“The faithful are one thing, the recognizers something else. The faithful first look at the artifacts and the signs, then they reach Us from the signs. The recognizers first reach Us, then they return from Us to the signs.
6:54 And when those who have faith in Our signs come to thee, say, “Peace be upon you. Your Lord has written mercy against Himself, that whosoever of you does an ugly deed in ignorance, and thereafter repents and makes wholesome, He is forgiving, ever-merciful.”
“O Muḥammad! Unto those who have faith in Us by the intermediary of the signs, convey Our greeting of peace by the intermediary of yourself! Unto those who recognize Us without intermediary and find Us without the artifacts, We will convey Our greetings of peace without an intermediary.” That is in His words, “Peace—a word from an ever-merciful Lord” [36:58].
“O God, he who recognizes You through the artifacts depends on the secondary causes, he who recognizes You through the attributes is imprisoned by reports, and he who recognizes You by allusion seeks companionship. He who is snatched away by You is protected from himself.”
Although He has turned you over to the angel who writes your slips against you, He Himself has undertaken to write mercy for you. His writing for you is beginningless, and that writing against you is temporal. The temporal does not nullify the beginningless. Wāsiṭī said, “By His mercy, they arrived at worshiping Him. It is not that by worshiping Him they arrived at His mercy. By His mercy, they attained what is with Him, not by their acts, for the Prophet said, ‘Not even I unless God envelops me with His mercy.’”
Whosoever of you does an ugly deed in ignorance, and thereafter repents and makes wholesome, He is forgiving, ever-merciful. It has been narrated in a report, “You called upon Me, and I said ‘Here I am!’ You asked from Me, and I bestowed upon you. You stood up against Me, and I gave you respite. You left Me, and I took care of you. You disobeyed Me, and I curtained you. If you return to Me, I will accept you. If you turn away from Me, I will wait for you.” He is saying, “My servants, My creatures! You called out to Me, I answered you with ‘Here I am!’ You asked for blessings from Me, I bestowed gifts upon you. You came out foolishly, and I gave you respite. You put aside My command, and I did not take away kind favor from you. You disobeyed, and I lowered the curtain over you. With all of this, if you come back, I will accept you, and if you turn away, I will await your coming back. I am the most munificent of the munificent, the most generous of the generous, and the most merciful of the merciful.”
