Surah 23: al-MuÌminūn
23:17 We indeed created above you seven paths and We were not heedless of creation.
In the allusion of lords of the recognitions and the deduction of the folk of understanding, the seven paths allude to the seven veils that the Exalted Lord created in the Adamite makeup. With them He keeps him veiled from seeing the subtleties and finding the realities. First is the veil of intellect, second the veil of knowledge, third the veil of the heart, fourth the veil of the soul, fifth sense perception, sixth desire, and seventh will.
Intellect keeps the Adamite occupied with this world and with governing his livelihood so that he will be held back from the Real. Knowledge pulls him into the playing field of bragging with his peers so that he will stay in the valley of boasting and vying for increase. The heart puts him into the station of courage and stout-heartedness so that he will fall into temptation in the arenas of champions by craving for fame in this world, so much so that he will have no concern for his religion or its victory. The soul is itself the greatest veil and the enemy of the religion. “Your worst enemy is the soul that is between your two sides.” If you gain the upper hand over it, you will win, but otherwise, you will fall such that you will never rise again. Here “sense perception” is appetite, “desire” is disobedience, and “will” is lassitude. Appetite and disobedience are the veil of the common people, and lassitude is the veil that keeps the elect of the Presence from the road of the Reality.
Any talk that keeps you back from the road-let it be unbelief or faith.
Any picture that holds you back from the Friend-let it be ugly or beautiful.
[DS 51]
He mentioned these seven veils. Then, after that, He said, “And We were not heedless of creation. Despite all these veils before the servant, We do not put him aside, nor are We heedless of him.” With the first part of the verse He threatens the servant with His severity and justice, and at the end He makes him hope for His bounty and generosity. The traveling of the wayfarers is built on this rule: first fear, then hope. Be fearful, O dervish, so that one day it will be said to you, “Fear not and grieve not” [41:30]. In the playing field of hope wait for His pardon until the time it is said, “Rejoice in the Garden” [41:30].
Sahl ibn ʿAbdallāh Tustarī said, “Fear is masculine, hope is feminine, and from the two are born the realities of faith.” Fear and hope are each other's mates. When they come together, the realities of faith are born from them. He gave hope the attribute of femininity and fear the attribute of masculinity because the domination of hope gives rise to lassitude and laziness, attributes of the female. The domination of fear gives rise to briskness and toughness, attribute of the male. The perfection of faith was placed in the subsistence of these two meanings. When these two meanings disappear from the disposition, the result will be either security or despair. Both are the attributes of the unbelievers, for one feels secure from the incapable, and one despairs of the base. Believing that God is incapable or base is sheer unbelief.