Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

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

Piety is not that you turn your faces to the east and the west. Rather, piety is he who has faith in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets; who gives wealth despite lov- ing it to kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, the son of the road, beggars, and slaves; and who per- forms the prayer and gives the alms tax; those who are loyal to their covenant when they make a covenant; those who are patient in misfortune, hardship, and moments of peril. It is they who have been truthful, and it is they who are the godwary. You have learned what the Shariah stipulates in terms of the outward meaning of this verse. Now listen to the inner meaning in the tongue of allusion and recognize the signs of the Haqiqah, for the Haqiqah is to the Shariah as the spirit is to the body. What is a body without a spirit? Such is the Shariah without the Haqiqah. The Shariah is the house of the servitors. All the people are gathered there. They keep it flourishing with service and worship. The Haqiqah is the house of the sanctuary. The recognizers are gathered there. They keep it flourishing with veneration and contemplation. The distance from service and worship to veneration and contemplation is the same as that from familiarity to love. Familiarity is the attribute of wage-earners, and love is the attribute of recognizers. The wage-earner brings all the varieties of piety mentioned in the verse. Then he says, “Oh, if the wind blows against it, or something of it is taken away, I will lose the wage for that.” The recognizer performs all of it according to its stipulations. Then he says, “Oh, if any of it remains, I will be held back from good fortune.” Any talk that keeps you back from the road-let it be unbelief or faith. Any picture that holds you back from the Friend-let it be ugly or beautiful. [DS 51] The wage-earner says, “My prayer, my fasting, my alms-giving, my patience in trials, my loyalty to covenants!” The recognizer says in the tongue of abasement, “Who am I to wear the cloak of loyalty to You, to have my eyes carry the burden of Your disloyalty, To have the spirit's scent come from my lips and speak of You, to grow an exalted branch in my heart and suffer Your trial?” [DS 933] The Pir of the Tariqah said, “How should I have known that the share of the wage-earner is ever- lasting paradise, and the hope of the recognizer is one glance? How should I have known that the wage-earner is wishing for houris and palaces, and the recognizer is inundated by light in the sea of face-to-face vision?” When he was dying, Abū ʿAlī Rūdbārī said to his sister, “O FāṬima, look, the doors of heaven have opened, the Gardens have been adorned! The maid-servants have gathered at the battlements and they are saying, 'Enjoy yourself, O Abū ʿAlī! All this was built for you!'” The tongue of Abū ʿAlī's state was answering, “O God, how could I be joyful with paradise and houris? If You give me one breath, from that breath I will build a paradise!” Your rightful due is that I look on no one else with the eye of love until I see You. * I will close my eyes and not open them until the day of visiting You, O exalted Friend! Piety is not that you turn your faces. Piety, in brief, is of two sorts: belief and deeds. Belief is to realize the roots, and deeds are to obtain the branches. Inescapably anyone who truly consolidates the roots and performs the stipulated branches is one of the pious. The station of the pious is the Abode of Settledness. That is in His words, “Surely the pious are in bliss” [82:13]. What the Lord of the Worlds clarifies in the course of this verse is exactly that belief and those deeds. He says, “he who has faith in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets.” Up to this point He clarifies belief and lays down the foundations of the roots, and from here on He begins the mention of the deeds. These He set down in two sorts: One sort is taking care of people: keeping company with them, caressing the far and the near, and giving comfort to them. Thus He says, “who gives wealth despite loving it to kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, travelers, beggars, and slaves.” He begins first with relatives, for their rightful due takes precedence over the rightful due of others. This is why the Prophet said, “Charity will not be accepted if a womb relative is in need. ” Then come orphans, who are the most helpless of people and have no kin. Then the poor, who have no possessions, neither present nor absent. Then the wayfarers, who have nothing in hand, though they may have wealth elsewhere. Then the beg- gars, who are the poor, both those who speak truthfully and those who lie. Then slaves, who have masters to take care of them and attend to them. The Lord of the Worlds preserved the order of their need and worthiness. Whenever someone is more helpless, more needy, and more fitting for charity, He mentions him earlier, for his rightful due is greater. What a generous Lord, who keeps everyone in his own place and conveys to everyone what is fitting as needed! He says, “I govern My servants through My knowledge; surely of My servants I am aware, seeing [35:31].” The other sort of deeds is specific to the worshipful servant and does not go beyond him to anyone else, like performing the prayers, having truthfulness and self-purification in the deeds, coming back to loyalty in covenants, and having patience in trials. This is why the Lord of the Worlds says, “who performs the prayer” to His words “and moments of peril.” Then He says, “It is they who have been truthful, and it is they who are the godwary.” They are the ones who, in the half of piety that is belief, are truthful, and, in the half that is deeds, put godwariness into action. Truthfulness and godwariness are the perfection of faith. They are the ones concerning whom God says, “They are the faithful in truth” [8:4]. The most complete report from MuṣṬafā that is appropriate to this verse and brings together the varieties of piety-the part that is faith, the part that is deeds, and the part that is noble character traits-comes by way of Suwayd Ḥārith. He said, “I was sent as the seventh of seven from my tribe to God's Messenger. When we entered in upon him and spoke to him, he admired what he saw of our appearance and dress. He said, 'What are you?' “We said, 'We are faithful.' “God's Messenger smiled and said, 'Every word has a reality. What is the reality of your words and your faith.' “I said, 'Fifteen traits. We were commanded by your messengers to have faith in five of them.

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

O you who have faith! Written for you is retaliation in the case of the slain. He is addressing the body, heart, and spirit and saying, “O totality of the servant! If you want to step into the street of friendship, first detach your heart from life and toss away everything you know about states and deeds, for in the shariah of friendship your life will be taken as retaliation, and everything you know will be the wergild, though more is needed. Such is the shariah of friend- ship. If you are the man for the work, enter! Otherwise, nothing will get done with self-love and defilement.” In the tracks of manliness plane trees live long, in the tracks of defilement jasmine goes fast. Throw away your life, travel the road, live upright, and be a man! Then you will subsist-when you empty your skirt of these ruins. Yes, it's a marvelous work, the work of friendship! It's a wonderful shariah, the shariah of friend- ship! Whenever someone is killed in the world, retaliation or wergild is mandatory against the killer. In the shariah of friendship, both retaliation and wergild are mandatory for the person killed. The Pir of the Tariqah, “How should I have known that there is retaliation for those killed by friendship? But, when I looked, that was Your transaction with the elect. How should I have known that friendship is sheer resurrection and that those killed by friendship should ask for wer- gild? Glory be to God! What work is this, what work!? He burns some people, He kills some people, and no one burned has regrets, no one killed turns away.” How You kill us and how we love You! O marvel! How we love the killer! * May my eyes' light be the dust beneath Your feet! May my heart's rest be Your curly locks! In passion for You, may my justice be Your cruelty! May my life be sacrificed in grief for You! One person is burnt and left unsettled, another slain and perplexed in the field of solitariness. One is hanging on reports, another mixed with face-to-face vision. Who planted these seeds? Who stirred up this tumult? One is in a whirlpool, another wishing for water, but the drowned is not sated, the thirsty has no sleep.

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

It is written for you, when death is present for one of you and he is leaving behind some good, to make a will for parents and kinsfolk honorably, as something rightfully due from the godwary. The testament of the lords of wealth is one thing, and the testament of the lords of states is some- thing else. The testament of the lords of wealth goes out from the wealth, and the testament of the poor men from the states. At the end of their lives, the rich give out one-third of their wealth,13 and the poor give out limpidness of states and truthfulness of deeds. As much as the disobedient person is afraid for himself because of his bad deeds, the recogniz- er is afraid for himself ten times more because of the truthfulness of his deeds and the limpidness of his states. But there is a difference between the two: The disobedient person is afraid of the out- come and in dread of punishment, and the recognizer is afraid of the Real's majesty and awareness. When the recognizers are afraid, this is called “awe,” and when the disobedient are afraid, it is called “fear.” Fear occurs because of reports, and awe occurs because of face-to-face vision. Awe is a fear that puts no veil before supplication, no blindfold over perspicacity, and no wall before hope. It is a fear that melts and kills. As long as he does not hear the call, “Fear not and grieve not!” [29:33], he will not reach ease. The owner of this fear is shown generosity, but he burns in dread of losing it. His light is increased, and the terror of alteration is thrown into him. Abu Saʿīd Abi'l-Khayr had this state at the time of death. When he put his head on the pil- low of death, they said to him, “O Shaykh, you were the kiblah of those burned, emulated by the yearners, the sun of the world. Now that you have turned your face to the Exalted Presence, give some advice to these burnt ones, say some words that will be their reminder.” The Shaykh said, “My two eyes full of water, my liver full of fire, my hands full of wind, my head full of dust!” Bishr Ḥāfī had the same state at the time of going.