33:40 Muḥammad is not the father of any of your men, but rather the messenger of God and the seal of the prophets.
This is a reminder bestowing the recognition, and an explanation declaring the eminence, of the paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam, the pearl of felicity and the foundation of mastery, the kiblah of prosperity and the Kaaba of hopes, Muḥammad Muṣṭafā, the eminence of whose messenger hood is bound to the Beginningless and the exaltation of whose good fortune is joined with the Endless. The pulpit and mihrab are adorned with his name. The pillars of the religion and the foundations of belief were laid down by his explanation and clarification. That paragon was outwardly all ease and inwardly all comeliness. His expressions were eloquence, his secret core love. His spirit was from the light of exaltedness, his curtain the divine jealousy. His customs were the Shariah, his robe of honor intercession. Although God stripped the name of fatherhood from him, he was more tender and more lovingly kind than any father. He said, “For you, I am like a father toward his children.”
It has been said that his tenderness toward his community is greater than that of fathers, but God did not call him the father of the community because of what preceded in the beginningless decree, the lordly judgment, and the divine predetermination. This is the fact that on the Day of Resurrection—in that greatest gathering place and most tremendous exposure, when the pavilion of all-subjugatingness is pitched, the carpet of tremendousness spread, the scales of justice hung, the prison of chastisement brought out from the veil, spirits come to the throat, eloquent tongues become dumb, all excuses nullified, and all relationships cut—it is then that all fathers will flee from their children, as the Exalted Lord said: “On the day a man will flee from his brother, his mother, his father” [80:34].
Adam, who is the father of all, will come forth and say, “Lord God, let Adam go, and as for his children, You know what You will do.” Noah will say the same, Abraham the same; Moses, Jesus, and the other prophets the same. All will tremble from the harshness of the rising and the terror of the resurrection. They will be helpless for themselves and will not attend to their children. They will say,
“‘My soul, my soul!’ O Lord, release me, and do what You want with the children.”
In that gathering place of the resurrection, Muṣṭafā the Arab will put his face in the dust, his musky locks falling on his hands, and let loose the tongue of mercy and tenderness:
“Lord God, my community is a handful of the weak and hapless. They do not have the capacity for Your chastisement and punishment. Forgive them and have mercy.”
Because of the decree made in the Beginningless that fathers would flee from their children, He did not call him a father, lest on that day he flees from them and not intercede for them. Listen to another subtle point: He was not called father because, if he had been a father, his testimony as a father against his son would not be accepted by the Shariah. Tomorrow at the resurrection he will testify as to the justice of the community. That is in His words,
“That you may be witnesses against the people and the Messenger may be a witness against them” [2:143].
33:41 O you who have faith, remember God with much remembrance!
In terms of allusion what is understood from this verse is calling people to love the Real, for Muṣṭafā said, “When someone loves something, he remembers it much.” The mark of friendship is plentiful remembrance. Friendship does not let the tongue be at ease from remembrance or the heart be empty of remembrance. The remembrance of the Friend is the portion of the yearners. It is the brightness of the eyes, the good fortune of the spirit, and the adornment of the world. An iota’s increase in friendship is better than the two worlds. One breath in companionship with the Friend is the everlasting kingdom—exalted is the servant who is worthy of that! What is this work? For it has no name and no mark. It is the servant’s occupation but hidden from the servant. The servant is unable to bear it but stretches out to reach it. By God, he who seeks it is joyful in the midst of the fire.”
33:44 Their greeting on the day they encounter Him will be “Peace.”
Delay and lingering will let loose the foot of compassion. The clouds of gentleness will rain down generosity, the sun of union will shine from the rising place of finding, and the eyes, heart, and spirit, all three, will gaze upon the Friend.
In the report has come, “The eyes will be filled with gazing on His face and He will speak to them as a man speaks to his sitting companion.” When an eye has seen Him, how will it busy itself with glancing at others? When a spirit has found companionship with Him, how will it make do with water and dust? When someone has become accustomed to the Exalted Presence, how will he put up with the abasement of the veil? How will the ruler of his own city spend his life in exile? In this world of exile, you become weary because you must say, “Give us ease, O Bilāl,” for the crowd. [DS 34]
Their greeting on the day they encounter Him will be “Peace.” Tomorrow this caress and rank, this endless good fortune, will be suited for someone who today is separate from the attributes of his own being. All attributes of selfhood are bonds, every bond is a color, and the chevaliers disdain every color. Why do you paint yourself with worldly desires! Self-painting has no worth. Why do you adorn yourself? Self-adornment has no value. Let it go, so that He adorned it in your hearts [49:7] may adorn you without you. Let it go, and then He loves them, and they love Him [5:54] will approve of you without you. Look from Him to Him, not from self to Him, for the eyes belong to what they saw at first and the heart to the first Friend. Everyone with a chamber in this street knows that this is so. Seeing the Friend is the spirit’s law and throwing away life in the Shariah of Friendship is its religion.
