9. At-Tawba

[It is not for the believers to go forth altogether.] Why should not a party of every section of them [go forth]: in other words, every prepared person from a [particular] group must wayfare along the path of the pursuit of knowledge, since it is not possible for all of them [to do so], either outwardly [impossible] because of the [potential] forfeiting of [the groups's] welfare, or inwardly [impossible] because there is no preparedness [for it in each of them]. 'To gain understanding in religion' (tafaqquh) is a kind of knowledge that belongs to the heart and not one that is earned. For not every person who earns knowledge gains understanding, as He says And We have placed covers upon their hearts so that they do not understand it (yafqahūn) [Q. 6:25]: these covers (akinna) are natural overlays and ego-centric veils. Thus whoever desires to gain understanding, let him go forth in the way of God and let him wayfare the path of self-cleansing and self-purification until knowledge manifests itself from his heart onto his tongue, as was revealed to one of the prophets of the Children of Israel: 'O Children of Israel: do not say that knowledge is in the heavens and so who will bring it down, or that it is at the furthest edges of the earth and so who will bring it out, or that it is beyond the sea and so who will traverse [it] and bring it overḍ Knowledge has been placed in your hearts. Acquire [spiritual] refinement at my hands through the refined dispositions of the spiritual ones and assume the character traits of the truthful ones so that I might make manifest the knowledge that is in your hearts until your are immersed and covered in it. Thus what is meant by 'gaining understanding' (tafaqquh) is [the gaining of] knowledge that is firmly rooted in the heart, striking its roots [deep] within the soul, its effect being manifest upon the limbs such that the one possessing it is unable to commit anything that stands in opposition to that knowledge. For otherwise, he would not be a learned one (ʿālim). Do you know not see how God has deprived of understanding (fiqh) that person in whom the awe of God does not prevail over the awe of people, where He says: You indeed rouse greater awe in their hearts than God.

Do they not see that they are tried, [to the end of] the verse: trial is a steersman from God, exalted be He, that steers people to Him. It is mentioned in the ḥadīth: 'Trial is one of God's scourges, exalted be He, by which He drives His servants towards Him'. Every illness, impoverishment, or evil state that befalls a person breaks the vehemence of his soul and its faculties, curbs its attributes and its vain desires so that the heart becomes tender and emerges from its veiling and is roused from its reliance on this world and its pleasures, becoming constricted and recoiling in disgust from it, orienting itself instead towards God. The least of the degrees of this [trial] is that if he should discover that there is no escape from Him except to Him and should find no flight from or way out of the trial besides [through] Him, he submits humbly and yields before Him, as He says: And if waves cover them like awnings, they call on God, sincere before Him in their faith [Q. 31:32]; and [also where He says]: If misfortune should befall a man, he calls upon Us on his side, or sitting or standing [Q. 10:12]. In sum, it [trial] necessarily brings about a thinning of the veil or its [complete] removal, so let him make the most of his moment, seek refuge [with God] and adopt a [virtuous] character trait that will always define him so that awareness and remembrance might be established and presence and repentance might be facilitated [for that person] so that he no longer habituates himself to forgetfulness upon deliverance [from trial] and that the soul is not fortified when security reigns, lest it prevail and [lest] the veil is drawn down [even a] denser [veil] than the one before, as He has said: but when He delivers them to land, behold! they ascribe partners to Him [Q. 29:65], [and] but when We have relieved him of his misfortune, he passes on as if he had never called upon Us because of a misfortune that befell him [Q. 10:12].

Now there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves; what troubles you is difficult for him; eagerly desirous is he for you, clement and ever-merciful toward the faithful. He is in contact with you through mortal nature, but he is different from you in election. " O MuḤammad, keep on saying, 'I am a mortal like you' [18:110]. I will keep on saying, 'Did He not find thee an orphan and shelter thee?' [93:6]. You are the orphan pearl, the like of whom is no other. How can a mortal reach the forefront of the Real's acceptance such that He puts up with his disdain? By thy life! [15:72]. How can a mortal be worthy for the grasp of the attributes to explain the polish of his heart's mirror by virtue of solicitude? Did We not expand for thee thy breast? [94:1]. How can a mortal be such that the auditor of the beginningless and endless register turns over the acceptance and rejection of the creatures to his threshold? Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; whatever he prohibits you, forgo [59:7]. O Muhammad! You are something dif- ferent, and your work is different! " You are a tongue other than the speech of every mouth, you are a soul other than the gentleness of anyone else. You are a thought other than in anyone's mind. How can they reach you? You are indeed another world. It has been said that in friendship are both separation and union. In the era of the Beginningless, when love was apportioned, the wail of separation's pain rose up from the house of Abū Jahl, and the glitter of union's sun shone from the chamber of MuḤammad the Arab. From that separation was created a hell in the heart of the estranged, and from this union was affirmed a paradise in the breast of the friends. After the sun of union shone on that paragon, the world's folk were bewildered in his work. The wish for his beauty and for following him rose up in the prophets. Moses the Speaking Com- panion said, " Lord God, make me one of his community! " Jesus the Spirit of God said, " Lord God, make me the door-keeper of his threshold! " [Abraham] the Bosom Friend said, " Lord God, make my mention flow on the tongue of his community! " More wonderful than all this is that the paragon himself became bewildered in the steps of his own path.

So if they turn away, and refuse to receive [your] pity and mercy, because of their unpreparedness or because of the disappearance of this [preparedness], and have exposed themselves to eternal wretchedness, say: 'God suffices me: I have no need of you, nor of your assistance, in the same way that a man has no need of a painful and gangrenous appendage, which, on the basis of reason, must be amputated. In other words, God avails me [of all else]. There is nothing in existence except Him and hence there is no effective agent other than Him and no helper except Him. In Him I trust: I cannot see that any [other than Him] possesses [the power to] act and there is no might or strength except in Him, and He is the Lord of the Tremendous Throne', that encompasses all things, from which issue His judgement and command for all.