2. Al-Baqara

That is a community that has passed away; theirs is what they have earned and yours is what you have earned; you will not be asked about what they did. The barriers of fate came between you and them for they built their struc- tures on separation and heedlessness while you have pitched your tents on closeness and connection. The freedman of Our favor ʿatīq faḌlinā is not like the fugitive of Our force Ṭarīd qahrinā.

The fools among the people will say �What has turned them from the direction they used to face in their prayersḍ� The eyes of the disbelievers were weak so the correct view about all the circumstances of the believers was not apparent to them. They looked with an eye to finding ugliness and let loose their tongues to oppose everything that was and would be from [the believers]. They did not see anything new without bringing forth a new objection to it. That included the change in the matter of the qibla when it was shifted to the Kaʿba. They said that if their qibla was correct what would turn them from itḍ So [God] said: Say: �To God belong the East and the West. He guides whomever He will to a straight path.� The servants worship toward any region and direction they will. Similarly the companions of absence and those who are veiled from witnessing [the way in which] the Real grants free agency to His friends seek only certain aspects of the affair and bring their own states to bear upon them. If they had seen the whole picture with singular vision they would have been saved from the pain of divisive thinking the distraction of accursed thoughts and the claims of fractured conjecture but God guides whom He wills to His light.

Thus We appointed you a midmost community.... Surely God is clement, ever-merciful toward the people. It is the wise Lord, the knowing King, whose power and existence-giving bring forth beings. The newly arrived things exist through His exaltedness and His making them manifest, and the earth and the heavens stand forth through His keeping. He created the newly arrived things and chose from among them the animals. From among the animals He chose the Adamites, from the Adamites He chose the faithful, from the faithful He chose the prophets, and from the prophets He chose MuḤammad. He chose his community above the previous communities. This is why MuṣṬafā said, “I was brought forth from the best generation of the children of Adam, generation after generation, until I came to be in the generation in which I am.” He also said, “Surely God chose my companions above all the world's folk save the prophets and the envoys. He chose four of my companions and made them the best of my companions-and in all of my companions there is good-Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī. He chose my community over the other com- munities, so He sent me forth in the best generation. Then there will be the second and third in succession, then the fourth, one after another.” What is understood from this report is that MuṣṬafā is the best of the Adamites, the chosen from among the world's folk, the leader of the creatures, the adornment of the world, the weighty one of the time, the lamp of the earth, the full moon of heaven, the shelter of the disobedient, the interceder for the sinners, the master of all the messengers and their seal. After MuṣṬafā the best of all creatures is Abū Bakr the sincerely truthful. The Lord of the Worlds placed the cushion of his imamate on the throne of MuṣṬafā's Shariah, turned the lodging place of his servanthood into self-purification and truthfulness, and made trust and certainty the keeper of the rank of his friendship. After him the best of creatures is ʿUmar KhaṬṬāb. The Lord of the Worlds placed the reins of lowering and raising the legal rulings in the hand of his sufficiency and pulled the robe of his rulership over the forehead of the creed. With his harshness and awesomeness the smoke of as- sociationism was subdued by its own misfortune.

We have seen thy face turning about in heaven. Now We shall turn thee toward a kiblah that thou shalt approve. He had let him know that he was in the sight of the Real so that he would model his courtesy on the Real's courtesy. When he put courtesy into practice, he did not ask the Real for what his heart wanted and did no more than gaze upon heaven. Then He gave him better than what He gives to those who ask. When the Lord is generous and the servant exalted, He keeps the servant within the stipula- tions of courtesy, shows him the road of deeds, and gives him success. Then He rewards him for the deeds and praises him for his veneration. He says, “How excellent is the wage of the doers!” [3:136]. “How excellent a servant he was; surely he kept on returning” [38:30]. In the same way, He reported to MuṣṬafā, “You are in My vision and My exalted witnessing. Be careful to recognize the respect due to the Presence and to ask in keeping with courtesy.” Hence when his heart was intent on the kiblah, he did not make this manifest, in keeping with courtesy. He kept that wish in his heart and then the Exalted Presence addressed him: “Now We shall turn thee toward a kiblah that thou shalt approve. We have come to know that wish in your heart and We have admired your beautiful courtesy in not asking. We will bestow upon you that of which you approve in the work of the kiblah. O MuḤammad! All the servants in the world are seeking My approval, but I am seeking your approval. All are searching for Me, but I am calling for you. All wish for My caresses, but We are caressing you. Thy Lord shall bestow upon thee so that thou shalt approve [93:5]. Now consider the Kaabah as the kiblah of your soul and Me as the kiblah of your spirit.” When those caresses came forth from the Presence of Unity and those generosities reached him, the tongue of his state said in his yearning, “When your heart reaches out once in love for me, suffering separation from You becomes easy, sweetheart.” Abū Bakr Shiblī said, “The kiblahs are three: the kiblah of the common people, the kiblah of the elect, and the kiblah of the elect of the elect.

Yet if you should bring to those who have been given the scripture every sign they will not follow your direction and you are not a follower of their direction; neither are they followers of one another's direction. If you were to follow their whims after the knowledge that has come to you then you will surely be among the evildoers. �Devotion to the path of the Real was already yours from the eternal decree [just as it was decreed] that your enemies would fall to the side. Between the two of you there is a barrier barzakh. They do not overstep [55:19-20]. They will not follow your qibla even if you were to show them evidence that was clearer than suns and moons. And you will not be followers of their qibla even if they bring every stratagem. In that there is a decree from God ������ from pre-eternity.�

Those to whom We have given the Scripture they recognize him as they recognize their sons; even though there is a party of them that conceal the truth while they know. Their hidden envy causes haughtiness in them concerning what they necessarily know. Similarly whoever has been defeated in the darknesses of his lower self throws off the cloak of bashfulness. There is no use censuring him; words will not rein in his abandon.

Everyone has a direction to which he turns. The creatures have five kiblahs. First is the Throne, second the Footstool, third the Inhabited House, fourth the Holy House [Jerusalem], and fifth the Kaabah. The Throne is the kiblah of the angels who carry it. The Footstool is the kiblah of the cherubim. The Inhabited House is the kiblah of the spirituals. The Holy House is the kiblah of the prophets. The Kaabah is the kiblah of the faithful. The Throne is of light, the Footstool of gold, the Inhabited House of carnelian, the Holy House of marble, and the Kaabah of stone. This is an allusion for the faithful servant: “If you cannot come to the Throne to circumam- bulate, or to the Footstool to visit, or to the Inhabited House to worship, or to the Holy House to serve, then at least you can turn your face five times a day toward this stone, which is the kiblah of the faithful, and receive the reward for all of them.” Everyone has a direction. One of them has said that the allusion here is this: “All people have been distracted from Me by something that has come between Me and them. So, O faithful, belong to Me and be through Me.” In terms of allusion, He is saying, “All the people have turned away from Me. They have become familiar with others without Me. They have made their sweetheart other than Me and ac- cepted the other in friendship. “You who are the chevaliers of the Tariqah and claim friendship with Me, lift up your eyes from anything beneath Me, even if it be the highest paradise. Then you will go straight in follow- ing the Sunnah and conduct of MuṣṬafā and you will perform the rightful due of emulating that paragon of the world. For, as the greatest of the prophets, his conduct was to turn his eyes away from all beings and not to see any refuge nor to approve of any resting place other than the shelter of Unity.” When a man wears down his spirit in passion's road he'd best incline toward none but the Friend. In passion's road the passionate must not think of hell or paradise. When someone puts himself right in following MuṣṬafā, the candle of friendship with the Real will be lit in his road and he will never fall away from friendship's avenue.

From whatever place you issue turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; it is the truth from your Lord. God is not heedless of what you do. 'Just as you face the qibla from wherever you are whether you are near or far from it likewise draw near to Us in your heart whatever your state whether you are in good fortune from Us or afflicted'.

From whatever place you issue turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; and wherever you may be turn your faces towards it so that there be not any argument from the people against you; excepting the evildoers among them; 'If you want there to be no pathway for anyone against you no shadow to fall upon you from any created thing and no hand to reach you with evil then from whatever place you issue ḥaythumā kunta whithersoever you are aynamā kunta and whatever state you are in kayfamā kunta be for Us kun lanā and be from Us wa kun minnā for truly whoever occupies themselves exclusively with Us - nothing can get to them'. [2:150 cont'd] and do not fear them but fear Me; 'When they are effaced from their engendered existence kawn as mortal remains rusūm Our decrees aḥkām flow over them so why should there be fear of themḍ' [2:150 cont'd] and that I may perfect My grace upon you and that you may be guided. The perfection of grace is to add unveiling kashf to kindness luṭf. The one whom He suffices through the exigency of His generosity jūd is below the one whom He enriches by the rightful due ḥaqq of His existence wujūd. Concerning the meaning of this they have recited: We are in the most perfect happiness but only through you is the happiness made complete. The [only] imperfection of what we are in O people of my love is that you are absent while we are present.