the sacred laws, [it is] what God made His servants worship Him by. And the evil, before the sending-down of the sacred laws, is what the hearts [refused and] the souls detested and the spirits were pained by; and after the sending-down of the sacred laws, [it is] what God forbade His servants.

So all these groups are worshippers of God (exalted is He) as He ought to be worshipped, because He created them for Himself, not for themselves; so they are His, as He merits. Then He (glory be to Him, exalted is He) made manifest, in these communities, the realities of His Names and Attributes; so He disclosed Himself in all of them by His Essence, [and] all the groups worshipped Him.

As for the unbelievers, they worshipped Him by the Essence -- because, since the Real (glory be to Him, exalted is He) is the reality of all existence, and the unbelievers are part of existence, He is their reality; so they disbelieved that they should have a Lord, because He (exalted is He) is their reality, and He has no Lord, but rather is the absolute Lord.

So they worshipped Him from the angle of what their essences -- which are His very [reality] -- require. Then whoever of them worshipped the idol [did so] by the secret of His existence (glory be to Him) in its perfection -- without indwelling and without mixing -- in every individual of the individuals of the atoms of existence.

So He (exalted is He) was the reality of those idols they worship; so they worshipped none but God -- and that did not depend upon their knowledge, nor does it need their intentions, because the realities, even if their concealment is long, must appear in earnest, [in conformity] with what the matter [truly] is.

And that is the secret of their following the Real within themselves -- because their hearts bore witness to them that the good was in that affair, so their beliefs were knit upon the reality of that; and He is according to the [good] opinion of His servant of Him.

And he (upon him be blessing and peace) said: "Seek the verdict of your heart, even if the muftis give you their verdict." This [is] upon the interpretation of the generality of the heart. But upon the particular: not every heart is to be consulted, nor does every heart give a verdict with what is right; so this is intended [for] some hearts, not all.

So that belief-subtlety, [grasping] the reality of the affair they are doing, led them to the appearing of the reality of the affair, upon that course, in the Hereafter. And He (exalted is He) said: "Each party rejoicing in what they have" (30:32, al-Rūm) -- meaning, in this world and the Hereafter, because the name does not part from the named; so He named them as "rejoicing" and described them with this description, and the description is not other than the [thing] described.

Unlike [the case] were He to say, "Each party rejoiced in what they have" -- [for] that would be the verbal form [past tense].

And were He to say, "rejoices," in the imperfect form, it would require [eventual] cessation.

But the noun [participle "rejoicing"] is for the perpetuity of continuance; so they are rejoicing in this world by their deeds, and rejoicing in the Hereafter by their states -- so they are perpetual in the rejoicing in what they have.

And for this reason, were they returned [to this world], they would go back to what they were forbidden -- after their [becoming] aware of what it yields of torment -- because of the pleasurable subtlety they found in that, which is the cause of their abiding in it.

For the Real (exalted is He), out of His mercy, when He wills to torment a servant with a torment in the Hereafter, brings about for him, in that torment, an innate pleasure, by which the body of the tormented becomes enamored [of it] -- so that taking-refuge in God (exalted is He) and seeking His protection from the torment is not valid from him;

so he remains in the torment as long as that pleasure exists for him. So when the Real wills the lightening of his torment, He deprives him of that pleasure, so that he is driven to [seek] mercy.

And it is His [way] (exalted is His affair) that He answers the distressed when he calls upon Him; so when the taking-refuge in God (exalted is He) and the seeking of His protection becomes valid from him, the Real protects him from that.

So the worship of the unbelievers of Him is an essential worship; and even though it leads them, [eventually], to felicity, it is [yet] the path of misguidance, by reason of the remoteness of the attainment of its felicity.

for the realities are not unveiled to its possessor except after his plunging through all the layers of the otherworldly Fire -- as a requital for [his] having plunged, in this world, through the layers of the natural Fire, by deeds, states, and sayings, according to what humanness requires.

So when he has fulfilled that, he traverses his way to God (exalted is He) -- because he was called from afar -- so that [his way] reaches his divine felicity, and he wins what the brought-near ones won from the first step, because they were called from near. So understand.

As for the naturalists, they worshipped Him from the angle of His four attributes -- because the four divine attributes, which are Life, Knowledge, Power, and Will, are the foundation of the edifice of existence,

[and] heat, cold, moisture, and dryness are their loci of manifestation in the world of beings.

So moisture is the locus of manifestation of Life, cold the locus of Knowledge, heat the locus of Will, and dryness the locus of Power; and the reality of these loci of manifestation is the Essence of the One described by them (glory be to Him, exalted is He).

So when that divine subtlety, existing in these loci of manifestation, gleamed forth to all the spirits of the naturalists, and they beheld the trace of His four divine attributes, then engaged them in existence as heat, cold, dryness, and moisture --

the receptacles knew, by [their] divine preparedness, that those attributes are meanings for these forms -- or say, spirits for these phantasms; or say, the [inner] outwards for these loci of manifestation -- so they worshipped these natures by this secret. So among them is one who knew and among them one who was ignorant; the knower is foremost (sābiq), and the ignorant one a follower (lāḥiq).

So they are worshippers of the Real from the angle of the Attributes, and their affair leads to felicity, as the affair of those before them led to it -- by the appearing of the realities upon which their affair was built.

As for the philosophers, they worshipped Him from the angle of His Names (glory be to Him, exalted is He) -- because the stars are the loci of manifestation of His Names, and He (exalted is He) is their reality by His Essence.

So the Sun is the locus of manifestation of His Name "Allāh," because it is what reinforces, by its light, all the planets -- just as the Name "Allāh" [is that] from which all the Names draw their realities.

And the Moon is the locus of manifestation of His Name "the All-Merciful" (al-Raḥmān), because it is the most perfect of the planets in bearing the light of the Sun -- just as the Name "al-Raḥmān" is the highest rank, in the Name "Allāh," of all the Names, as its exposition has preceded in its chapter.

And Jupiter is the locus of manifestation of His Name "the Lord" (al-Rabb), because it is the most auspicious planet in the heaven -- just as the Name "al-Rabb" is the most particular rank among the ranks, for its comprehending the perfection of grandeur, [and] for its requiring the [thing] lorded-over.

As for Saturn, it is the locus of manifestation of unicity (al-wāḥidiyya), because all the spheres are under its encompassing -- just as the Name "the One" (al-Wāḥid) is beneath [/comprehends] all the Names and Attributes.

As for Mars, it is the locus of manifestation of Power, because it is the star particular to the subjugating deeds.

As for Venus, it is the locus of manifestation of Will, because it is swift of variation in itself -- and likewise the Real wills, in every instant, a thing.

As for Mercury, it is the locus of manifestation of Knowledge, because it is the Scribe in the heaven.

And the rest of the known planets are loci of manifestation of His Beautiful Names that fall under enumeration; and what is not known of the remaining stars -- they are loci of manifestation of His Names that enumeration does not reach.

So when the spirits of the philosophers tasted that, by way of the preparedness-apprehension existing in them by the divine primordial-nature,

they worshipped these planets, by [reason of] that divine subtlety existing in each planet; then, since the Real was the reality of those planets, it required that He be worshipped by His Essence -- so they worshipped Him by this secret.

So there is, in existence, nothing but that the son of Adam, and other than him of the animals, has worshipped it -- like the chameleon, for it worships the sun; and like the dung-beetle, [which] worships the foul [dung]; and others of the kinds of animals. So there is, in existence, no animal but that it worships God (exalted is He),

either by restriction to a locus of manifestation and an originated [thing], or by absoluteness. So whoever worships Him by absoluteness is a monotheist (muwaḥḥid), and whoever worships Him by restriction is an associator (mushrik).

And all of them are worshippers of God in reality, by reason of the existence of the Real in them.

For the Real (exalted is He), from the angle of His Essence, requires that He not appear in a thing without that thing's being worshipped; and He has appeared in the very [substance] of existence.

So of the people is one who worshipped the natures, which are the root of the world;

and of them one who worshipped the planets;

and of them one who worshipped the mineral;

and of them one who worshipped fire;

and there remains nothing in existence but that it has worshipped something of the world --

except the Muhammadans, for they worshipped Him by absoluteness, without restriction to any of the parts of the originated things; so they worshipped Him from the angle of the whole. Then their worship was [held] transcendent above their being attached to one aspect rather than another, of inward and outward; so their path was the path of God to His Essence. And for this reason they won the degree of nearness from the first step. These are the ones to whom the Real pointed by His saying: "Those are called from a near place."

Unlike the one who worshipped Him from the angle of [a] direction and restricted Him to a locus of manifestation -- like the natures, or the planets, or the idol, or other than them -- for they are the ones pointed to by His saying: "Those are called from a far place" (41:44, Fuṣṣilat) -- because they return to Him only from the angle of that locus of manifestation which they worshipped as such, and He does not appear to them in other than it. And that is the very distance to which they were called, as such. But after the arrival at the abode, the one called from near and the one called from far become one. So understand.

As for the dualists, they worshipped Him from the angle of His [own] Self (exalted is He) -- because He (exalted is He) gathered the opposites by His Self, so He comprehended the Real-ranks and the creaturely-ranks, and appeared in the two descriptions by the two rulings, and appeared in the two abodes by the two attributes.

So what is ascribed to the Real-reality, it is what appears in the lights; and what is ascribed to the creaturely-reality, it is an expression for the darkness.

So they worshipped light and darkness, by this divine secret that gathers the two descriptions, the two opposites, the two considerations, and the two rulings -- however you wish, of whichever ruling you wish; for He (glory be to Him) gathers the thing and its opposite by His Self.

So the dualists worshipped Him from the angle of this divine subtlety, of what He requires in His Self (glory be to Him, exalted is He); so He is the one named "the Real" and He is the one named "the creation," [so] He is the light and the darkness.

As for the Magians, they worshipped Him from the angle of oneness (al-aḥadiyya); for, just as oneness is annihilating of all the ranks, Names, and attributes, likewise fire -- it is the strongest of the elemental-roots and the highest of them -- for it is annihilating of all the natures by its proximity: no nature draws near it without being transmuted into the fiery, by the predominance of its strength; and likewise oneness, no Name and no attribute faces it without being subsumed in it and effaced. So by this subtlety they worshipped fire -- and its reality is His Essence (exalted is He).

And know that prime-matter (al-hayūlā), before its appearing in a pillar of the pillars of the natures -- which are fire, water, air, and earth -- it is [free] to don the form of whichever pillar it wills; but after its appearing in a pillar of the pillars, it cannot doff that form and don another. Likewise the Names and the Attributes, in the very [source of] unicity, each one of them has the meaning of the second [opposite]: so the Bestower-of-grace is [also] the Avenger.

So when the Names appear in the divine rank, each Name yields nothing but what its reality requires: so the Bestower-of-grace is the opposite of the Avenger. So fire, among the natures, is the locus of manifestation of unicity among the Names.

So when the nostrils of the spirits of the Magians inhaled the fragrance of this musk, they were stopped-up to the smelling of other than it; so they worshipped fire -- and they worshipped none but the One, the Subduer (al-Wāḥid al-Qahhār).

As for the materialists, they worshipped Him from the angle of [the divine] ipseity (al-huwiyya); for he (upon him be blessing and peace) said: "Do not curse Time (al-dahr), for God is Time."

As for the Brahmins, they worship God absolutely -- not by way of a prophet, nor by way of a messenger -- but they say: there is, in existence, nothing but that it is created by Him.

So they acknowledge the oneness (waḥdāniyya) of God (exalted is He) in existence, but they deny the prophets and the messengers absolutely; so their worship of the Real is a kind of the worship of the messengers before [their] being sent.

And they claim that they are the children of Abraham (upon him be blessing and peace), and they say that they have a book that Abraham the Friend [of God] (upon him be peace) wrote for them, of himself -- without their saying that it is from his Lord.

In it is the mention of the realities, and it is five parts.

As for the four parts, they permit their reading to everyone; but as for the fifth part, they do not permit it except to the single ones among them, for the depth of its [hidden] bottom.

And it has become well-known among them that whoever reads the fifth part of their book must have his affair lead to Islam, so that he enters the religion of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace).

And this group, most of those who are found of them are in the land of India; and there are people who dress in their dress and claim that they are Brahmins, while they are not of them, and they are known among them for the worship of the idol -- so whoever of them worships the idol is not counted of this group, with them.

And all these classes [whose] mention has preceded -- since they innovated these acts of worship of themselves, it was a cause of their wretchedness, even though the affair leads them to felicity; for wretchedness is nothing but that distance in which they remain firm before the appearing of felicity -- so it is the wretchedness. So understand. But as for one who worshipped God upon the canon that his prophet commanded him -- whoever it be of the prophets -- he is not wretched; rather, his felicity is continuous, appearing little by little.

So that thing was a cause of their wretchedness; and they are in wretchedness in accordance with [the measure of] their opposition to the commands of God (exalted is He), and their felicity in accordance with [the measure of] their conformity to His Book (exalted is He).

For the Real did not send a prophet or a messenger to a community without making, in his message, the felicity of whoever followed him of them.

As for the Jews, they worship by the affirming of the oneness of God (exalted is He), then by prayer twice each day -- and the exposition of the secret of prayer will come in its place, if God (exalted is He) wills;

and they worship by the fast for the day of Kippur (kanūra) -- for it is the tenth day from the head of the year, and it is the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ -- and the exposition of its secret will come also.

and they worship by the [Sabbath-]retreat (iʿtikāf) on the day of the Sabbath -- and the condition of the retreat, with them, is that one not bring into his house anything of what is acquired as wealth, nor of what is eaten, nor take out of it anything, nor effect in it a marriage, a sale, or a contract,

and that he free himself for the worship of God (exalted is He) -- by His saying in the Torah: "You, your manservant, and your maidservant are for God (exalted is He) on the day of the Sabbath."

And for this reason it was forbidden them to effect, on the day of the Sabbath, anything that pertains to the affair of their world; and one's food is of what he gathered on Friday; and its first time, with them, is when the sun sets on Friday, and its end is the yellowing [of the sun] on Saturday.

And this is a sublime wisdom; for the Real (exalted is He) created the heavens and the earths in six days, and began them on Sunday, then mounted [/sat firm] upon the Throne on the seventh day, which is the day of the Sabbath.

So it is the day of [the divine] rest; and for this reason God made the Jews worship by this worship on this day -- a pointing to the All-Merciful sitting-firm (al-istiwāʾ al-raḥmānī) and its occurring on this day. So understand. And were we to undertake the discourse upon the secret of their food and their drink, which Moses prescribed for them, or upon their festivals and what their prophet commanded them in them -- and in all their observances, and what is in them of the divine secrets -- we would fear, for many of the ignorant, that they be deluded by it and go forth from their [own] religion, for the absence of their knowledge of its secrets.

So let us refrain from disclosing the secrets of the observances of the People of the Book, and let us expound what is more excellent than that -- which is the secrets and observances of the people of Islam; for they have gathered all the scattered [things], and there remains nothing of the secrets of God without Muhammad's (may God bless him and grant him peace) having guided us to it. So his religion is the most perfect of religions, and his community the best of communities.

As for the Christians, they are the nearest of all the past communities to the Real (exalted is He) -- [yet] they are below the Muhammadans.

And its cause is that they sought God (exalted is He) [and] worshipped Him in Jesus, Mary, and the Holy Spirit; then they professed the absence of [His] divisibility; then they professed His pre-eternity, [along] with His existence in the originated [being], Jesus -- and all of this is a transcendence-in-likening (tanzīh fī tashbīh) befitting the divine side.

But since they confined that to these three, they descended from the rank of the monotheists -- except that they are nearer than others to the Muhammadans, because whoever witnesses God in the human, his witnessing is more complete than [that of] all who witness God among the kinds of creatures.

So their witnessing of that in the Jesus-reality leads them, when the affair is unveiled in earnest, to know that the children of Adam are like mirrors set facing [each other], in each of which is found what is in the other;

so they witness God (exalted is He) in themselves, and so affirm His oneness absolutely, and so are transformed to the rank of the monotheists -- but after their passing over the path of distance, which is the restriction and the confining that holds sway in their beliefs. And God made the Christians worship by a fast of

forty-nine days, begun on Sunday and ended on it.

And He permitted them to fast [only] the remainder of Sunday; so eight Sundays come out of it, leaving forty-one days -- that is the period of their fast. And the manner of their fasting is that they not eat what nourishes for twenty-three hours -- [from] the afternoon (ʿaṣr) to an hour before it, which is the time of eating;

and it is permitted them, in the rest of the times in which they fast, to drink wine and water, and to eat of fruits what does not stand in the place of [staple] nourishment. And beneath each subtle point of these is a secret of the secrets of God (exalted is He). Then God made them worship by the retreat of Sunday, and by nine festivals, which we are not engaged in mentioning; and beneath each subtlety of these are abundant sciences and various allusions -- so let us refrain from their exposition, and let us mention what is more important: the exposition of what God made the Muslims worship by.

As for the Muslims, know that they are as God (exalted is He) gave tidings of them by His saying: "You were the best community brought forth for mankind" (3:110, Āl ʿImrān) -- because their Prophet, Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace), is the best of the prophets, and his religion the best of religions. And everyone who is at variance with them, of all the [other] communities, after the prophethood of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) and his being sent with the message -- whoever it be -- he is astray, wretched, tormented by the Fire, as God (exalted is He) has informed.

So they do not return to mercy except after the everlasting of everlastings -- by the secret of mercy's outstripping of wrath; and otherwise they are [under] wrath, because the path by which God (exalted is He) called them to Himself is the path of wretchedness and wrath, pain and toil; so all of them are [those who] perish.

God (exalted is He) said: "And whoever seeks other than Islam as a religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be of the losers" (3:85, Āl ʿImrān). And what loss is greater than the missing of the felicity that places its possessor in the degree of divine nearness?

So their being called from afar -- it is their loss, and it is the very wretchedness and the painful torment. And their religion is not reckoned [as valid], even if its possessor arrives [at felicity] after hardship, because it is a religion of wretchedness; so they were wretched only by the following of that religion. Do you not see, for example, one who is tormented in this world -- even for a single day -- with the kinds of the torment of this world (which is like a mustard-seed, and less, [compared] to the torment of the Hereafter): how is he wretched by that torment? So what of one who abides the everlasting of everlastings in the fire of Jahannam?

And God (exalted is He) has informed you that they abide in it as long as the heavens and the earth [endure]; so they do not move from it to mercy except after the passing-away of the heavens and the earth -- and then the cycle turns with them, and they return to the thing from which the beginning was, which is God (exalted is He). So understand. And the Muslims, all of them, are felicitous by the following of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace), by his saying when the Bedouin said to him: "Tell me -- if I make lawful the permitted, forbid the forbidden, and perform the obligatory, and add nothing to that and subtract nothing from it" -- or as he said -- "shall I enter the Garden?"

And the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) said to him: "Yes." And he did not make him conditional by [any further] condition; rather, he stated absolutely, in plain declaration, the entering of the Garden by that deed alone.

And whoever comes to be in the Garden has won the first degree of the degrees of nearness.

God (exalted is He) said: "So whoever is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to the Garden has won" (3:185, Āl ʿImrān). So the Muslims are upon the straight path (al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm), which is the way leading to felicity without hardship; and the monotheists of the Muslims -- I mean the people of the reality of [divine] oneness -- are upon the path of God (ṣirāṭ Allāh), and this path is more particular and more excellent than the first.

for it [the path of God] is an expression for the varieties of the self-disclosures of the Real (exalted is He) to Himself, by Himself; and the straight path is an expression for the way to the unveiling of that.

So the Muslims are the people of [divine] oneness, and the gnostics the people of the reality of oneness; and whoever is besides these, they are all associators -- equal in that are all the nine [other] communities we have mentioned. So there is no monotheist except the Muslims. Then God (exalted is He) made the Muslims worship from the angle of His Name "the Lord" (al-Rabb); so they follow His commands and prohibitions -- because the first verse that God (exalted is He) sent down upon His Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) was: "Recite, in the Name of your Lord who created" (96:1, al-ʿAlaq). He joined the command to lordship, because it is its locus; and for that reason the acts of worship were made obligatory upon them, because the [thing] lorded-over is bound to the worship of its Lord.

So all the common folk of the Muslims are worshippers of God (exalted is He) from the angle of His Name "the Lord"; they cannot worship Him from other than that.

Unlike the gnostics, for they worship Him from the angle of His Name "the All-Merciful" (al-Raḥmān) -- by reason of the self-disclosure, to them, of His existence pervading all the existents; so they are observers of the All-Merciful, [and] they worship Him from the angle of the All-Merciful rank.

Unlike the verifiers (al-muḥaqqiqūn), for their worship of Him (glory be to Him, exalted is He) is from the angle of His Name "Allāh" -- by reason of their praising Him with what He merits of the Names and Attributes, by which they [themselves] have been qualified.

Because the reality of praise is that you be qualified by what you have described Him by, of the Name or the attribute by which you praised Him and lauded Him. So they [the verifiers] are the worshippers of "Allāh"; the gnostics, the worshippers of "the All-Merciful"; and the common folk of the Muslims, the worshippers of "the Lord."

So the station of the verifiers is "Praise be to God"; and the station of the gnostics is "The All-Merciful, [who] mounted firm upon the Throne" (20:5) -- "His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth and what is between them and what is beneath the soil" (20:6).

And the station of the common folk of the Muslims is: "Our Lord, truly we heard a caller calling to faith, 'Believe in your Lord,' so we believed; our Lord, so forgive us our sins, and remit from us our evil deeds, and take us [in death] with the pious" (3:193, Āl ʿImrān). And by "the common folk of the Muslims" I mean all who are below the gnostics -- of the witnesses [/martyrs], the righteous, the scholars, and the practitioners -- for they are "common" [only] by their relation to the people of divine nearness.

And they [the people of nearness] are the verifiers, upon whom God built the foundation of this existence, and upon whose breaths He turned the spheres of the worlds; so they are the locus of the Real's regard, of [all] the worlds -- nay, they are the locus of God, of [all] existence. And I do not intend, by the word "locus," indwelling (ḥulūl), nor likening, nor direction -- rather, I intend by it that they are the locus of the appearing of the Real (exalted is He), by the manifesting of the traces of His Names and Attributes in them and upon them.

So they are the ones addressed with the kinds of secrets, and they are the chosen for what is behind the veils; and God made the bases of the religion -- nay, the bases of all the religions -- built upon the ground of their gnoses.

So it [that ground] is filled with the kinds of subtleties for them, [which] none knows but they; so His speech (glory be to Him, exalted is He) is, for them, expressions in which is an allusion to the realities.

And His command and His observances have symbols, at which they have, of the divine gnoses, treasures; the Real transfers them, by the knowledge of what He has described to them, from rank to rank, from presence to presence, from knowledge to direct vision, from direct vision to realization -- to where there is no "where."

So all the creation is, for them, like an instrument bearing those trusts that God (exalted is He) made a possession for this group; so they [the creation] bear the trust [only] metaphorically toward them, while these [the verifiers] bear it in reality, for Him (exalted is He). So they are the locus of the address of the speech of God (exalted is He), the wellspring of the allusions, and the disclosure-site of the exposition; and the rest are joined to them by way of metaphor. So they are "the servants of God" (ʿibād Allāh) who drink of the pure camphor, and the rest -- there issues forth for them, from that spring, [a portion], so each [drinks] according to the measure of his cup. God (exalted is He) said: "Truly the pious drink of a cup whose mixture is camphor -- a spring from which the servants of God drink, making it gush forth abundantly" (76:5-6, al-Insān). So "the servants of God" are with God in reality, the pious are with God metaphorically, and the rest are with God by way of dependence -- and the ruling, [for all,] in reality; so all are with God as befits God, and all are the servants of God, and all are the servants of the All-Merciful, and all are the servants of the Lord.

Then know that God (exalted is He) made the [whole] community of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) [to be] upon seven ranks: the first, Islam (al-Islām); the second, faith (al-Īmān); the third, righteousness (al-Ṣalāḥ); the fourth, excellence (al-Iḥsān); the fifth, witnessing [/martyrdom] (al-Shahāda); the sixth, truthfulness (al-Ṣiddīqiyya); the seventh, nearness (al-Qurba). And there is, after this rank, nothing but prophethood -- and its door has been shut by Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace).

Then Islam is built upon five foundations: the first, the testimony that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God; the second, the establishing of the prayer; the third, the giving of the alms (zakāt); the fourth, the fast of Ramaḍān;

the fifth, the Pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God, "for whoever is able to make a way to it" (3:97, Āl ʿImrān).

As for faith, it is built upon two pillars: the first pillar, the certain affirmation of the oneness of God, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the [divine] decree -- its good and its evil -- from God (exalted is He).

And this certain affirmation is an expression for the stilling of the heart to the realizing of what He has informed it of, of the unseen, like its stilling to what it witnessed by its sight, of existence -- so that no doubt mixes into it. The second pillar: the doing of what Islam is built upon.

As for righteousness, it is built upon three pillars: the first, Islam; the second, faith; the third, the perpetuity of the worship of God (exalted is He), on condition of fear and hope in God (exalted is He).

As for excellence, it is built upon four pillars: the first, Islam;

the second, faith;

the third, righteousness; and the fourth pillar, the uprightness (al-istiqāma) in the seven stations -- which are repentance (al-tawba), turning-[to-God] (al-ināba), abstinence (al-zuhd), reliance (al-tawakkul), contentment (al-riḍā), entrusting (al-tafwīḍ), and sincerity (al-ikhlāṣ) -- in all the states.

As for witnessing, it is built upon five pillars: Islam, faith, righteousness, excellence, and the fifth pillar, [spiritual] aspiration (al-irāda).

And it has three conditions: the first, the knitting of love for God (exalted is He) without [ulterior] cause; the second, the perpetuity of remembrance without slackening; the third, the standing over the [lower] soul by [its] opposition, without [granting it] dispensation.

As for truthfulness, it is built upon six pillars: the first, Islam; the second, faith; the third, righteousness; the fourth, excellence; the fifth, witnessing; and the sixth pillar, gnosis (al-maʿrifa).

And it has three presences: the first presence, the knowledge of certitude (ʿilm al-yaqīn); the second, the eye of certitude (ʿayn al-yaqīn); the third, the truth of certitude (ḥaqq al-yaqīn).

And each presence has, of its [own] kind, seven conditions: the first, annihilation (al-fanāʾ); the second, abiding (al-baqāʾ); the third, the knowledge of the Essence by way of the self-disclosure of the Names; the fourth, the knowledge of the Essence by way of the self-disclosure of the Attributes; the fifth, the knowledge of the Essence by way of the Essence; the sixth, the knowledge of the Names and Attributes by the Essence; the seventh, the being-qualified by the Names and Attributes.

As for nearness, it is built upon seven pillars: the first, Islam; the second, faith; the third, righteousness; the fourth, excellence; the fifth, witnessing; the sixth, truthfulness; and the seventh pillar, the greater friendship (al-walāya al-kubrā).

And it has four presences: the first, the presence of [intimate] friendship (al-khulla) -- and it is the station of Abraham, "which whoever enters is secure" [Q 3:97]. The second, the presence of love (al-ḥubb) -- in it there came forth, for Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace), the robe of honor of being named "the Beloved of God." The third, the presence of the Seal (al-khitām) -- and it is the Muhammadan station; in it the Banner of Praise was raised. The fourth, the presence of servanthood (al-ʿubūdiyya) -- in it God (exalted is He) named him "His servant," where He said: "Glory be to God, who made His servant journey by night" [Q 17:1]; and in it he was made a prophet and sent to the creation, to be "a mercy to the worlds" [Q 21:107]. So the verifiers have, of this station, nothing but the being-named "His servant" (glory be to Him); so they are the vicegerents of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) in all the presences,

except for what is particular to him, in God, of what his origin singled him out by, apart from them. So whoever of the verifiers restricts himself to his [own] self has [thereby] deputized for Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) in the station of prophethood;

and whoever guides to God (exalted is He) -- like our perfected masters of the shaykhs -- has deputized for him in the station of messengership.

And this religion does not cease to stand as long as there is, upon the face of the earth, one of this group -- because they are the vicegerents of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace), defending his religion as the shepherd defends the sheep; so they are his brethren, to whom he pointed by his saying: "Oh, my longing for my brethren who will come after me" -- the hadith. So these are [as] prophets, not [merely] friends -- intending by that the prophethood of nearness, of informing, and of the divine ruling, not the prophethood of legislation, because the prophethood of legislation was cut off by Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace); so these are [those] informed with the sciences of the prophets, without an intermediary.

Then know that friendship (al-walāya) is an expression for the Real's (glory be to Him, exalted is He) taking charge of His servant, by the appearing of His Names and Attributes upon him -- in knowledge, in [direct] vision, in state, in the trace of [its] pleasure, and in [free] disposal.

And the prophethood of friendship (nubuwwat al-walāya): the Real's returning the servant to the creation, that he may undertake their affairs [for] the welfare of their conditions in that age, on the condition of [his] state.

So he governs the creation by his state, and draws them to what is most beneficial for them. So whoever of them called the creation to God (exalted is He) before Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) was a messenger; and [whoever did so] after Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) was a vicegerent of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace).

but he is not independent in his call by himself; rather, he is a follower of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) -- like those who have passed of our Sufi masters, such as Abū Yazīd [al-Bisṭāmī], al-Junayd, the Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir [al-Jīlānī], Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī, and their like (may God be pleased with them).

And whoever did not call to God (exalted is He), but [merely] halted with the governance of the affairs of the creation, according to what God (exalted is He) informs him of their states, he is a prophet [by] the prophethood of friendship.

Then this [one], if he were upon an independent way, without following one before him, he would be a prophet [by] the prophethood of legislation -- and its door has been shut by Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace).

So it appeared from all this that friendship (al-walāya) is a name for the special aspect between the servant and his Lord; the prophethood of friendship is a name for the aspect shared between the creation and the Real in the friend; the prophethood of legislation is a name for the aspect of independence in his observances by himself, without need of anyone; and messengership (al-risāla) is a name for the aspect between the servant and the rest of the creation. So it is known from this that the friendship of the prophet is more excellent than his prophethood absolutely; the prophethood of his friendship is more excellent than the prophethood of his legislation; and the prophethood of his legislation is more excellent than his messengership -- because the prophethood of legislation is particular to him, while messengership is general, [shared] with others.

And what is particular to him, of the observances, is more excellent than what pertains to others. For many of the prophets -- his prophethood was a prophethood of friendship, like al-Khiḍr (in some of the sayings), and like Jesus when he descends to this world, for he will not have a prophethood of legislation, and like others of the Children of Israel.

And many of them were not messengers, but were prophets legislating for [their own] selves.

And among them was one who was a messenger to a single [person]; among them one who was a messenger to a particular group; and among them one who was a messenger to mankind, not the jinn.

And God did not create a messenger to the black and the red, the nearer and the farther, except Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) -- for he was sent to all the creatures; and for this he was "a mercy to the worlds."

So when you have known this, say absolutely: friendship is more excellent than prophethood absolutely, in the prophet; the prophethood of friendship is more excellent than the prophethood of legislation; and the prophethood of legislation is more excellent than the prophethood of messengership. And know that every messenger is a prophet of legislation, and every prophet of legislation is a prophet of friendship; and the prophethood of legislation is more excellent than the [mere] friend absolutely.

And from here it was said: "The beginning of the prophet is the end of the [mere] friend." So understand and ponder it, for it has been hidden from many of the people of our community.

And God speaks the truth, and He guides to the way.

Section: in which we mention the secrets of what God made us worship by, upon the tongue of His Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace).

And they are the five upon which Islam is built; then we follow them with the mention of the secrets of faith, and we clarify the secrets of the meanings that God placed in the station of righteousness -- of the perpetuity of worship, in fear and hope.

Then we gesture toward the secrets of the seven stations mentioned in [the rank of] excellence -- which are repentance, turning-[to-God], abstinence, reliance, contentment, entrusting, and sincerity.

And we mention a part of the stations of witnessing, and gesture toward something of the signs of the possessor of the knowledge of certitude, the eye of certitude, and the truth of certitude.

And we bring sentences disclosing the wonders of the station of friendship, of love, of the Seal, and of servanthood.

And all of that by way of summary and brevity; for were we to desire the detailing of that by way of expatiation, we would need many volumes -- and we are not engaged in that.

So the first that we mention is the secret of the word of the testimony (kalimat al-shahāda).

Know that, since existence is divided between a creation whose ruling is negation, privation, and annihilation, and a Real whose ruling is bringing-into-being, existence, and abiding -- the word of the testimony was built upon a negation, which is "no" (lā), and an affirmation, which is "except" (illā); its meaning [being]: there is no existence for anything except God.

And the word "god" (ilāh), in His saying "no god," by it is intended those idols that they worship; God (exalted is He) named it "god," as they named it -- in agreement with them -- by the secret of His existence in their entities.

So they are, by His existence, gods in truth; so every worshipped one of them, by the appearing of the Real in its [own] entity, is a god -- because He (exalted is He) is its [very] entity, and He is God, wherever He appears, meriting divinity.

Then the singling-out of all [of them] in the exception, by His saying "except God," means: those gods are nothing but God; so worship none but God, absolutely, without restriction to a direction -- for He is all the directions; so there is, in existence, nothing but God (exalted is He).

So He (exalted is He) is the very [reality] of all the existents. And since this matter is contingent upon witnessing and unveiling, the word "witnessing" (shahāda) was joined to it; so it was said, "I bear witness" (ashhadu), meaning: I see, with my eye, a witnessing, that there is, in existence, nothing but God.

And here are many inquiries concerning the exception: is it connected (muttaṣil) or disjunct (munqaṭiʿ)? And are the negated gods gods in truth or gods in falsity? And the non-yielding of the meaning [in the case] were they falsity, together with the non-admissibility of it [in the case] were they truth? And how the manner of the joining and the concord [is]? -- and various questions, and for each of them are decisive answers and radiant proofs. So understand.

As for the prayer (al-ṣalāt): it is an expression for the unicity (wāḥidiyya) of the Real (exalted is He); and its establishing is a pointing to the establishing of the law of unicity, by the being-qualified by all the Names and Attributes.

So the purification (al-ṭuhr) is an expression for the purification from the cosmic deficiencies; and its being conditioned by water is a pointing [to the fact] that they [the deficiencies] are not removed except by the appearing of the traces of the divine Attributes, which are the life of existence -- because water is the secret of life.

And [the dry ablution,] tayammum's, standing in the place of [water-]purification by necessity, is a pointing to the [self-]purification by oppositions [to the ego], struggles, and disciplines.

So this one, were he [self-]purified, perhaps [he] might be [accepted] -- for he is a degree lower than one who was drawn [/attracted] away from his [own] self, so that he was purified of its deficiencies by the water of the life of the divine pre-eternity.

And to it he (upon him be blessing and peace) pointed by his saying: "Grant my soul its God-consciousness, and purify it; You are the best of those who purify it." So "grant my soul its God-consciousness" is a pointing to the struggles, the oppositions, and the disciplines,

and his saying, "and purify it; You are the best of those who purify it," is a pointing to the divine attraction (al-jadhb) -- because it is better than the [self-]purification by deeds and struggles.

Then the facing of the qibla is a pointing to the total turning [of the face] in the seeking of the Real.

Then the intention (al-niyya) is a pointing to the knitting of the heart in that turning.

Then the opening "God is greatest" (takbīrat al-iḥrām) is a pointing [to the fact] that the divine Presence is greater and vaster than what may disclose itself by [it] upon him; so he does not restrict Him to his [own] witnessing, but rather He is greater than every witnessing and vista by which He has appeared to His servant -- so there is no end to Him.

And the recitation of the Fātiḥa [the Opener] is a pointing to the existence of His perfection in the human -- because the human is the opener (fātiḥa) of existence: God opened by him the locks of the existents.

So its recitation is a pointing to the appearing of the lordly secrets beneath the human secrets.

Then the bowing (al-rukūʿ) is a pointing to the witnessing of the privation [/non-being] of the cosmic existents beneath the existent of the divine self-disclosures. Then the standing [back up] is an expression for the station of abiding (al-baqāʾ); and for this reason he says in it: "God has heard whoever praises Him" (samiʿa llāhu li-man ḥamidah) -- and this is a word that the servant does not [of himself] merit, because it is an informing about a divine state.

So the servant, in the standing -- which is a pointing to abiding -- is the vicegerent of the Real (exalted is He); and, if you wish, you may say: His very [reality], to remove the difficulty. And for this reason he gives the report about [the Real's] state by [the Real's] self.

I mean: he interpreted the hearing of His Real [side] [as] the praise of His creaturely [side] -- and He, in the two states, is one, not multiple.

Then the prostration (al-sujūd) is an expression for the crushing of the traces of humanness and the effacing of them, by the continuance of the appearing of the sanctified Essence. Then the sitting between the two prostrations is a pointing to the realization in the realities of the Names and Attributes -- because the sitting is a sitting-firm (istiwāʾ) in the seated-posture,

and that is a pointing to the reality of His saying: "The All-Merciful, [who] mounted firm upon the Throne" (20:5). Then the second prostration is a pointing to the station of servanthood, which is the return from the Real to the creation. Then the salutations (al-taḥiyyāt) are a pointing to the Real-and-creaturely perfection -- because it is an expression of praise upon God (exalted is He), and praise upon His Prophet, and upon His righteous servants; and that is the station of perfection.

So the friend [of God] is not perfected except by his realization in the divine realities, his following of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace), and his observing of courtesy toward all the righteous servants of God. And here are many secrets, in which we have aimed at brevity.

As for the alms (al-zakāt): it is an expression for the [self-]purification by the preferring of the Real over the creation -- I mean, he prefers the witnessing of the Real in existence over the witnessing of the creation.

So when he wishes to witness himself, he prefers the Real, and so witnesses Him (glory be to Him); and when he wishes to be qualified by the attributes of his [own] self, he prefers the Real, and so is qualified by His attributes; and when he wishes to know his [own] essence, [so as] to find the I-ness, he prefers the Real, and so knows His Essence (glory be to Him, exalted is He), and so finds the [divine] ipseity. So this is the [esoteric] pointing of the alms. As for its being one [unit] in every forty, in [coined wealth]: it is because existence has forty ranks, and the sought [rank] is the divine rank, which is the highest rank, and it is one of forty.

And we have mentioned all of them in our book named al-Kahf wa-l-Raqīm fī Sharḥ Bism Allāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm; so let it be looked at there.

As for the fast (al-ṣawm): it is a pointing to the abstaining from the employment of the human requisites, that one may be qualified by the attributes of the Self-Sufficient Eternal (al-ṣamadiyya).

So, in accordance with the measure that he abstains -- that is, fasts -- from the requisites of humanness, the traces of the Real appear in him.

And its being a complete month is a pointing to the need for that throughout the whole period of the life of this world; so he does not say: "I have arrived, so I do not need to abandon the requisites of humanness."

And that the [self-]effaced one -- the [base] human traits have no way to him: for whoever does that [and claims exemption] is deluded, [a victim] of stratagem. So it behooves the servant to cling to the fast -- which is the abandoning of the human requisites -- as long as he is in the abode of this world, that he may win the firm-establishment in the realities of the divine Essence.

And here are many inquiries concerning the intention of the fast, the breaking-of-the-fast, the pre-dawn meal, the tarāwīḥ [prayers], and other than that of what is particular to Ramaḍān; so let us be content with what has passed.

As for the Pilgrimage (al-ḥajj): it is a pointing to the continuance of the [single] aim in the seeking of God (exalted is He). And the [pilgrim-]consecration (al-iḥrām) is a pointing to the abandoning of the witnessing of the creatures. Then the abandoning of the sewn [garment] is a pointing to his stripping-bare of his blameworthy attributes [and clothing himself] with the praiseworthy attributes.

Then the abstaining from shaving the head is a pointing to the abandoning of [the love of] human leadership.

Then the abstaining from clipping the nails is a pointing to the witnessing of God's action in the actions issuing from him.

Then the abstaining from perfume is a pointing to the stripping-bare of the Names and the Attributes, for his realization in the reality of the Essence.

Then the abstaining from marital intercourse is a pointing to the abstaining from [free] disposal in existence.

Then the abstaining from kohl is a pointing to the refraining from seeking unveiling, by the immersion in the ipseity of oneness (huwiyyat al-aḥadiyya).

Then the appointed-station (al-mīqāt) is an expression for the heart; then Mecca is an expression for the divine rank; then the Kaʿba is an expression for the Essence; then the Black Stone (al-ḥajar al-aswad) is an expression for the human subtle-essence (al-laṭīfa al-insāniyya), and its blackness is an expression for its coloring by the natural requisites -- and to it is the pointing in his saying (upon him be blessing and peace): "The Black Stone descended more intensely white than milk, then the sins of the children of Adam blackened it." So this hadith is an expression for the human subtle-essence -- because it is originated, by [its] very root, upon the divine reality, which is the meaning of His saying: "We have indeed created the human in the fairest stature" (95:4); and its return to the natures, the habit, the attachments, and the severers is its blackening, and all of that is "the sins of the children of Adam," and this is His saying: "Then We returned him to the lowest of the low" (95:5). So when you have understood, know that the circumambulation (al-ṭawāf) is an expression for what behooves him -- to grasp his ipseity, his origin, his wellspring, and his vista; and its being seven is a pointing to the seven attributes by which his essence is completed,

and they are: Life, Knowledge, Will, Power, Hearing, Sight, and Speech.

And there is a subtle point in the joining of this number to the circumambulation, namely, that he may return from these attributes to the attributes of God (exalted is He): so he ascribes his life to God, his knowledge to God, his will to God, his power to God, his hearing to God, his sight to God, and his speech to God.

So that he becomes as he (upon him be blessing and peace) said: "I become his hearing by which he hears, and his sight by which he sees" -- the hadith.

Then the prayer, [recommended] absolutely after the circumambulation, is a pointing to the coming-forth of oneness and the standing of its law in one for whom that is completed; and its being recommended to be behind the Station of Abraham (maqām Ibrāhīm) is a pointing to the coming-forth of [intimate] friendship (al-khulla) -- for it is an expression for the appearing of the traces [of the divine] in his body.

For [then] if he wipes with his hand, he heals the blind-born and the leper; and if he walks with his foot, the earth is folded up for him; and likewise the rest of his limbs -- by the permeation of the divine lights in them, without indwelling (min ghayr ḥulūl).

Then [the well of] Zamzam is a pointing to the sciences of the realities; so the drinking from it is a pointing to the taking-one's-fill of that.

Then [the hill of] al-Ṣafā is a pointing to the becoming-pure (al-taṣaffī) of the creaturely attributes.

Then [the hill of] al-Marwa is a pointing to the being-quenched (al-irtiwāʾ) from the drinking by the cups of the divine Names and Attributes.

Then the shaving [of the head], at that point, is a pointing to the realization of the divine leadership in that station.

Then the trimming [of the hair, al-taqṣīr] is a pointing to one who fell short and descended from the degree of realization, which is the rank of the people of nearness; so he is in the degree of direct vision (al-ʿiyān) -- and that is the lot of all the truthful ones (al-ṣiddīqūn).

Then the coming-out of the [pilgrim-]consecration is an expression for the expanding [of oneself] for the creation and the descending to them -- by the absence of [self-]withness in the seat of truth (maqʿad al-ṣidq).

Then ʿArafāt is an expression for the station of the gnosis of God; and the two landmarks (al-ʿalamayn) are an expression for the Beauty and the Majesty, upon which is the way of the gnosis of God -- because they are the two guides to God (exalted is He).

Then al-Muzdalifa is an expression for the diffusion of the station and its loftiness.

Then the Sacred Landmark (al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām) is an expression for the magnifying of the divine sanctities by the halting with the matters of the sacred Law (al-umūr al-sharʿiyya).

Then Minā is an expression for the attainment of the desire (al-munā) for the people of the station of nearness.

Then the three stone-pillars (al-jimār al-thalāth) are an expression for the [lower] soul, the [base] nature, and the habit.

So he pelts each of them with seven pebbles -- meaning, he annihilates them, makes them go away, and rebuts them by the strength of the traces of the seven divine attributes.

Then the circumambulation of the over-flowing (ṭawāf al-ifāḍa) is an expression for the perpetuity of ascent, [following] the perpetuity of the divine effusion -- for it is not cut off after the human perfection, since there is no end to God (exalted is He).

Then the circumambulation of farewell (ṭawāf al-wadāʿ) is a pointing to the guidance to God (exalted is He) by way of [the spiritual] state -- because it is the depositing of the secret of God (exalted is He) in the one who merits it.

So the secrets of God (exalted is He) are a deposit with the friend [of God], for whoever merits them -- by His saying (exalted is He): "So if you perceive in them [right] guidance, deliver to them their wealth" (4:6, al-Nisāʾ).

And here are many secrets in the [matter of] the supplications recited in all those rites, and beneath each supplication is a secret of the secrets of God (exalted is He), [which] we have refrained from mentioning, aiming at brevity. And God knows best.

As for faith (al-īmān): it is the first of the ascents of the unveiling of the world of the unseen, and it is the mount that ascends with its rider to the lofty stations and the resplendent presences.

For it is an expression for the heart's accord (tawāṭuʾ al-qalb) upon what is far from the intellect's grasping. So everything known by the intellect, the heart's accord upon it is not faith; rather, it is theoretical knowledge attained by the proofs of the witnessed -- so it is not faith, because faith stipulates in it the heart's acceptance of the thing without a proof, but [rather] a pure affirmation.

And for this reason the light of the intellect falls short of the light of faith -- because the bird of the intellect flies with the wings of wisdom, which are the proofs, and proofs are found only in the things of manifest effect; whereas the inward things -- no proof is found for them at all.

And the bird of faith flies with the wings of Power, and it has no halting at one apogee short of [another] apogee; rather, it ranges in all the worlds, because Power encompasses all of that. So the first thing that faith yields its possessor is that he sees, by his [inner] insight, the realities of what he has been informed of; and this seeing was unveiled only by the light of faith.

Then it does not cease to ascend with its possessor to the reality of realization in what he believed. God (exalted is He) said: "Alif Lām Mīm. That is the Book, in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the God-conscious; those who believe in the unseen, and establish the prayer, and spend of what We have provided them; and those who believe in what was sent down to you and what was sent down before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain. Those are upon a guidance from their Lord, and those are the successful" (2:1-5, al-Baqara). So doubt was not negated from the Book except for the believers -- because they believed in it and did not halt to look at the proof, and did not bind themselves by what the intellect bound them by; rather, they accepted what was cast to them, and so were decisive of its occurrence, without doubt.

So whoever's faith halts upon the looking at the proofs and the binding by the intellect has [thereby] doubted the Book. And the science of [dialectical] theology (ʿilm al-kalām) was founded only for the sake of repelling the godless and others of the people of innovation -- not for the sake of the occurrence of faith in the hearts.

So faith is a light of the lights of God (exalted is He), by which the servant sees what is before and what is after.

And from here he (upon him be blessing and peace) said: "Beware the [keen] insight (firāsa) of the believer, for he looks by the light of God (exalted is He)."

And he did not say: "Beware the insight of the Muslim," nor "of the intelligent," nor of any other -- but rather restricted [it] to the believer.

Then know that this verse has many meanings [which] we are not engaged in mentioning; but we have explained what the alif, the lām, the mīm, the kāf, the [word] "Book," and other than it pointed to.

And I hope that I may be given leave to write a commentary (tafsīr) for the Qurʾān, in which is the exposition of what God has made clear in it of the secrets [held] strange by the intellects -- so that, by it, the completion of the divine promise to His Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) might be attained, by His saying: "Then upon Us is its exposition" (75:19, al-Qiyāma). And that book is inevitable; so I hope that I [myself] may be the one honored with this service to the Book of God (exalted is He). So His saying in the verse, "That is the Book, in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the God-conscious, who believe in the unseen," pointed by that to the reality of "Alif Lām Mīm."

And that, by way of summary, is a pointing to the Essence, the Names, and the Attributes. "That is the Book" -- and the Book is the Perfect Human; so "Alif Lām Mīm," by what it pointed to, is the reality of the human. "In which there is no doubt, a guidance for the God-conscious (al-muttaqīn)" -- who are a protection (wiqāya) for the Real, and the Real is a protection for them.

So if you call upon the Real, you have alluded by Him to them; and if you call upon them, you have alluded by them to Him. "Who believe in the unseen" -- and the unseen is God, because He is their unseen; they believed in Him [in] that He is their ipseity and that they are His very [reality].

"And establish the prayer" -- meaning, they establish the law of the divine rank in their existence, by the being-qualified by the reality of the Names and Attributes.

"[And] of what We have provided them they spend" -- meaning, they dispose in existence of the fruit of what this divine oneness has yielded in their essences; so it is as though they were provided that by means of the observing of the divine oneness in them. So these are the foremost, the singular ones (al-mufradūn), pointed to by his saying (upon him be blessing and peace) to his companions: "Go on; the singular ones have gone ahead." And the followers are [those described as] "who believe in the unseen" -- meaning, in "what was sent down to you, O Muhammad" [absolutely], "and what was sent down before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain; those are upon a guidance from their Lord, and those are the successful." So these are the ones who believe in the angels, the books, the messengers, the Last Day, and the decree -- its good and its evil -- from God (exalted is He).

And those [the foremost] are the ones who believe in God; so they look upon the reality of the angels and the books, and upon the Real's sending of the messengers, and they see the Last Day, and witness the decree -- its good and its evil -- from God (exalted is He).

So they are not believers in all of that [the angels, books, etc.]; rather, [they are] knowers [by] a direct-vision, witnessing knowledge and gnosis -- so they are believers in God alone, because their knowledge of what is below Him is a witnessing knowledge, [and] so is not faith.

Because of the condition of faith is that its known be unseen, not witnessed; and they have no unseen except the innermost reality of the divine Essence -- so, even though they are, of God, upon a manifest, direct-vision witnessing, they are [yet] believers in what is endless of Him.

So their faith is particular to God (exalted is He) alone; and those joined to them are believers in God and in all these things mentioned in the [Prophet's] definition of faith, by his saying: "that you believe in God, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the decree -- its good and its evil -- from God (exalted is He)." So these are followers, and those [the foremost] are the foremost.

As for righteousness (al-ṣalāḥ): it is an expression for the perpetuity of worship, which is the deeds of piety -- seeking the reward of God (exalted is He) and out of fear of His punishment. So he does the things for God (exalted is He), but by them he seeks from Him the increase in his world and his Hereafter; so he is a worshipper of God out of fear of His Fire and desire for His Garden.

So by that the grandeur of the Real becomes firmly established in his heart, and the firm establishment of the distance from the disobediences of God (exalted is He) takes hold of his heart, so that he is purified of the forbidden matters. And the benefit of the perpetuity of worship is the firm-establishment of the divine subtle-point in the black core of the worshipper's heart; so that, were the cover lifted after that, he would not be broken at all, [and] he would be, in his realities, bound by his sacred laws (sharāʾiʿ). And this is what the perpetuity of worship, on condition of hope, has yielded him.

Because the worship of the righteous is conditioned by that [hope/fear]; unlike the [doer of] excellence (al-muḥsin), for he worships God out of awe of Him and desire for His worship. And the difference between the muḥsin and the [merely] righteous is that the righteous fears the torment of the Fire for his [own] self, and desires the reward of the Garden for his [own] self -- so the cause of his fear and his hope is the [lower] self;

and the muḥsin is in awe of the Majesty of God (exalted is He), and desires the Beauty of God (exalted is He); and the cause of his desire and his awe is the Beauty of God (exalted is He) and His Majesty. So the muḥsin is sincere for God, and the [merely] righteous is truthful in God; and the condition of the muḥsin is that no major sin run upon him -- unlike the [merely] righteous, for that is not stipulated for him. So understand.

As for excellence (al-iḥsān): it is the name of the station in which the servant is an observer of the traces of the Names of the Real and His Attributes; so he pictures, in his worship, as though he is before God (exalted is He).

So he does not cease to look toward this being [-as-though-before-God]; and the least of its degrees is that he look toward [the fact] that God is looking at him -- and this is the first of the degrees of vigilant-awareness (al-murāqaba). And this is not valid except by seven conditions, which are: repentance, turning-[to-God], abstinence, reliance, entrusting, contentment, and sincerity.

As for repentance (al-tawba): [its condition is] because, whenever he returns to sin, he is not [truly] vigilant, nor looking toward the Real's looking at him -- for whoever sees that God sees him, neither his faculties nor his heart comply with him in disobedience.

So the repentance of the muḥsin, and of those below the station of excellence -- of the righteous, the believers, and the Muslims -- is only from sin.

And the repentance of the people of the station of witnessing is from the [stray] thought of disobedience.

And the repentance of the people of the station of truthfulness is from [the fact] that other-than-God [should] occur to the mind.

And the repentance of the brought-near ones is from the entering under the rule of the [passing spiritual] state -- so that the states do not possess them; and that is an expression for the realization, in the All-Merciful sitting-firm, of the firm-establishment (al-tamkīn) in every coloration (talwīn), by the knowledge of its people.

As for turning-[to-God] (al-ināba): its being a condition in the station of excellence,

[is] because, unless he turns back from the deficiencies, in awe of God (exalted is He), and turns to God (exalted is He), the vigilant-awareness is not valid for him.

So the turning of the people of excellence, and of those below them -- of the righteous, the believers, and the Muslims -- is only from all that God forbade, to the halting with His commands (exalted is He) and the keeping of His bounds.

And the turning of the witnesses is their turning back from the will of their [own] selves to the will of the Real (exalted is He); so they are abandoners of their [own] will, willers of what the Real (exalted is He) wills.

And the turning of the truthful ones is their turning back from the Real to the Real.

And the turning of the brought-near ones is their turning back from the Names and the Attributes to the Essence.

And this is a station whose realization is difficult for the truthful ones; so each of them claims that he is with the Essence, while the matter is not so.

For they are [in fact] with the Names and the Attributes -- because their intoxication by the wine of unicity took them away from the reasoning of that. And if you say that they are with the Essence, then restrict [it], and say: by means of the Names and the Attributes.

Unlike the verifiers (al-muḥaqqiqūn), for they are with the Essence without restriction -- nay, by the Essence, in the Essence, with the Essence. And the verifiers are the people of the station of nearness; and its exposition will come, if God (exalted is He) wills.

As for abstinence (al-zuhd): its being a condition in the station of excellence is because, of the condition of the one vigilant toward God (exalted is He), is that he not turn toward this world.

Do you not see the servant, when he is present before his master, knowing that his master seeks the service from him -- how he abstains from the interests of his [own] self, [and] occupies himself with what the master commands him?

So the abstinence of the people of excellence, and of those below them -- of the righteous, the believers, and the Muslims -- is only in this world and in its pleasures.

And the abstinence of the witnesses is in this world and the Hereafter, [both] together.

And the abstinence of the truthful ones is in all the creatures, so that they witness none but the Real (exalted is He) and His Names and Attributes.

And the abstinence of the brought-near ones is in the abiding with the Names and the Attributes, so that they are in the reality of the Essence.

As for reliance (al-tawakkul): its being a condition in the station of excellence is because, of the condition of one who sees that God (exalted is He) sees him, is that he refer his affairs to Him -- because He is more knowing of his interests -- so that he does not weary his [own] self in what yields nothing of benefit.

And the condition of reliance is that the servant rely [so] that the Master may do with him what He wills. And this is the meaning of His saying:

"And upon God rely, if you are believers" (5:23, al-Māʾida) -- meaning: rely, if you are believers that He does only what He wills; so entrust your affairs to Him and do not object against Him. And this is not for the [merely] righteous.

For the [merely] righteous, and those below him, rely upon God -- but [so] that God may do for him his interests. And this is the meaning of His saying (exalted is He): "And whoever is God-conscious, He will make for him a way out, and provide for him from where he does not reckon" (65:2-3, al-Ṭalāq). And the first -- I mean, the one who relies [so] that God may do with him what He wills -- is of the group mentioned at the end of this verse, by His saying (exalted is He): "And whoever relies upon God, He is sufficient for him; truly God attains His purpose; God has set for everything a measure" (65:3) -- meaning: God must do what He wills. So the reliance of the people of excellence is an expression for the referring of the affair to God (exalted is He); and the reliance of the witnesses is an expression for the lifting of the secondary-causes and the means, by their looking to the [primary] Causer (glory be to Him, exalted is He) and His disposing in them -- they have relied upon Him by making His will the very [object of] their will,

so that they have no [self-]choosing by which they are distinguished in [any] seeking; rather, all that God (exalted is He) wills is [the very content of] their choosing and their will.

And the reliance of the truthful ones is the returning of the affair of their essences to the affair of the essence of the Real (exalted is He).

So their gaze does not fall upon their [own] selves; so they are reliant upon God (exalted is He) by the immersion in His witnessing and the being-consumed in His existence. And the reliance of the verifiers is the absence of [self-]expansion after the firm-establishment in the carpet [of nearness].

As for entrusting (al-tafwīḍ): it and surrender (al-taslīm) are one, and between them is a slight difference -- namely, that the one who surrenders may not be content with what issues to him from the one to whom he surrendered his affair; unlike the one who entrusts, for he is content with whatever the one to whom the entruster entrusted his affair may do.

And the two -- I mean surrender and entrusting -- are near to delegation (al-wakāla); and the difference between delegation and the two is that delegation has in it a scent of the claim of ownership, on the part of the delegator, in what he delegated the delegate in -- unlike surrender and entrusting, for they are outside of that.

So the entrusting of the people of excellence, and those below them, to the Real in all their affairs, is the returning of the affairs that God made [to be] for them to the Real; so they are free of the claim of ownership of what they have referred to the Real (exalted is He), of all their affairs -- so that is entrusting.

And the entrusting of the witnesses is their stilling to the Real (exalted is He) in what He turns them about in; so they are observers of the actions of God (exalted is He) in themselves, and, in others than themselves, entrusters to Him of the rein of the affair.

They see that the Real's taking of the forelocks of all the creatures is general, and of their [own] forelocks particular, [referring all] to what the Real (exalted is He) wills; so they are free, in their deeds, of the claim of [their own] agency.

And for this reason they do not anticipate the reward, nor seek the recompense, because they do not see, for themselves, a deed by which they would merit the recompense.

And the entrusting of the truthful ones is the observing of the divine Beauty wherever the varieties of the self-disclosures [are]; so they are not restricted to one self-disclosure rather than another -- so they are entrusters of the affair of His self-disclosures to His appearing.

So in whichever [self-disclosure] He appeared, they witnessed Him, according to the station, the Name, the attribute, the absoluteness, and the restriction. And the entrusting of the brought-near ones is the absence of distress at what they have looked upon, of what the Pen has run with in the creatures; so they do not dispose in existence in anything, but are entrusters to the Real (exalted is He), [who] disposes in His kingdom as He wills.

And these are the trustworthy, the well-mannered; they do not divulge the secrets of God, nor seek by that exaltation over others, nor corruption in the affairs of people;

rather, they deal with the creation as people deal with one another; so they engage in nothing of rending a veil, nor breaking an [established] matter -- but rather they are with the creation by their bodies, separate from them by their spirits, in the presence of divine nearness.

As for contentment (al-riḍā): its condition is that it be after the [divine] decree; as for before it, it is [merely] a resolve upon contentment -- and more than one of the imams of the [Sufi] path has stipulated this.

So the contentment of the people of excellence is with God (exalted is He) [and] with the [act of] decreeing -- and it does not follow from this that they are content with the [thing] decreed, because God (exalted is He) may decree, for example, wretchedness; so their contentment is with God [and] with the decreeing, since the decreeing is the ruling of God (exalted is He).

So contentment with His ruling is obligatory; and it is not incumbent upon them to be content with the wretchedness -- rather, it is obligatory upon them that they not be content with it.

And the contentment of the witnesses is their love of God (exalted is He) without seeking arrival or recoiling from estrangement or distance -- rather, [the same] in distance and meeting, displeasure and contentment, they do not turn back from their love, nor turn toward their [own] ease.

And the contentment of the truthful ones is by the enamorment of the [contemplative] presences, with the contentment of the Present [One], in the highest vistas; and that is because they do not cease to be in ascent, and the more the servant ascends, the narrower his way becomes in the divine Presence.

Because the servant, first, is with God (exalted is He) in the self-disclosure of the actions, [and] so witnesses Him in all the creatures; then, when he ascends, his witnessing narrows, and he does not cease -- the more he ascends, the more his vistas narrow.

So the contentment of the truthful ones is their stilling to the Real in that narrowness; and this is not grasped by the intellect, but is a matter of unveiling and tasting.

And as for the contentment of the brought-near ones, it is in their returning from the Real to the creation.

As for sincerity (al-ikhlāṣ): from the righteous and those below them, it is the absence of turning toward the regard of the creatures in the acts of worship. And the sincerity of the people of excellence is the worship of the Real (exalted is He) without seeking the recompense in the two abodes; so their worship of God (exalted is He) is because He commanded them with His worship. So the relation of the righteous, and those below them, to the people of excellence, is the relation of the hireling to the bond-servant who seeks no wage in his work. And the sincerity of the witnesses is the singling-out of the Real (exalted is He) with [/as] existence.

And the sincerity of the verifying truthful ones is the absence of need, in the knowledge of the Essence, for anything of the Names and the Attributes. And the sincerity of the brought-near ones is the realizing of the disavowal of the remnants of coloration (talwīn) beneath the appearing of the traces of firm-establishment (tamkīn) -- and that is the very reality of the crushing (al-saḥq) and the effacing (al-maḥq).

And God speaks the truth, and He guides to the way. As for witnessing [/martyrdom] (al-shahāda): it is two kinds -- a greater witnessing and a lesser witnessing. The lesser witnessing is of [several] divisions, and the hadith has come with it: such as one who dies a stranger, or drowned, or of a belly-ailment, and the like of that.

And the highest of the stations of the lesser witnessing is being killed in the way of God, between the two ranks [of battle], in the raid.

And the greater witnessing is two divisions: a higher and a lower.

So the higher is the witnessing of the Real (exalted is He) by the eye of certitude in all His creatures; so when he sees, for example, a thing of the creatures, he witnesses the Real (exalted is He) in that thing -- without indwelling and without separation -- but [rather] by what He (glory be to Him, exalted is He) has informed, by His saying: "So wherever you turn, there is the Face of God" (2:115, al-Baqara). And it is what we pointed to by our saying, concerning witnessing, that of its conditions is the perpetuity of vigilant-awareness without slackening; so when this witnessing is valid for the servant, he is a witnesser of God (exalted is He).

And this is the highest of the vistas of witnessing, and after it is nothing but the first of the ranks of truthfulness -- which is existence [/finding]; so he is annihilated from his [own] self by the existence of his Lord, and then he enters the circle of truthfulness. As for the lower division of the greater witnessing, it is the knitting of love for God (exalted is He) without [ulterior] cause; so his love of God (exalted is He) is for His attributes and for His being worthy to be loved.

And know that love is of three kinds: an action-love (maḥabba fiʿliyya), an attribute-love (ṣifātiyya), and an essence-love (dhātiyya). The action-love is the love of the common folk, [which] is that he loves God (exalted is He) for His grace upon him, [so] that He may increase him of what He has conferred upon him. And the attribute-love is the love of the elect; and these love Him for His Beauty and His Majesty, without seeking the unveiling of the veil or the lifting of [any] covering -- rather, a love of God pure of the causes of the [lower] selves;

because that love [for arrival] is not purely for God, but rather is for an egoistic cause; so the sincere lover is transcendent above that.

And the love of the most-elect is in the essential enamorment (al-taʿashshuq al-dhātī), which imprints, by its strength, in the lover all the lights of the beloved; so the lover comes forth in the character of his beloved -- as the spirit takes shape in the form of the body, by the enamorment that is between the two; and its exposition will come at the end of the book, at the mention of the brought-near ones.

So the love of the common folk is an action-love, the love of the witnesses an attribute-love, and the love of the brought-near ones an essence-love.

And among the conditions of the people of the greater witnessing is the standing over the [lower] soul by [its] oppositions, without dispensation -- meaning, they stand over it by opposing it in the [strict] resolves (ʿazāʾim), not in the dispensations (rukhaṣ).

For many of our group have erred in the realizing of the oppositions [to the soul]; so [one] claimed that, were his soul to wish to fast or to pray, for example, it would be obligatory upon him to oppose it by eating, drinking, and abandoning the prayer -- and this is an error.

Because the [lower] souls, by [their] root, seek nothing but what has, for them, the ease of the immediate; so the seeking that belongs to it by [its] root is like eating, while the seeking of fasting and other deeds of piety is only for the spirit (al-rūḥ); and it is not a condition of the path to oppose the spirit -- because it is not the [lower] soul: the spirit is the boon-companion of God, unlike the soul, for it is the boon-companion of caprice,

and caprice is the boon-companion of Satan. And for this [the lower soul] is opposed, [so] that it may become tranquil, [and] so be stilled, with the spirit, toward God (exalted is He). And this opposition is the one to which he (upon him be blessing and peace) pointed [as] "the greater struggle" in his saying: "We have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle." And for this we made the witnessing by the sword a lesser witnessing, and the witnessing by love a greater witnessing.

As for truthfulness (al-ṣiddīqiyya): it is an expression for the reality of the station of "whoever knows himself has known his Lord." And this gnosis has three presences: the first, the presence of the knowledge of certitude; the second, the presence of the eye of certitude; the third, the presence of the truth of certitude.

So the sign of the truthful one, in his traversing of these presences, is that the unseen of existence becomes witnessed to him; so he sees, by the light of certitude, what is absent from the sight of the creatures, of the secrets of the Real (exalted is He).

So he then looks upon his [own] reality, and witnesses his veil [lifted] beneath the sovereignty of the lights of Beauty; so he gains, by this annihilation, a divine abiding.

And what is intended by my saying "gains" is that the divine abiding appears to him as it has never ceased to be, since existence was -- not that it is [newly] attained in that presence. So when he abides by the abiding of God (exalted is He), the Names disclose themselves to him, Name by Name, [and] so he knows the Essence, then, by way of the Names; and this is the limit of the attainment of the knowledge of certitude.

And from this it is nothing but [the eye of certitude]; then he ascends from that to the self-disclosures of the Attributes, [and] so witnesses them, attribute after another, so that he is with the Essence by what it has of the Attributes.

Then he ascends from that to [the point] that he does not need the Names and the Attributes in his being-with the Essence; then he ascends from that to [the point] that he knows the location of the Names and the Attributes [relative] to the Essence -- so he knows the Essence by the Essence.

So the presence of the Names and the Attributes is set up before him, [and] so he witnesses their realities, and grasps their summary in the detail, and their detail in the summary.

So he does not cease to turn about in the robes of lordship, until the hand of [divine] solicitude transfers him to the being-qualified by the Names and the Attributes. So when he has reached the foreordained term, and partaken of the cup of the sealed nectar (al-raḥīq al-makhtūm), he becomes the possessor of the truth of certitude.

So when the seal is broken, and the cup is dyed with the color of the wine, he is the possessor of the truth of certitude -- and this is the first of the stations of the brought-near ones.

And the first of nearness (al-qurba) -- it is an expression for the friend's firm-establishment, near to the firm-establishment of the Real in His attributes; and this is [used] loosely [/by common usage],

as it is said: "So-and-so the scholar drew near so-and-so" -- meaning, in knowledge and gnosis; and "the merchant So-and-so [a Muslim] drew near Korah (Qārūn), [the contemporary] of Moses" -- meaning, in wealth.

So nearness is the appearing of the servant in the varieties of the Names and the Attributes, near to the appearing of the Real in them -- because it is impossible that the servant exhaust the reality of an attribute of the Attributes;

but, when he disposes by way of firm-establishment in them, such that nothing he seeks is refractory to him -- so he knows what he yearns to know, and does what he wishes to occur in the world,

such as the reviving of the dead, the healing of the blind-born and the leper, and other [of that] which belongs to God (exalted is He) -- then he has drawn near the Real; that is, he has come to be in the neighborhood (jiwār) of God (exalted is He). So this nearness is the neighboring. Do you not see the people of the Garden -- when they were in a kind of neighboring of God (exalted is He), how the beings became compliant to them, [so that] what they willed came to be in the Garden? So this is [a] nearness. And the first of the presences of this station is [intimate] friendship (al-khulla), [which] is that the servant be interpenetrated (yatakhallal) by the Real (exalted is He), so that there appear, in all the parts of his body, the traces of the interpenetration -- by [the fact] that things become compliant to him by the word "Be!" (kun); and that he heal the ailments and the diseases; and bring forth the invented [things] by his hand; and that his foot have the walking in the air; and that he be able to take form in every form, with the entirety of his frame.

And this is the meaning of His saying: "My servant does not cease to draw near to Me by the supererogatory [acts] until I love him; and when I love him, I become his hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his tongue by which he speaks, his hand by which he grasps, and his foot by which he walks."

So when the Real (exalted is He) is his hearing, his sight, his foot, and the rest of his body, that servant is the [intimate] friend (khalīl) of God (exalted is He) -- meaning, the lights of the Real (exalted is He) have interpenetrated him.

So he is the friend of God; he has, of the station of the Abrahamic friendship, a share. For the body, all of it, is between limbs and faculties: the limbs are like the hand and the foot, and the faculties are like the hearing and the sight; so [the interpenetration] became general [over] his inward and his outward.

So each one of these -- I mean his hearing, his sight, his tongue, his foot, and his hand -- the beings become compliant to it, because it is God (exalted is He).

So he acts by his hand, speaks by his hand, grasps by his hand, sees by his hand, and knows by his hand; and likewise [by] every limb of his limbs and faculty of his faculties he does all of that -- and that is the witness of [intimate] friendship.

Do you not see the master of this station -- who is Abraham (upon him be peace) -- when he wished to witness the realization of that, how he took four of the birds, and set upon each mountain a part of them; so when he called them by his tongue, they came to him hastening? -- and that is a witness that he is powerful over everything. So he drew near, by these signs, to the presence of the Great, the Most High.

And know that the station of nearness is the Means (al-wasīla); and that is because the one who arrives at it becomes a means for the hearts to the stilling [/coming-to-rest] in the realization in the divine realities.

And the root in this is that the hearts are, by [their] root, blank of all the divine realities -- and, even though they are created, [yet] by their descent to the world of beings they acquired this blankness; so they accept nothing in themselves until they witness it in another, so that that other is, for them, like a mirror or a seal[-stamp].

So it looks at itself in that thing, and so accepts it for itself, and employs it -- as it employs that thing by [the rule of] [original] authenticity.

So the Name of the Real is the means of the spirits to the stilling toward the divine qualities; and the heart of the friend who has arrived at the station of nearness is the means of the bodies to the stilling toward the realization in the divine realities, by the appearing of the traces.

So it is not possible for the friend that his body be realized in the divine matters except after his witnessing of the manner of the realization of a friend of the people of the station of nearness;

so that friend is his means in the reaching of the degree of realization; and the means of all the prophets and the friends is Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace).

So the Means is the very station of nearness; and the first rank of its ranks is the station of [intimate] friendship (al-khulla); and the end of the station of the [intimate] friend (al-khalīl) is the beginning of the station of the beloved (al-ḥabīb) -- because the essential beloved-ness is an expression for the unitive enamorment (al-taʿashshuq al-ittiḥādī), so that each of the two enamored ones appears in the form of the other, and each of the two stands in the station of the other. Do you not see the body and the spirit -- when their enamorment was essential, how the spirit is pained by the pain of the body in this world, and the body is pained by the pain of the spirit in the other?

Then each of the two appears in the form of the other; and to this He (glory be to Him, exalted is He) pointed in His Mighty Book, by His saying to Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace): "Truly those who pledge allegiance to you pledge allegiance only to God" (48:10, al-Fatḥ). He set Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) in the station of His own Self.

And likewise His saying: "Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed God" (4:80, al-Nisāʾ). Then the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) declared plainly to Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, when he saw him in [his] sleep [dream], and said to him: "O Messenger of God, excuse me, for the love of God has occupied me, away from love of you"?

So he said to him: "O blessed one, the love of God is [the same as] love of me." So, since Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) was, there, a vicegerent of God, God was, here, a deputy of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace); and the deputy is the vicegerent, and the vicegerent is the deputy; so that is this, and this is that.

And from here Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) was alone in perfection; so he sealed the perfections and the divine stations inwardly, and his sealing of the station of messengership outwardly bore witness to that for him. And the end of the station of love is the beginning of the station of the Seal (al-khitām).

And the station of the Seal is an expression for the realization in the reality of the Possessor of Majesty and Munificence -- except in rare [matters] which it is not possible for the creature to reach; so those things are, for him, by way of summary, while they are, in the root, God's, by way of detail.

And for this reason the perfect one does not cease to ascend in greater-perfection -- because God (exalted is He) has no end; so the friend does not cease to ascend in Him, according to what God carries him to, in His Essence.

Then know that the station of servanthood (al-ʿubūdiyya) is not particular to one rank rather than another; so the friend may return from the station of friendship to the creation, [and] God sets him up in the station of servanthood; and he may return from the station of love; and he may return from the station of the Seal.

And the benefit of this discourse is that servanthood is the servant's return, from the divine rank, by God, to the creaturely presence; so the station of servanthood has a dominion (haymana) over all the stations.

And the difference between worship (al-ʿibāda), servanthood (al-ʿubūdiyya), and bondage (al-ʿubūda) is: that worship is the issuing of the deeds of piety from the servant with the seeking of recompense; servanthood is the issuing of the deeds of piety from the servant for God (exalted is He), bare of the seeking of recompense -- rather, a deed purely for God (exalted is He); and bondage (al-ʿubūda) is an expression for the acting by God (al-ʿamal bi-llāh).

And for that the dominion belonged to the station of bondage over all the stations. And likewise the station of the Seal, for it extends over all the stations of nearness -- because it is an expression for the sealing of the stations of the friends; by the mere reaching of the friend [to] the station of nearness, he passes [over] all the stations that the creature reaches, in God (exalted is He).

because, in the station of nearness, he is joined to God (exalted is He); so, by his arrival at it, he seals all the stations of the creation, and he has, in it, a share of the station of friendship and a share of the station of love -- so that he is the Seal, in the very station of nearness.

And the name of friendship (al-khulla) was particular to the first rank of the stations of nearness only because the brought-near one is the one whom the traces of the Real have interpenetrated [in] his existence; then the station of love, after that, because it is an expression for the Muhammadan station in the divine vistas.

And the station of the Seal is a name for the end of the station of nearness -- and there is no way to its end, because God (exalted is He) has no end.

But the name of the Seal extends over all the stations of nearness; so whoever comes to be in the station of nearness is [a] seal of the friends, and an heir of the prophet, in the station of the Seal --

because the station of nearness is the Praised Station (al-maqām al-maḥmūd) and the Means (al-wasīla); the going of the brought-near one in it [is] to where no one precedes him in it -- so that he is alone (fard) in those divine stations.

And it behooves that this be believed of Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace); and he pointed to that by his saying: "The Means (al-wasīla) is the highest place in the Garden, and it is only for one; and I hope that I [myself] may be that man."

because he had the beginning in existence, so he must [also] have the Seal. Upon him be the most excellent blessing and peace.

The book is complete (tamma l-kitāb).