Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

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

O Prophet! Surely We sent thee as a witness, a good-news bringer, and a warner, inviting to God by His leave, and a light-giving lamp. “O paragon of the world! O master of the children of Adam! O pride of the Arabs and the Per-sians! O caressed by the gentleness of eternity! O foremost in earth and honored in heaven! You are a paragon whose explications are the arrangement of the necklace of salvation, whose proofs are the untying of the knots of difficulties, whose sayings are the edict of felicities, whose doings are the guidebook of generous acts, whose utterances are the capital of noble qualities, whose glances are the adornment of beautiful deeds”-upon him be the most excellent of prayers and the most ample of felicitations! Surely We sent thee with the truth [2:119]. “We, who are unique in divinity and peerless in unity, separate from creation in Essence and attributes, qualified by magnificence, creator of earth and heaven, shelter of every beggar and comfort of everyone familiar, knower of the secrets of cre- ation and witness of the deeds of all, We sent thee as a witness, a good-news bringer, and a warner. We sent you to the creatures to give news of Our gentleness to the familiar, for they are worthy of caresses, and to warn the strangers, for they are worthy of being melted. Give good news to the friends that the house of felicity has been decorated for them and warn the enemies that the prison of hell has been heated up for them.” And a light-giving lamp. “O paragon! The sun is the lamp of heaven, and you are the lamp of earth. The sun is the lamp of this world, and you are the lamp of the religion. The sun is the lamp of the spheres, and you are the lamp of the kingdom. The sun is the lamp of water and clay, and you are the lamp of spirit and heart. The sun is the lamp of this world, and you are the lamp of both this world and that world. “O Adam, though you are the chieftain in the register of the chosen and the title-page of the book of the prophets, how can you be on the same road with MuḤammad? For you were struck by the pain of the address of Fall down from it, all together [2:38], and he is celebrating the joy of who took His servant by night [17:1].

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

And give good news to the faithful that they will have a great bounty from God. “O MuḤammad! Give good news to the faithful that they will have a beautiful caress from Me, an endless generosity, a complete bounty-response for the supplicator, bestowal for the asker, help for the striver, increase for the grateful, reward for the obedient. Give them the good news that when I chose them, I saw the faults. I did not approve before I had examined the hidden things. With My own unneediness I chose the servants as they are. Give them the good news that what was there at first is today the same-a cloud raining down everlasting kindness for the faithful, bounty without end, favor without bounds. Give them the good news that even if a servant has many offenses, the bounty of the Patron is more than that, for every deed of a doer in every state is worthy of himself.” All this that you have heard comes from the great bounty, but it is not the great bounty itself, for the great bounty is indeed another state and another caress-a spiritual life of delight with a hundred thousand hidden drums, an everlasting resurrection. The soul is mixed with companion- ship, the spirit clinging to its desire, the heart drowned in the light of finding. Because of the drowning, the servant does not discern the seeking from the finding. Because of the radiance of finding, it cannot be expressed. He burns in the fire of love and does not turn back from joy. With the tongue of his state he keeps on saying, “I keep on throwing the spirit-incense on the fire of passion. The spirit is Your servant-it is not that I am generous. When passion for You has burned away my spirit, I will contrive to find a hundred spirits more.”