4. An-Nisaa

And when you are journeying in the land of preparedness along the path of knowledge in pursuit of certainty, you would not be at fault if you shorten, that is, [if] you curtail the corporeal deeds and the fulfilment of the duties of servanthood (ʿubūdiyya) such as gratitude and presence, for the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said, 'Whoever has been given his [full] share of certainty, let him not be [overly] concerned with what he has missed of prayers and fasting', if you fear that you may be afflicted, that you may be deceived and led astray, by those who do not believe, that is, [by] those that have been veiled such as the faculties of estimation and imagination and the human devils who are astray and who lead [others] astray, given what we know from the words of the Prophet, 'A single man of [deep] understanding is more difficult for Satan [to lead astray] than a thousand worshippers'.

When you have completed the prayer, remember God, standing and sitting and on your sides. Know that the prayer is secret whispering between God and the servant. In this secret whisper- ing, there is both need and joy. Today there is need, tomorrow joy; today suffering, tomorrow the treasure; today a heavy burden, tomorrow repose and ease [56:89]; today toil and work, tomorrow pleasure and the bazaar; today bowing and prostrating, tomorrow finding and witnessing. Part of the eminence of the prayer is that the Exalted Lord has mentioned it 102 times in the Qur'an and given it thirteen names: prayer, devotion, Qur'an, glorification, book, remembrance, bowing, prostration, praise, asking forgiveness, declaring greatness, beautiful deeds, and subsistent things. MuṣṬafā said, “The prayer is the miʿrāj of the person of faith.” He said, “The prayer is God's banquet in the earth.” The ulama of the past have said, “The prayer is the throne of the desirers, the pleasure of the recognizers, the means of approach of the sinners, and the scented garden of the renunciants.” They have also said, “The person performing the prayer has received seven generous bestow- als: guidance, sufficiency, expiation, mercy, proximity, degree, and forgiveness.” The first step in associationism is not to say the prayers, for the Exalted Lord will say, “'What brought you into Saqar?' They will say, 'We were not of those who said the prayers'” [74:42-43]. And He placed the name faith in the prayer, where He says, “But God would never leave your faith,” that is, your prayer, “to waste” [2:143]. He promises daily provision with prayer, where He says, “And command thy folk to the prayer, and be thou patient therein. We ask thee for no provi- sion. We shall provide for thee” [20:132]. The number of obligatory prayers came as five in conformity with the roots of the Shari'ite rules. Concerning the roots of the Shari'ite rules MuṣṬafā said, “The submission is built on five.” The roots of the obligatory prayers are five prayers in one day and night. In other words, when the servant performs these five prayers with their stipulations and at their times, the Exalted Lord will give him the reward of all the roots of the Shari'ite rules. The guises of the prayer are four: standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting.

Surely We have revealed to you the Book, that is, the knowledge of the differentiations of the attributes and the rules governing their self-disclosures, with the truth, apparelled in justice and sincerity, or [it means] upheld by the Truth and not by your soul, so that you might judge between creatures, by that which God has shown you, of His justice. And do not be, for traitors, those who do not restore to God the trust which He has deposited in them since pre-eternity by virtue of the possibility embedded in their preparedness of knowing Him perfectly, but who have betrayed their souls and [those of] others by pillaging what is their due and expending it in inappropriate ways, a disputant, who wards off [their] chastisement for them and the fact that God has given power to [other] creatures over them to hurt them, [or a disputant] who remonstrates in defence of them against others or against God by objecting that he has put right their [state of] having been forsaken and vanquished [by God]. For verily they are the evildoers. They have no argument [against God], rather the [burden of] proof is against them.

And pray for forgiveness from God, for your soul by refraining from objecting and remonstrating on their behalf so that We might forgive you your variegation, which has manifested itself on you by the presence of your heart and its attributes.

And do not dispute: the interpretation of this has become clear from this [preceding statement].

They hide themselves from people, by concealing from them their vices and the attributes of their souls, which are the sources of their shame; but they do not hide themselves from God, by eliminating them and eradicating them, even though He is the witness over them, knowing their inner selves, while they contrive, [while] they lend weight to, in the world of the darkened soul and nature, what is displeasing to Him of suppositions, in the way of illusions and corrupt machinations which they string together in order to actualise what they desire of the transient things of this world and its pleasures. God is ever Encompassing of what they do, recompensing them in accordance with their attributes and their deeds.

Ah! There you are: [the interpretation of this is] clear from what has already been mentioned.

Whoever does evil, by the manifestation of one of the attributes of his soul, or wrongs his soul, by diminishing something of his [potential] perfections, [perfections] entailed in his preparedness by falling short [of something] therein or by committing a deed that is incompatible with it, [but] then asks God to cover up that attribute or configuration that is concealing his perfection by orienting himself towards Him and renouncing sinful behaviour, he shall find God is Forgiving, covering up that evil deed and dark configuration with the light of His attribute, Merciful, bestowing [on that person] what his preparedness entails.