6:0 In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.
This is the name of a king who is not backed by armies and provisions, the name of an exalted one who is not exalted by tribes and numbers, the name of a tremendous one who is not constricted by time and duration. He is not grasped by utmost limit or returning place, He transcends likeness, peer, similar, and child. He is the One, the Unique, the Self-Standing, the Self-Sufficient; He begets not, nor was He begotten, and equal to Him is none [112:2-4].
This is the name of a Lord who is subsistent and lasting without duration, overpowering and able without companion or help. In Essence, He is one without number, in attributes self-standing and self-sufficient, without associate or equal, without an advisor, without a child. His bounty has no limit, His decree has no repeller, He begets not, nor was He begotten, from the Beginningless to the Endless. He is a tremendous God, a generous all-compeller, splendorous, renowned, and eternal. He is the companion of every stranger, the closeness of everyone lonely, the foundation of everyone poor, the shelter of every wounded heart. All His deeds are pure, all His words true. His knowledge is without limit, His mercy without bounds. He is beautiful in artisanry, sweet in making, bestower of blessings, provider of turns, lovingly kind though hidden. He is hidden from the perception of how, outside the reasoning of imaginations, and pure of supposition, fancy, and being thus. He is higher than everything intelligence shows, far from everything on which fancy falls and pure of every foundation laid down by reflection and investigation. It is forbidden for reflection and investigation to know and understand His Essence and attribute, and our religion is complete when we assent to the outward meaning, accept what has been transmitted, and give up on the meanings.
This indeed is the tongue of learning in the allusion of the Shariah. It is the resource of the wage-earners and the capital of the paradise-seekers. But the recognizers and God-perceivers have another tongue and another closeness. Their tongue is the tongue of unveiling, their closeness the closeness of love. According to the allusion of the Haqiqah, the tongue of learning comes from narration and the tongue of unveiling from solicitude. The narration is a banner flying over the world, the solicitude a sign in the two worlds. The narration is for the wage-earner seeking houris, and the solicitude for the one drowned in light in the ocean of face-to-face vision.
“If the share of the wage-earner is everlasting paradise, the recognizer hopes that the Friend will give him one glance. If the wage-earner is attached to loss and gain, the recognizer is burning in a smokeless fire. If the wage-earner melts in fear of hell, the recognizer is in joy from head to toe.”
In the name of God belongs to creatures in general, “in God” belongs to the elect of the Threshold, and “God” belongs to the sincerely truthful, secluded with Him. He who says in the name of God sees his own act, the secondary cause, and the Causer. He who says “in God” sees the cause and the Causer, but he does not see his own act. He who says “God” sees neither his own act nor the cause; He sees all as the Causer. Say “God,” then leave them [6:91] is an allusion to this and a mark for the seekers of God.
One breath with the Friend is better than the everlasting kingdom, one blink of closeness with the Friend is sweeter than the spirit. Exalted is the servant who is worthy for that which is the spirit’s ease, the spirit’s livelihood, and the spirit’s pain.
Say “God,” then leave them. He is saying, “My servant! See only My loving-kindness, see only My taking care of you! Do not lay favors on Me with your acts. Look at My success-giving and do not take joy in remembering yourself. Look at My instructions and flee from the marks of yourself. See everything as My loving-kindness.”
The tongue of the servant’s state replies, “O Lord, give me the lamp of knowledge and the burning brand of recognition so that I may see only You, I may know only You. O Lord, I have come to the Threshold as a servant. If You like, exalt me, and if You like, lay me low. O bringer of happiness and adorner of the secret cores! O thief of scatteredness and keeper of lights! An eye that does not see You is black, a heart that does not recognize you is carrion.”
