2. Al-Baqara

(O mankind! Worship your Lord � ) [2:21]. Sa�id ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Zahid> Abu �Ali ibn Ahmad al-Faqih> Abu Turab al-Quhustani> �Abd al-Rahman ibn Bishr> Rawh> Shu�bah> Sufyan al-Thawri> al-A�mash> Ibrahim> �Alqamah who said: �Any revelation which contains the expression (O mankind!) is Meccan while any revelation which contains the expression (O ye who believe!) is Medinan�. He means to say that the expression (O mankind!) is an address to the people of Mecca while (O ye who believe!) is an address to the people of Medina. Hence, Allah�s saying (O mankind! Worship your Lord � ) is an address to the Meccan idolaters. The address of the idolaters of Mecca goes on until Allah�s saying: (And give glad tidings�) [al-Baqarah, 2:25]. This last verse was revealed about the believers. This is because Allah, exalted is He, wanted to mention here the reward of the believers after having mentioned the reward of the disbelievers in His saying: (� the fire prepared for the disbelievers, whose fuel is of men and stones) [al-Baqarah, 2:24].

He who made for you the earth a carpet and the heaven a building, and who sent down from heaven water by which He brought forth fruits for you as provision. So do not set up peers for God knowingly. The wonders of power and the marvels of wisdom in earth and heaven are evidence of a Lord and Creator and witness to His oneness, knowledge, and ability. He placed those seven green domes upon the wind, one on top of one another, without pillar or joint, as a mark of His power. He placed these seven dust-colored hills on top of the water as a clarification of His wisdom. About the one He says, [“We set in heaven constellations] and We adorned them for the gazers” [15:16] and about the other He says, [“And earth,] We laid it out-what excellent spreaders!” [51:48]. Look then at this likeness: two doves, one black and one white, which have come forth within the space of the blue dome. On the wings of one is Then We effaced the sign of the night [17:12], and on the wings of the other We made the sign of the day, giving sight [17:12]. The black was born of the white, and the white appeared from the black: He rolls up the night in the day, and He rolls up the day in the night [39:5]. He makes the night pass into the day and makes the day pass into the night [22:61]. How pure and faultless is the God who brought forth the brightness of day from the pitch black night and made the darkness of the pitch black night appear from the brightness of day! More wondrous than this is that He placed the brightness of knowing in the center point of the black blood of the heart and the brightness of seeing in the center point of the eye's pupil. Thus will you know that He is the perfectly powerful, the bountiful and bounteous bestower. This bright day is the mark of the compact of good fortune, and this dark night is the likeness of the days of tribulation. He is saying, “O you who have the good fortune of ease in the day's brightness, do not feel secure, for the darkness of tribulation's night is upon its tracks. O you who have been without ease in tribulation's night, do not despair, for the bright day is on its tracks.” Such are the states of the heart: sometimes it is in the night of contraction, sometimes in the day of expansion. In the day of contraction there is awe and confoundedness, and in the day of expansion there is mercy and intimacy. In the state of contraction the servant has nothing but the weeping and the pleading of a wounded heart. In the state of expansion he is all delight and restfulness. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, if I weep for You, weeping is sweet, and if I delight in You, delight is sweet. O God, I am happy because I am weeping at Your threshold in the hope that one day I will delight in the field of Your bounty, that You will receive me and I may turn myself over to You. If You gaze at me once, I will throw the two worlds into the ocean.” The lords of the realities have given this verse another commentary and have seen another intimation. They say that God has placed likenesses in this verse. The earth is the likeness of the body, the heaven the likeness of the intellect, the water that comes down from heaven is the like- ness …

If you are in doubt about what We have sent down on Our servant, then bring a surah the like of it. The previous verse was an affirmation of tawḤīd, an argument against the Arab associaters. This verse is an affirmation of prophecy, an argument against the Folk of the Book and the Dhimma. The formula of the Shahadah comprises two sides: the affirmation of tawḤīd and the affirmation of prophecy. As long as the servant does not acknowledge and believe in both and does not act as demanded by both, he has not entered into the circle of the submission. Affirming prophecy is to know that MuṣṬafā is the chosen of the Real and the best of creatures. You accept his prophecy with spirit and heart. You take his words, deeds, customs, and conduct as your leader and guide. You know in reality that his words are the revelation of the Real, his expla- nation the road of the Real, his decree the religion of the Real, and his utterances and conveyance of the message in the state of life and death the argument of the Real. Adam was still inside the curtain of water and clay when the secret of MuḤammad's created disposition had bound its waist before the Exalted Threshold and the gaze of the Real's gentleness had reached his spirit. This is alluded to in his words, “I was a prophet when Adam was between water and clay.” Then bring a surah the like of it. This spreads the carpet of the Qur'an's exaltedness from the folds of its holiness. Thus the non-privy will place the hand of rejection on their breasts and He may remove the mask of its beauty for those burnt by passion. Then you will see the unmasked beauty of the Qur'an's face- when it shows its face, speak with the tongue of remembrance. [DS 495]

And give good news to those who have faith. This verse is a caress for the friends, giving them hope for everlasting largesse and bliss, and an en- couragement to the faithful, inciting them to obey and to seek increase of blessings. The previous verse warns the strangers against confusion in the heart and associationism on the tongue, and it threatens with the fire of punishment and the harshness of being cut off from the Real. The person of faith is he who becomes frightened and without ease when he hears the first verse and thinks about the chastisement of hell. He becomes happy when he hears the second verse, he makes his heart fast and his hope strong, and he brings ease into his heart. The Lord of the Worlds praises both the frightened and the one at ease. Concerning the frightened He says, “The faithful are only those whose hearts quake when God is remembered” [8:2]. Concerning the one at ease He says, “Those who have faith and whose hearts are serene in the remembrance of God” [13:28]. The custom of the Generous Lord is that whenever He sends a verse of fear with which He frightens the servants, after it He sends down a verse of hope and mercy to give ease to their hearts so that they will not despair. And give good news to those who have faith. Let there be good news for all those who are today in the playing field of service, for tomorrow they will be in the assembly of repose and ease [56:89]. Not everyone who reaches the paradise of approval will reach the generous gift of repose and ease. The paradise of approval is the furthest limit of the pleasure of the worshipful servants, and repose and ease is the kiblah of the spirits of the lovers. The paradise of approval is the High Chambers and the Abode of Peace. Repose and ease in the Presence of At-ness is the gift for the spirit of the passionate. Everyone who watches over his actions will reach the paradise of ap- proval; everyone who watches over his breaths will reach repose and ease. Who can explain this repose and ease and how can it be given expression!? When something does not come to the tongue, how can it be explained? A wind begins to blow from the World of the Unseen that is called “the wind of bounty.

(Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude) [2:26]. Ibn 'Abbas said, according to the report of Abu Salih: �When Allah, exalted is He, coined these two similitudes for the hypocrites - he means Allah's sayings (Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindleth fire�) [2:17] and (Or like a rainstorm from the sky�.) [2:19] - they said: 'Allah is too exalted and sublime to coin similitudes'. Hence, Allah revealed this verse�. Al-Hasan and Qatadah said: �When Allah mentioned gnats and spiders in His Book and used them to coin similitudes for the disbelievers, the Jews laughed and said: 'this does not resemble Allah's speech', and so Allah revealed this verse�. Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Ishaq al-Hafiz in his epistle informed us> Sulayman ibn Ayyub al-Tabarani> Bakr ibn Sahl> 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Sa'id> Musa ibn 'Abd al-Rahman> Ibn Jurayj> 'Ata'> Ibn 'Abbas who said regarding Allah's saying (Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude): �This is because Allah mentioned the deities of the idolaters, saying: (And if the fly took something from them, they could not rescue it from him) [22:73]. He also mentioned the scheme of the deities and compared it to cobweb. Upon hearing this, they said: 'See how Allah mentions gnats and spiders in the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad; what is the use of this?' And so Allah revealed this�.

How do you disbelieve in God, seeing that you were dead, and He brought you to life. Then He shall make you dead, then He shall bring you to life. By way of allusion He is saying, " O you who have lost the end of your own thread! O you who have fallen into the well of your own mortal nature! If you want the road clearer than this, why do you not go forward? If you want the field wider than this, why do you not mount up? If you want the candle brighter than this, why are you falling off the path? O you over whom so many years have passed and you have still not caught a scent! O you who have sat at so many tables and are still hungry! O you who have worn a thousand clothes and are still naked! O Muslim! The playing field is open, where are the mounted riders? The tribunal is open, where are the plaintiffs? The physician is present, where are the ill? The beauty is unveiled, where are the passionate? " You were dead, and He brought you to life. " You were dead, but I brought you to life. Why do you not look? You were ignorant, but I made you knowers. Why do you not perceive? I showed you the road, why do you not go? " It wants a man to catch the scent- otherwise, the world is full of the east wind's fragrance. The Pir of the Tariqah said, " O God, how can the servant overcome the beginningless decree? When he does not have, what can he do? What is the servant's effort? The work is done by what You want. How can the servant save himself with his own effort? " Then He shall make you dead, then He shall bring you to life. It is said that death is of three sorts: death by the curse, death by regret, and death by generous gift. Death by the curse belongs to the disbelievers, death by regret to the disobedient, and death by generous gift to the godwary. Life also is of three sorts: first the life of fear, then the life of hope, then the life of love. The life of fear appears in kindness, the life of hope appears in service, and the life of love appears in remembrance.

He it is who created for you all that is in the earth, then He went up to heaven and propor- tioned it as seven heavens, and He is knower of everything. In another place He said, “He subjected to you whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, all together, from Him” [45:13]. He is saying, “I created everything in the empire of the earth for you and subjected it to you. My bestowal is not tiny, My generosity toward those who are burnt for Me is not trivial. There will never be any backsliding in My caressing you. Nor is it as if I limited Myself to the empire of the earth, for I also set up the heavens for your gaze, for the pleasure of your eyes, and as a storehouse for your daily provision. My servant! When you step into the street of My covenant, you do not know what good news reaches the heaven-dwellers and the earth-dwellers and how they congratulate each other. I know, for I know everything and reach everyone.” And He is knower of everything. In this verse there is a subtle point. He did not say, “Who created you for all that is in the earth.” He said, “Who created for you all that is in the earth.” In other words, “I created every- thing that is in the empire of the earth and the heavens for your sake, and I created you for My sake.” Do you not see that He said specifically to Moses, “I chose thee for Myself” [20:41], and generally to the creatures, “I created the jinn and mankind only to worship Me” [51:56]? It was MuṣṬafā who understood the worth of this declaration and gave thanks for this one of His blessings. On the night of proximity and generosity when he was taken to the heavens, all of creation and the empires of the two worlds were scatted at the feet of his truthfulness. That paragon did not look at it from the corner of his eye. He said, “I was not created for this.” The eyesight did not swerve, nor did it trespass [53:17]. Hail to him! Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī, who beautifully traveled in the road of MuṣṬafā's Sunnah and beautifully observed courtesy toward the Presence, said, “I kept on crossing perils until I found the empires.

And when thy Lord said to the angels, “Surely I am setting in the earth a vicegerent,” they said, “What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there, and shed blood, while we glorify Thy praise and call Thee holy?” He said, “Surely I know what you do not know.” There was a world at ease. No heart burned with passion and no breast was deluded by mad fervor. Then the ocean of mercy began to boil. The treasuries of obedient deeds were full, and no dust of lassitude had settled on the foreheads of the obedient in their obedience. The banner of their boast- ful claim, “We glorify Thy praise,” was raised to Capella. All those in the cosmos who had any subtle substance began craving for their own selves. The majestic Throne was looking at its own tremendousness and saying, “Perhaps the script of these words is written for me.” The Footstool was looking at its own amplitude-“Perhaps this sermon is being read in my name.” The eight paradises gazed on their own beauty-“Maybe this rulership will be given to us.” None wanted anything to do with dust. Each fell into delusion, each caught by mad fervor. Suddenly, from the Presence of Exaltation and Majesty, this report was given to the world of the angels: “Surely I am setting in the earth a vicegerent.” It was not that He was consulting with the angels. Rather, He was laying the foundation of Adam's exaltation and tremendousness. He was not asking for help, but spreading the carpet of Adam's dignity. He was saying, “The ruling property of My severity has acted. I have commanded the pen of generosity to write out an inscription from the beginning of the world's ledger to its end. This resolution is written for the inhabitants of both worlds, from the top of the Throne to the bottom of the Carpet: 'The dust-dwelling Adam is granted chieftainship over all the empires. His exalted breast will be bright with the light of recognition. In him the subtleties of My generosity and the artifacts of My bounteousness will become apparent.'” This exalted declaration caused the hearts of the proximate angels to quake with awe. They said, “What is this all about? He has not yet been created.” The exalted Qur'an was beating the drum of his vicegerency at the threshold of his beauty even though he had not yet entered into the bonds of creation. The majesty of predetermination was reporting on the basis of the hidden affairs of the Unseen: “You must not come around the field of Adam's good fortune, for you do not recognize the secret of his innate disposition. No falcon of anyone's mind has sat upon the branch of Adam's good fortune! No eye of anyone's insight has grasped the beauty of Adam's limpid sun!” Where did this eminence come from? From whence did this good fortune arise? It came from the fact that Adam was the oyster shell of the mysteries of lordhood and the treasury of the jewels of the empire. How many precious pearls and royal sparklers were placed in that oyster shell! Along with every pearl He arranged a black bead on the string. Along with the pearl of every prophet He placed a black bead as its counterpart: With a pearl like Adam the chosen was a bead like Satan the wretched; with a pearl …