5. Al-Maaida

You will truly find, to the end [of the verse]. Friendship and enmity are [to be understood] in terms of correspondence and oppositeness. Whenever someone affiliates with another that is an indication of an interconnecting factor of genus between them, and whenever he displays enmity towards another that is an indication of discrepancy and contrareity between them. Since the Jews were veiled from the essence and the attributes and only engaged in the affirmation of the unity of the acts, their correspondence to the idolaters who are veiled absolutely was stronger than their correspondence to the believers who are affirmers of unity absolutely. As for the Christians, because when they emerged from the veil of the attributes they affiliated only to the veil of the essence, their correspondence to the believers was stronger, which is why they are nearer in love of them than others, while the idolaters and the Jews are the most hostile because of the intensity of their veiledness. Do you not see how He has explained the reason for their nearness in terms of their knowledge and worship [of God] and their lack of disdain. For worship leads to the garden of the acts in which they become disengaged from the acts of their souls, doing what God commands [of them]; and knowledge leads to the garden of the attributes, [knowledge] by which they are exalted above the garden of the souls and [by which] they arrive at the station of the heart which is the locus for the [divine] unveiling. [Their] reception of divine knowledge and their lack of disdain are indications that they do not see their souls as qualified by the attributes of worship and knowledge; nor do they ascribe their acts and knowledge to them [their souls], rather to God, since otherwise they would be disdainful and would manifest pride;

And when they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger, thou seest their eyes over- flow with tears because of the truth they recognize. They say, “Our Lord, we have faith, so write us down among the witnesses.” This verse alludes to the fact that faith is to be heard, seen, recognized, spoken, and done. They hear is evidence that it is to be heard. Thou seest their eyes overflow with tears is evidence that it is to be seen. Because of the truth they recognize is evidence that it is to be recognized. They say is evidence that it is to be spoken. Then, at the end of the verse, He says “That is the recompense of the beautiful-doers” [5:85]. Beautiful-doers is evidence that its deeds are to be done. He began with hearing because first there is hearing. The servant hears the truth, it makes him happy, he accepts it, he comes into work, and he acts upon it. The Lord of the Worlds is pleased with the group in whom all these traits are found. It has been said that three things are the marks of recognition, and that this group has all three to perfection: weeping, supplication, and approval-weeping for disloyalty, supplication for be- stowal, and approval of the decree. Anyone who claims to have recognition and does not have these traits is not truthful in his claim, is not counted among the recognizers, and has no standing among the chevaliers and the religious. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Recognition is two: the recognition of the common people and the recognition of the elect. The recognition of the common people is by hearsay, and the recogni- tion of the elect is by face-to-face vision. The recognition of the common people comes from the source of munificence, but the recognition of the elect comes from what they find.” Concerning the recognition of the common people He says, “When they hear what has been sent down to the Messenger.” Concerning the recognition of the elect He says, “He will show you His signs, and you will recognize them” [27:93]. When they hear is praise of the folk of the Shariah, and He shall show you His signs is a felici- tation for the folk of the Haqiqah. When someone speaks of the Shariah and turns his back in any respect, he becomes a heretic. When someone speaks of the Haqiqah and looks at himself in any respect, he becomes an associater.

Gardens underneath which rivers flow, in the way of the three self-disclosures together with the knowledge of these [three]: that is the requital of those who are virtuous, who witness the unity at the source of multiplicity by their uprightness before God.

But those who, have been veiled from the essence and, disbelieve, in the signs of the attributes - they are the people, of total privation in the Hell-fire of the attributes of the soul.

O you who believe, with a cognitive knowledge, do not forbid the good things that God has made lawful for you, of the unveilings of states and the self-disclosures of the attributes by falling short of your wayfaring, and do not transgress, by the insolence of the soul and the manifesting of itself through its attributes. Rather make God your shield for actualising those perfections by seeing them from Him and for His sake, not from you or for your sake, lest you then become insolent, if you are [truly] affirmers of [His] Oneness.

God will not take you to task for idle talk in your oaths, but He will take you to task for the oaths you have bound. The expiation thereof is the feeding of ten indigent people with what you usually feed your own family, or clothing them, or freeing a slave. When overpowered by ecstasy the chevaliers of the Tariqah sometimes swear oaths renewing the covenant and affirming the compact. They say things like, “By your rightful due, I will not gaze at other than You, I will not speak to other than You, and I will not leave Your covenant!” By virtue of tawḤīd these oaths are idle talk and negligence in the witnessing of Unity. How can it be the servant's place to give himself worth, to fancy that he is someone, or to consider his own words to have such status that he can swear an oath to Him? Rather, what is fitting for the servant is to welcome His rulings with beautiful approval. Whether He summons or drives away, he should not protest and not turn away. He should not speak of the realities of union and separation. He should take what He gives, and accept what comes. He should know that in reality it is He who is lovingly kind to perfection and it is He who determines and governs in every state. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O closer to us than ourselves, O more lovingly kind to us than ourselves, O caresser of us without us by Your generosity-not because of our worthiness, not because of our works. The burden is beyond our capacity, the practice not proper to us, the favor not within our ability. Whatever we have done has damaged us, whatever You have done subsists for us. Whatever You have done in our place You have done by Yourself, not for our sake.” Expiation in the Shariah is well-known to the folk of knowledge-freeing slaves, feeding people, and clothing them. So also, in the tongue of allusion, expiation in the Tariqah is of three sorts: expending the spirit by virtue of ecstasy, expending the heart in the soundness of intention, and expending the soul by constant effort. If you are not able to do this, then abstain and fast from prohibited and blamable things.

O you who have faith! Wine, arrow-shuffling, idols, and divining arrows are a filth and of the deeds of Satan. The Prophet said, “Wine is the gatherer of sin and the mother of loathsome things”: Wine is the root of loathsome things and the key to great sins, the basis of misdeeds, the seed of misguided acts, and the source of discord. It dries up the springhead of obedience, holds back the water of remembrance, and opens the door to heedlessness. The soul becomes drunk from wine and is held back from the prayer. The heart becomes drunk from heedlessness and is held back from secret whispering. The Pir of the Tariqah spoke to these heedless people in the tongue of admonition: “O drunk- ards full of appetite! O sleepers in heedlessness! Have shame before that Lord who knows the treachery of the eyes and sees the inside of the hearts! He knows the treachery of the eyes and what the breasts conceal [40:19]. Oh, where is a whip like that of ʿUmar or a sword like that of ʿAlī to give these discourteous drunkards the Shari'ite punishment in the world of justice and to get these sleeping, heedless people to move! Does the poor wretch who drinks wine not know that when he puts the cup in his hand, the Throne and the Footstool tremble? From the Exalted Presence comes the call, 'By My exaltation and majesty, I will give them to taste of My chastisement in boiling water and Zaqqūm!'” Arrow-shuffling is gambling. When someone plays everything and loses all in a gambling house, he is considered great and recognized as a preceder. This is an allusion to the path of the chevaliers: They throw themselves down on the highway of predetermination so as to become abased before every piece of straw and to come out from the bonds of every color, counting them- selves as nothing. As long as you stay in bond to color, nature, the spheres, and the stars, how can you be allowed to say, “Speak like a Qalandar”? [DS 972]