27:59 Say: "The praise belongs to God, and peace be upon His servants whom He has chosen."
Know that the stations of the religion's road are of two sorts: One sort are called the preliminaries, for they are not the goal in themselves. These are like repentance, patience, fear, renunciation, poverty, and self-accounting, all of which are the means of approach to something beyond themselves.
The second sort are called the destinations or the ends, for they are the goal in themselves. These are like love, yearning, approval, tawḥīd, and trust, all of which are goals in themselves. They are not needed as the means of approach to something else. Praise of God and thanking and lauding Him are of this sort, for they are goals in themselves. Anything that is a goal in itself will remain at the resurrection and will never be cut off in paradise.
Praise pertains to this category because the Exalted Lord says about the attribute of the paradise-dwellers, "And the last of their call is 'Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the worlds'" [10:10]; "Praise belongs to God, who has put away sorrow from us" [35:34]; "Praise belongs to God, who was truthful in His promise to us" [39:74].
In the Splendorous Qur'an He linked gratitude and praise with remembrance when He says, "So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful for Me and not ungrateful toward Me" [2:152]. Tomorrow, at the most tremendous courtyard and greatest gathering place, when the portico of magnificence is raised and the carpet of tremendousness spread, a caller will call out, "Let the praisers stand up!" At this time no one will stand up except those who in all states and times were constantly praising and thanking God and showing the rightful due of gratitude for His blessings.
The servant will not become sound in the station of gratitude and praise unless three things exist in him: first knowledge, second state, and third deed. First is knowledge; from knowledge the state is born, and from state the deed rises up. Knowledge is recognizing the blessings from the Lord. State is the heart's happiness with those blessings. He alludes to this with His words, "In that let them rejoice" [10:58]. Deed is putting the blessings to work in that which is desired and approved by the Lord; He alludes to this with His words, "Work, O family of David, in gratitude!" [34:13]
And peace be upon His servants whom He has chosen. One opinion is that these servants are the Companions of the Messenger-the paragons of the presence of messengerhood, the stars in the heaven of the creed, and those adorned with the attribute of limpidness. In the presence of messengerhood they were like the stars in heaven with the shining sun. Just as the stars take help from the light of the sun and receive the luster of felicity from it, so also that paragon of the world and master of the children of Adam is like the sun in the heaven of the religion's good fortune. Those great Companions are like the stars in the presence of messengerhood and are adorned by it. It is the clemency and mercy of prophethood that has refined them by teaching them courtesy and rectifying them. The tongue of prophethood alluded to this meaning: "My Companions are like the stars; whichever you emulate, you will be guided."
That paragon of the world is seated at the front, and the Companions are present in keeping with the levels of their states: One is the vizier, one the advisor, one the planner, one the assistant. One is the root of truthfulness, one the basis of justice, one the comrade of shame, one the mine of generosity. One is the chieftain of the sincerely truthful, one the commander of the just, one the paragon of the expenders, one the king of the chevaliers. One is like hearing, one like eyesight, one like smell, one like speech.
Just as the beauty of most people lies in these four attributes, so also the perfection of the state of faith lies in these four attributes-truthfulness, justice, shame, and generosity. These are the attributes of the chevaliers, for the Lord of the Worlds says, "And peace be upon His servants whom He has chosen."
It has also been said, "He chose them in the eras of His beginninglessness, then guided them in the eras of His endlessness." The chosen servants are those who found chosenness in the beginningless and reached guidance in the endless. They found the road because they were shown the road. They went straight because they were chosen. They obeyed because they were approved.
They receive three sorts of peace from the Real: On the Day of the Compact they heard peace in their spirits: "And peace be upon His servants whom He has chosen." Today they hear peace on the tongue of the emissary with the intermediary of prophethood: "And when those who have faith in Our signs come to thee, say 'Peace be upon you'" [6:54]. Tomorrow-which is the day of the bazaar and the time of access-they will hear it without emissary and without intermediary: "'Peace!'-a word from an Ever-Merciful Lord" [36:58].