Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

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

Glory be to Him who created the pairs, all of them, from what the earth grows and from themselves and from what they do not know! Purity and faultlessness belong to the God who shows all these wonders of artisanry in the earth, from one water, one dust, and one air, and who makes the banners of power appear in order to make the servants see! He displays the marks so that those who have not seen may see, and those who have not perceived may perceive, that all of this is the deed of an Enactor and the making of a Maker. These adornments have an Adorner and these growing things have a Grower. All testify to the being of God and mark His oneness, even though the testifiers have no intelligence and the markers have no tongue. And in each thing He has a sign showing that He is one.

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

A sign for them is the night; We strip from it the day. A great man was asked, “Is night more excellent, or day?” He answered, “Night is more excellent, because at night all is ease and comfort, and comfort belongs to paradise. In day all is trouble and difficulty in the seeking of livelihood, and suffering and difficulty belong to hell.” He also said, “Night is the portion of the self-purifiers, who worship with self-purification and without eye-service. Day is the portion of the duplicitous, who worship with eye-service and without self-purification. Night is the time of seclusion for friends, the time of meeting for seek- ers of peace, the solace of the yearners, the moment for the mystery of lovers.” Revelation came to one of the prophets, “He who claims to love Me is a liar if night comes, and he goes to sleep on Me. Does not every lover love to be secluded with his beloved? Here I am, aware of you, I hear and I see [20:46].” It has also been said that night and day are the mark of the contraction and expansion of the recognizers. The time of night is contraction for them and the time of day expansion. In the night of contraction, they see everything in lassitude and awe. In the day or expansion, they find all as gentleness and mercy. In the night of contraction the cold wind of severity comes, the marks bearing witness to majesty appear, and the servant weeps and enters into pleading. In the day of expansion the breeze of gentleness blows and brings the scent of union, the marks bearing witness to beauty appear, and the servant delights and enters into ease. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Sometimes I say that I am in constant contraction-there is so much covering! Sometimes a light shines, next to which mortal nature disappears. A light, and what a light! It is the mark of beginningless love, the title-page of the scroll of life. It is the ease of the spirit, the delight of the spirit, and the pain of the spirit.” You are the pain in my heart and the ease of my spirit. You stir up tumult and You make it still.

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

And the moon, We have determined way stations for it, till it returns like the old palm branch. It has been said that the wisdom in the waxing and waning of the moon is that at the beginning of creation, the moon's light was in perfection. It gazed upon itself and self-admiration appeared in it. The Exalted Lord commanded Gabriel to strike the moon's face with his wing, and that took away the light. Ibn ʿAbbās said, “The lines you see on the face of the moon are the mark of Gabriel's wing.” He took away the light, but the imprint stayed in place. It is the imprint of the words of tawḤīd written on the moon's forehead: “There is no god but God; MuḤammad is God's messenger.” When the light was taken from the moon, it was prevented from serving at the Threshold. The moon asked for help from the angels so that they would intercede for it. They said, “Lord God, the moon has become accustomed to serving at the Exalted Threshold. Is there no way for You not to deprive it totally?” The Exalted Lord accepted their intercession and commanded it to prostrate itself once a month on the fourteenth night. Now every night when it comes up and the time of service comes closer, its light increases, until the fourteenth night, the time of prostration, and its light reaches perfection. Then when the fourteenth passes, every night its light diminishes because it is becom- ing farther from the carpet of service. It has also been said, “What is similar to the sun is a servant who is forever in the radiance of recognition. He is the possessor of stability, not undergoing variegation. The sun of his recogni- tion constantly shines from the mansions of his felicity. It is not taken by eclipse, nor curtained by clouds. “What is similar to the moon is a servant whose states are constantly undergoing transition. He is the possessor of variegation. He has an expansion that lifts him up to the boundary of union, and then he is pushed back into lassitude and falls into contraction in the limpidness of his state. Thus he diminishes and returns to deficiency in his affair, until his heart is lifted up from his pres- ent moment. Then the Real is munificent toward him and gives him the success to return from his lassitude, bringing him back from his intoxicatedness. His state continues becoming more limpid until he is near to union and he climbs up to the peak of perfection.” At that point he says with the tongue of his state, “In Your love I descended to a station whose descendedness bewilders the mind.”