2. Al-Baqara

And when it was said to them �Believe in what God has revealed� they said �We believe in what was revealed to us� and they disbelieve in what is beyond that; yet it is the truth confirming what is with them. Say: �Why then were you slaying the prophets of God formerly if you were believersḍ� Here the allusion is that when it is said to them �Recognize the truth of what has been shown to you from the decree of [divine] harmony min ḥukm al-wifāq by recognizing the situation and the establishment of proof� their lower selves permit some of what they find ambiguous insofar as it agrees with their self-serving desires but then they disbelieve in what is beyond their worldly concerns. They are distant from the elite and are not considered to be among the masters who have special claim arbāb al-ikhtiṣāṣ.

And Moses came to you with clear proofs; then you took to yourselves the calf after him and you were evildoers. That is �he called you to declare [God's] unity tawḥīd and separate the [proper] object of worship from any other object of worship maʿbūd and limited thing maḥdūd. But you were not inclined to worship anything except what was attractive to you-the calf you adopted for yourselves and the idol you desired.� [The calf] was taken from them but its traces remained in their hearts and in the hearts of those who came after them. Because of that most Jews believe in anthropomorphism tashbīh.

And when We made a covenant with you and raised over you the mount �Take forcefully what We have given you and listen� they said �We hear and disobey�; and they were made to drink the calf in their hearts on account of their unbelief. Say: �Evil is that which your belief enjoins on you if you are believers.� He reiterates the tale of their excessive love for the calf their aversion to accepting the Real and [... ] and their being told of the punishment that would overtake them for the evil they did. No counsel was useful to them and no punishment led them to refrain from their disobediences. They paid no mind to censure lā bi-l-dhamm fīhim iḥtafalū and did not act according to what the situation required wa-lā bi-mūjibi al-amr ʿamilū.

Say: �If the abode of the hereafter with God is purely yours and not for other people then long for death-if you speak truly.� But they will never long for it because of that which their own hands have sent before them. God knows the evildoers. Among the signs of ardent longing ishtiyāq is the desire for death while in the best of health and well-being. Whoever is absolutely and without any doubt confident that the garden is his ardently longs for it. But they did not long for the garden-and God ������ said that they will never long for it-and this information was a miracle for the Messenger ﷺ since it was as He had said. In this is good news for the believers who ardently long for death; there is forgiveness for them. He only bestows the ardent longing on them so that it may be actualized [when] they reach the garden. Of old it was said �For the negligent shame will suffice on the Day of the Meeting.� God most high said �But they will never long for it because of that which their own hands have sent before them.�

Say: �If the abode of the hereafter with God is purely yours and not for other people then long for death-if you speak truly.� But they will never long for it because of that which their own hands have sent before them. God knows the evildoers. Among the signs of ardent longing ishtiyāq is the desire for death while in the best of health and well-being. Whoever is absolutely and without any doubt confident that the garden is his ardently longs for it. But they did not long for the garden-and God ������ said that they will never long for it-and this information was a miracle for the Messenger ﷺ since it was as He had said. In this is good news for the believers who ardently long for death; there is forgiveness for them. He only bestows the ardent longing on them so that it may be actualized [when] they reach the garden. Of old it was said �For the negligent shame will suffice on the Day of the Meeting.� God most high said �But they will never long for it because of that which their own hands have sent before them.�

And you shall find them the people most covetous of life and the idola- ters; any one of them would love that he might be given life for a thousand years; yet his being given life shall not budge him from the chastisement. God sees what they do. Love of life in this world is the result of heedlessness ghafla of God. The worst heedlessness is their excessive love to remain in this world. The state of the believer is the opposite of this. Those who are heedless and insolent are eager for life only because they know of their failure to be obedient. The runaway slave does not want to be returned to his master. But for believ- ers the transition [of death] to One from whom only good is expected is better than remaining with those against whose evil they are not secure. The prolonging of life in spite of the certainty of death holds no value for them since [death] comes unexpectedly and life is cut off. What is coming is near. When [one's] life span is completed there is no averting the assaults of the appointed time from the shoulders of hope fa-lā maradda li-hujūmi al-ajal ʿalā aktāfi al-amal.

Say: “Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel-he it is who sent it down upon thy heart.” Magnanimous and beautiful is the Qur'an that Gabriel brought down from the All-Merciful. It is the repose of the spirit of the friends, the healing of the hearts of the ill, a mercy to the faithful. This is why God says, “he it is who sent it down upon thy heart.” Elsewhere He says, “Brought down by the trustworthy spirit upon thy heart” [26:193-94]. When Gabriel conveyed the pure revelation, sometimes he came in the form of a mortal man, sometimes in the form of an angel. Whenever he brought verses about permitted and forbidden and the explication of the shariahs and rulings, he would be in human form, and there was no talk of the heart. Thus He says, “He it is who sent down upon thee the Book” [3:7]; “Does it not suffice them that We sent down upon thee the Book?” [29:51]. Then again, whenever there was talk of love, the attributes of passion, and the intimations of friendship, he would come in the form of an angel, spiritual and subtle, and he would join with MuṣṬafā's heart. He would convey the revelation of the Qur'an secretly to his secret core, and no one else was aware of him. When he returned and left behind the realm of his heart, MuṣṬafā would say, “He broke away from me while I was aware of him.” It is said that when he was inundated by contemplation in this speech, the revelation would first descend to his heart, for He said to him, “who sent it down upon thy heart.” Then it would turn away from his heart to his understanding and his hearing. Then he would descend from the summit of companionship to the lowland of service for the sake of the people's shares. This is the level of the elect. It may also happen that revelation descends on the hearing of certain people first, then on their understanding, then on their hearts, advancing from the lowness of struggle to the highness of contemplation. This is the level of the wayfarers and desirers. How far apart they are!

And We have revealed to you clear proofs; and none disbelieves inthem except the wicked. Why whenever they make a covenant does a party of them reject itḍ Nay but most of them are disbelievers. One disbelieves in His clear signs only when one's eyes are blocked from perceiving and one's fate from God has already been determined as unfor- tunate. There is no sense in anyone who denies that day is day. Likewise there is no union for anyone who has not been assisted by lights and insights from the Real. Why whenever they made a covenant...: their predetermined fate sābiq al-taqdīr confounded them and their subsequent contrivances lāḥiq al-tadbīr broke their covenant. God prevails over His affair.

And We have revealed to you clear proofs; and none disbelieves inthem except the wicked. Why whenever they make a covenant does a party of them reject itḍ Nay but most of them are disbelievers. One disbelieves in His clear signs only when one's eyes are blocked from perceiving and one's fate from God has already been determined as unfor- tunate. There is no sense in anyone who denies that day is day. Likewise there is no union for anyone who has not been assisted by lights and insights from the Real. Why whenever they made a covenant...: their predetermined fate sābiq al-taqdīr confounded them and their subsequent contrivances lāḥiq al-tadbīr broke their covenant. God prevails over His affair.