16. An-Nahl

They recognize God's blessings, then they deny them. Some people say that this concerns the Muslims. For a time they occupy themselves with obedi- ence and undertake the path of discipline and struggle according to the Shariah. But in the end, self-admiration comes and ambushes them, destroying their obedience. Their self-admiration is that they consider their obedience and worship as service pleasing to God, and this brings them to exultation and happiness: “This is my attribute and my strength.” They remain heedless that it is God's blessings and bounty toward them. Then they do not fear the disappearance of the blessings and they go forth feeling secure. MuṣṬafā said, “A man's destruction lies in three things: One is niggardliness that he obeys, another is the soul's caprice that he follows, and the third is admiring himself.” One of the great ones of the religion said, “If I sleep all night and in the morning feel broken and fearful, I like that more than spending the night in prayer and admiring myself in the morning.” ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd said, “The destruction of a man's religion lies in two things: self- admiration and despair.” He said this because anyone who loses hope will stop seeking and be overcome by lassitude, so he will not worship. So also, anyone who admires himself will fancy that he does not need to seek, for his work is right and he has been forgiven.

Surely God commands justice and beautiful doing and giving to kinsmen, and He pro- hibits indecency, the improper, and rebelliousness. And He admonishes you, that perhaps you may remember. In this verse the Creator of the world and the world's folk, the lovingly kind Lord, brings together in succession the foundations of service and the guideposts of interaction. He makes the faithful aware of the pleasing character traits and He honors them by letting them recognize the causes of His approval. He instructs them in beautiful worship of Him and in living with His creatures. We have already explained some of this in the tongue of unveiling according to the Shariah. In terms of the Haqiqah and the tongue of allusion, it is that God commands the servant to have justice in interaction with the Real, in interaction with people, and in interaction with the soul. Interaction with the Real is through acknowledgment, interaction with people through justice, and interaction with the soul through opposition. One must have conformity with the Real, sincerity with the people, and opposition to the soul. The meaning of conformity is for the servant to welcome the Real's decree before it appears and to leave aside free choice, such that he recognizes all of it without having perceived it and loves it not having seen it. The meaning of sincerity is that he walk straight with the people in word, deed, aspiration, and resoluteness. He is fair to them, he does not place his burden on them, he conceals their faults, he does not take back his tenderness no matter what states he sees, he does not hold back his good from them, he lives with character, he respects elders, and he is tender toward young people and merciful toward children. This is the meaning of justice in interaction with people. As for the reality of justice in interaction with the soul, it is to hold back the soul from that in which its destruction lies. God says, “As for him who fears the standing place before his Lord and prohibits the soul its caprice, surely the Garden shall be the shelter” [79:40-41]. Ibrāhīm Adham said, “In my whole life in this world, my heart was happy three times, and in those three times I was happy because I acted with severity toward my own soul. I was walking in Antioch, barefoot and bare-headed, and various people were insulting me. In the end one of them said, 'He's a runaway slave.' Those words were pleasing to me, for in reality that is what I was. I said to myself, 'O you who have escaped and fled, when will you come back to the path of peace?' “The second happiness was when I was sitting in a ship. There was a buffoon among the pas- sengers who would come by every hour and slap the back of my head, for he saw that I was the lowliest of all the people. “Third was in the city of Malatya. I was in a mosque, my head placed on the knees of remorse, and I had fallen into the valley of my own insignificance. A shameless man came, undid the belt of his pants, and said, 'Old man, take this rose water!' My soul ceased to be in that lowliness, and my heart became happy at that. I found that happiness to be a gift of felicity for me from the Exalted Threshold.” The great …