Look at this wonder: First He caressed the servant and put all his little jobs in order, then He sent him into tumult and overthrew what He had done for him, and then He rebuked him.
“O God, You show your friends to the enemies and You turn the poor ones over to heartache and grief. You make them ill, and then You take care of them Yourself. You make them helpless, and then You heal them Yourself.”
“You made Adam out of the dust, and then You acted so beautifully toward him. You placed his happiness at the top of the ledger and made him the guest in paradise. You sat him in the garden of approval, You made a compact with him not to eat the wheat, and in Your unseen knowledge, You hid the fact that he would in fact eat the wheat. Then You put him in prison, and You made him weep for years. Your all-compellingness does the work of compellers, Your Lordhood does the work of lords. All of Your rebukes and war are aimed at Your friends.”
A Voice came and asked | Was Adam more complete in this world or in paradise? He was more complete in this world, for in paradise he fell into suspicion because of himself, but in this world, he fell into suspicion because of passion.”
Wiseness Briefed | “Take care not to have the opinion that Adam was taken out of paradise because of his lowliness. It was not that. Rather, it was because of the grandeur of his aspiration. The petitioner of passion came to the door of Adam’s breast and said, ‘O Adam, the beauty of meaning has been unveiled, but you have stayed in the abode of peace.’ Adam saw an infinite beauty, next to which the beauty of the eight paradises was nothing. His great aspiration tightened its belt and said: ‘If you ever want to fall in love, you must fall in love with that.’”
The command came | “Adam, now that you have stepped into the street of passion, leave paradise, for it is the house of ease. What do the passionate have to do with the safety of the Abode of Peace?” May the throats of the passionate always be caught in the noose of trial!
The next command came | “The veiled virgin of recognition wants a mate to be her fiancé.” They sifted the eighteen thousand worlds looking for a mate without finding one, for the majestic Qur’an gives news that “Nothing is as His likeness” [42:11].
The cherubim and the proximate angels lifted up their heads at the Exalted Threshold hoping that this crown would be placed on their heads and the veiled virgin of recognition would become their fiancé.
The call went out, “You are the sinless and the pure of the Presence, You are the glorifiers of the Exalted Threshold. If I make you the fiancé, you will say that it is because you match her in holiness and purity. Far be it from the Unity that it should have a match or an equal! He begets not, nor was He begotten, and equal to Him is none [112:3-4].”
The Throne with its tremendousness, paradise with its adornment, heaven with its elevation—each fell to wishing, but to no avail. The call came: “Since the veiled virgin of recognition has no match, We in Our bountifulness will lift up the thrown-down dust and make it her fiancé.” He fastened to them the word of Godwariness, to which they have more right and of which they are worthy [48:26].
This is like a king who has a daughter and can find no match for her in his empire. He raises up one of his slaves and bestows on him possessions, position, and exaltedness and appoints him to be the commander and leader of the army. Then he gives his daughter to him. Thus his generosity will appear, and the slave will have the worthiness for a union. The likeness of Adam the dust-dweller is exactly this. God made him the target of His arrow from the first. He fired one arrow of eminence from the bow of special favor with the hand of the attributes. The target of that arrow was Adam’s makeup.
The arrow reached the target. Hence Muṣṭafā reported this judgment to the world: “God created Adam in His form; his length was sixty cubits.” It is a sound report that the Lord of the worlds took a handful of dust with which He sculpted Adam. Adam’s boldness and nearness reached the place that, when He told him to travel from paradise to the earth, he said, “O Lord, travelers don’t go without supplies. What supplies will You give me for the road?”
God said, “O Adam, your supplies in the land of exile will be My remembrance. After that, on the day of Return, I promise you will see Me.”
