Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi — Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

And He it is who created night and day, and the sun and the moon, each swimming in a sphere. In the tasting of the folk of recognition, night and day are a mark of the contraction and expansion of the recognizers. Contraction and expansion are the divine decree and royal predetermination. Sometimes He puts them in the grasp of His contraction so that the ruling power of His majesty [wreaks havoc on them, and sometimes He gives them a place on the carpet of His expansion such that the ruling power of beauty] may caress them in virtue of bestowal. It is the stipulation of the man with pain that in the grasp of contraction he be rectified and not protest, and on the carpet of expansion he be courteous and not turn away, for the great ones of the religion have said, “The servant will not find the sweetness of faith until trial comes to him from everywhere.” And the sun and the moon, each swimming in a sphere. He created the sun and the moon in the constellations of heaven, and they travel on the peak of the spheres. He created the sun neither to increase nor to decrease and the moon to increase and decrease; sometimes it wanes, and some- times it shines forth. The sun is the mark of the possessor of tawḤīd, who says with the attribute of stability in the presence of stability, “Were the covering to be lifted, I would not increase in certainty.” The moon is the mark of the possessor of knowledge, who walks in the playing field of exertion. He comes by way of gazing and inference and keeps his eyes on obedience and good works, that they might add faith to their faith [48:4]. The possessor of tawḤīd is the lord of pain, and the possessor of knowledge is the lord of deeds. The possessor of deeds gazes on the secondary causes, and the possessor of pain gazes on the Causer and is detached from the secondary causes. The great ones of the religion have said, “Not seeing the secondary cause is ignorance, but remaining with the secondary cause is associationism.” A recognizer was seen on the shore of the Tigris, saying, “My Master, I am thirsty,” but he passed by without drinking. That exalted man was contemplating the Real and saw neither the Tigris nor its water. When someone is busy with a work, even if the houris of paradise pass by, he will not be aware. God only knows, sweetheart, if I know night from day- night and day passion has confounded and perplexed me.

Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi — Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death. When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? “The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.” O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of “There is no god but God.” Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city. Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: “O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.” One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, “O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?” What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you? Dāwūd said, “My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease.

Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi — Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

We have not assigned everlastingness to any mortal before thee. If thou diest, will they be everlasting? Every soul shall taste death. When a speck of truthfulness appears in someone's heart, the reality of passion for death will show its head from his spirit, for the promise of encounter is there. What sort of spirit would forget the promise of encounter? What sort of heart would seek from someplace else the repose that comes only from contemplating the Real? “The person of faith has no ease without encoun- tering his Lord.” O dervish, no good fortune is more precious than death. Those who have the religion place the crown of magnificence and generosity on their heads at the gate of death. Those who reap the fruit of the Shariah will find the sigil of good fortune at the door of death. Death is the sanctuary of “There is no god but God.” Death is the doorstep of the kingdom of the resurrection and the passageway to the visitors of the Real. Death is the center of the exaltation of the recognizers, the place anticipated by the spirits of the proximate. Death is the vanguard of solicitude and the prelude to endless kind favor. In the two worlds no one has the ease that the tawḤīd-voicer has in the grave with the One. He took along with him into the dust the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith in the resurrection. At the resurrection he will come out of the dust with the banner of the submission and the kettledrum of faith, just as kings enter into their own city. Dāwūd ṬāÌī was one of the great jurists in outward knowledge. His truthfulness was such that on the night he left this world a call came from the middle of heaven: “O folk of the earth! Surely Dāwūd ṬāÌī has stepped forth to his Lord, and He approves of him.” One of his disciples said that he saw Dāwūd in the throes of death in a ruined house, intense heat, fallen flat on the earth with his head on a piece of brick, reciting the Qur'an. He said to him, “O Dāwūd, what if you were to go out into the open air?” What would happen if you were kind to yourself for an hour and go out into the open air, so this heat would have less effect on you? Dāwūd said, “My friend, I want to do that, but I am ashamed before my Lord-that I should move my feet in that in which my soul is at ease.