Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi

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

Who remember God, standing and sitting and on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Those who remember are three: One remembers God with the tongue and is heedless with the heart. This is the remembrance of the wrongdoer, who is aware neither of the remembrance nor of the Remembered. Another remembers Him with the tongue and is present with the heart. This is the remem- brance of the moderate and the state of the wage-earner. He is seeking reward and excused in his seeking. The third remembers Him with the heart; the heart is filled with Him, and his tongue is silent in remembrance. “When someone recognizes God, his tongue is mute.” This is the remembrance of the preceder. His tongue is lost in the remembrance, and the remembrance is lost in the Remem- bered. The heart is lost in love, and love in the Light. The spirit is lost in face-to-face vision, and face-to-face vision is far from explication. Remembrance set a trap whose bait was jealousy. The wage-earner saw the trap and fled, the recognizer saw the bait and clung to the trap. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “Remembrance is not simply what you have on the tongue. True remembrance is what you have in the midst of the spirit. TawḤīd is not simply that you know that He is one. True tawḤīd is that you be one for Him and a stranger to other than Him.” And reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq asked Abū ʿAbd al-RaḤmān Sulamī whether remembrance was more complete or reflection. Abū ʿAbd al-RaḤmān answered, “Remembrance is more complete than reflection because remembrance is an attribute of the Real and reflection an attribute of creation. That by which the Real is described is more complete than that which is specific to creation.” Reflecting for the heart is like sniffing for the breath. Reflecting on one's own deeds and words is mandatory, on the artifacts of the Artisan recommended, and on the Artisan's Essence for- bidden. In the report has come, “Do not reflect upon God, for surely you are not able to judge His measure.” He is saying: “Do not reflect on God's Essence, for you will not reach His measure, nor will you recognize Him as is proper to Him, nor will you perceive the foundations of His majesty and tremendousness.

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

Our Lord, and give us what Thou hast promised us through Thy messengers. O Lord, bring to pass the promise that You Yourself made, bring to fruit the tree that You Yourself planted, brighten the lamp that You Yourself lit, and keep the blight of us away from the love that You gave by Your own bounty. O Lord, we are happy that You were and we were not. Your work caught on and ours did not. You put forth Your own worth, You sent Your own Messenger. O Lord, You lifted us up and no one said, “Lift up!” Now that You have lifted up, don't put down! Keep us in the shadow of gentleness and entrust us to none but Your bounty! If You water, You Yourself planted. If You flatten the foundation, You Yourself raised it. I the servant am just what You fancied. Don't throw me down-You lifted me up.

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

And their Lord responded to them, “I will not waste the deed of any doer among you, male or female. The one of you is as the other. And those who emigrated, were expelled from their homes, were tormented in My path, who fought and were killed, I shall surely acquit them of their ugly deeds and enter them into Gardens under which rivers flow, a reward from God.” This is loyalty to the promise that He gave to the faithful: “Supplicate Me; I will respond to you” [40:60]. The verification of this loyalty is that He responded to the caller, He bestowed upon the asker, He assisted the striver, He gave increase to the grateful, He bestowed insight on the patient, He rewarded the obedient, He absolved the disobedient, He had mercy on the regretful, He honored the lover, He gave vision to the yearner. The command came, “O MuḤammad! There is no reason for despair. In triumph the work of the servant is not outside of three traits: If he is obedient, then his reward is in place. If he is dis- obedient, then your intercession is in place. And no matter how much he is held back, My mercy toward him is in place.” If I wipe clean all the sins of the creatures, what will be lost from My kingdom? A handful of clay. And those who emigrated, were expelled from their homes, were tormented in My path, who fought and were killed. This is the attribute of the friends, the custom of the yearners, the story of those who gamble away their spirits, and the final outcome of the work of the passionate: They have given away their hearts and gambled away their spirits. Wounded by the arrow of trial, their status and respect overthrown by the sword of the decree, they have been exiled from their homes and families. Totally effaced in the ocean of thought, of themselves they recite for all, “No home, no possessions.” Sometimes burning and melting, sometimes weeping and wailing, they see the burn but not the burner, they see the tumult but not the tumult-inciter, they see the pain but not the remedy. What is even more wondrous is that they are happy with their pain and lament at the lack of pain.