19:85 The day We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves.
He did not say, “to the Gardens in droves,” so as to mollify the hearts of the elect among the lovers, for they do not worship Him in hope of the Garden or fear of the Fire. Rather, they worship Him for His sake, for He has promised them that He will muster them to Him.
The paradise-seekers are one thing, the God-seekers something else. He ascribed the paradise-seekers to paradise: “Surely the companions of the Garden today are in an occupation, rejoicing” [36:55]. Concerning the God-seekers He said, “The day We shall muster the godwary to the All-Merciful in droves.”
Mamshād Dīnawarī was in the throes of death. A dervish was standing before him and supplicating: “Lord God, have mercy on him and grant him paradise.” Mamshād looked at him and shouted out, “O heedless man! It has been thirty years that paradise with its marvels and chambers, its houris and palaces, has been disclosing itself, but I have never glanced at it. Now that I am arriving at the drinking place of the Haqiqah, you intrude and want paradise and mercy for me!”
O chevalier, this talk will not fit into just anyone's craw. It happens that in the pavilions of observation and the stations of generosity these chevaliers become seeking itself-sometimes in the robe of struggle, sometimes in the shirt of contemplation; sometimes in the intoxication of gratitude, sometimes in the sobriety of effacement; they both are and are not, they are both sober and drunk; their hearts are burnt by the fire of jealousy, their spirits drowned in the ocean of bewilderment. They are runners standing still, silent speakers. When tomorrow people are mustered to the Presence of the Possessor of Majesty, everyone will have a mount. One will have the noble horse of obedience, another the Burāq of aspiration, but they will be in the grasp of Unity's exaltedness.
According to a report, “The spirits of the martyrs are in the craws of green birds.” When the spirits of the martyrs are commanded to depart from this world, they will be put into the craws of green birds and in lamps of light; or, it is said, in the meadows of paradise. As for these chevaliers, the craw of their love is vaster than that it could enter into the craw of a bird.
What is their station? “The spirits of the lovers are in the grasp of Exaltedness. He unveils His Essence to them and is gentle toward them with His attributes.”
What is their conduct? They keep themselves totally occupied with the Beloved; they expend their spirits, hearts, and bodies in His path; they seek conformity with Him silently and aloud, openly and secretly; and they give priority to His portion over their portion. They also recognize themselves as thrown down by incapacity and broken by shortcomings.
What caress do they receive from the Presence of the Possessor of Majesty? Surely those who have faith and do wholesome deeds, to them the All-Merciful will assign love [19:96]. We are your friends in this world's life and in the next world [41:31]. He loves them, and they love Him [5:54].
The Pir of the Tariqah said, “This love is not attached to dust. His love is attached to His own beginningless gaze. If the cause of love were dust, there is plenty of dust in the world.” It is not everywhere that there is love. Rather, He drew lots from His power, and we came out. He took an omen from wisdom, and there we were. When He looks at you, He looks at the property of the Beginningless, not the property of the present moment.
Abū Sulaymān Dārānī wrote to Abū Yazīd, “If someone is heedless of Him and sleeps at night, is it possible that he may reach the way station?”
Abū Yazīd wrote in response, “When the wind of solicitude blows, he will reach the way station without trouble.” If the wind of the beginningless gentleness should blow into his heart from the air of solitariness, he will reach the way station without trouble.
He sees His servants in disobedience and knows that they will repent. His decree for them derives from this repentance, not from that disobedience. He sees that the servant is sinning right now, but he knows that he will become good. He counts him among the wholesome, not the corrupt. In wrath Moses threw the tablets of the Torah on the ground, but God did not rebuke him. Solomon hamstrung the innocent horses, but God said nothing to him about that, for He did not look at the outward act; He looked at the beginningless precedent.
Sometimes He takes to task for a straw, sometimes He pardons for a mountain. He takes to task for a straw because of power; He pardons for a mountain because of mercy: “When I affirmed friendship for you in the Beginningless, I drew a line around you. If you had to be without sin, I created you without sin. I created you as you had to be. Have confidence in the friendship of someone who loves you only as sinless. If I had given you sinlessness and there had been nothing but purity from you, you would have been a partner with the majesty of Unity. But I am a Lord without partner, without peer, without equal, and without need. Whenever I have written out friendship for someone, I indeed take care of his work and I suffice for his adversaries. Whenever anyone comes forth as an adversary to one of My friends, I am his adversary. 'When someone torments a friend of Mine, he is competing with Me in a battle.' You saw that Iblis said one word about you and became accursed forever. Nimrod, with all his height and breadth, I destroyed with half a gnat as retribution for the pain in Abraham's heart. In the era of Noah I drowned a world of creatures as recompense for the pain in Noah's heart because of the cruelties that had reached him from them. Yes, whenever someone is chosen by Me as the locus of My secrets and the springhead of My lights, his heart is adorned with My remembrance, and My work is to make his work wholesome.”