Whenever someone finds a drink from the cup of recognition on the carpet of the religion’s good fortune, the cupbearer of that drink is the sultan of tranquility. The exalted lodging place of the sultan of tranquility is the capital city of the heart: He it is Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful [48:4]. The subtle reality of the heart is the dwelling place of the attribute of eternity: “Surely the hearts are between two fingers of the All-Merciful.”
2:248 Their prophet said to them, “The sign of his kingship is that there will come to you the ark within which is tranquility from your Lord.”
What a great difference there is between two groups of people! The tranquility of one group was in the ark, and the ark was under the determination of the Children of Israel, sometimes here and sometimes there, sometimes like this and sometimes like that. The tranquility of the other group is in their hearts, in the grasp of the Real’s attributes. The Adamite has no hand in it, the angel no access to it. He comes between a man and his heart [8:24].
Shiblī said, “The curtains were taken down and the veils lifted in the realities of the secret core, and many unseen things were unveiled to my secret core. I saw hell like a roaring dragon and a rapacious lion. It was playing with the people and pulling them to itself with its tail. It saw me and displayed its mightiness. It wanted its share from me. I gave it all of my outward organs and parts and had no fear of their burning. I had no concern for outward burning because of my inner burning.”
Shiblī said, “When I gave my makeup and form to the fire, the turn of the heart arrived. The fire wanted my heart. I said, ‘I will toss it away without fear.’ A voice came to my secret core, ‘O Shiblī, leave the heart alone, for the heart is not yours, nor is it under your determination. The heart is in My grasp, for it is the quarry of seeing Me. The heart is in My hand, for it is the scented garden of My gaze. The heart is in my right hand, for it is the domicile of gazing on Me.
