40:64 God is He who made the earth for you a settledness and the heaven a building. And He formed you, so He made your forms beautiful, and He provided you with the goodly things.
This is another blessing and gentleness of which He reminds the servants, thus making the road of servanthood clear for them, showing them the traces of generosity and the indications of power, and placing a favor upon them. He is saying: "When I created heaven and earth, I created them for your sake. I made the earth your settledness, I built the heaven as your gazing place."
If from time to time there were no gazing on heaven, how would heaven have received this bestowal of eminence: We adorned the heaven of this world with lamps [41:12]. If earth were not the encampment of your majestic ruling authority, how would it have seen this caress: And earth, We laid it out-what excellent spreaders! [51:48]. The light of the moon, the brightness of the sun, the adornment of the stars-all is for you. The sun is your cook, the moon is your candle, the stars are your guideposts, heaven your roof, earth your carpet. Tomorrow when you are not there, the roof will be taken down, the carpet rolled up, and the stars will fall. When a carpet is spread for a friend and then the friend goes, the carpet will surely be taken away. "My servant, I created heaven to be your cupbearer: And We sent down from heaven pure water [25:48]. For today is the day of the veil, and there is no escape from the intermediary. But tomorrow will be the day of contemplation, and the intermediary will be of no use. The cupbearer will be My gentleness: And their Lord will pour for them a pure wine [76:21]. I built the earth as an intermediary to give you food: And therein We made grains grow, and vines and herbs, and olives and date-palms [80:27-29]. Tomorrow will be the day of contemplation, and the intermediary will be of no use. I Myself will say, 'Eat and drink pleasantly' [69:24]. I created the sun to give you light, for today in the world of form the light of recognition is hidden within the curtains of the secret cores of the lovers' hearts. Tomorrow in the world of attribute the light of recognition will be apparent. Of what use will be the sun of form? What place will it have? Proof is needed when there is no face-to-face vision. When face-to-face vision has come, what can the proof do?"
And He formed you, so He made your forms beautiful. In another place He says, "We created man in the most beautiful stature" [95:4]. None of the existent things and creatures was given the form and the beauty that was given to the Adamites. No other creature had the secret that the Adamites had-not the Throne or the Footstool, not the spheres or the angels, for all of them are mere servants, but the Adamites are both servants and friends. About them He says, "Surely God is watcher over you" [4:1]. A possessor of beauty is wanted before a watcher is appointed over him. The Real did not say, "I am watcher over heaven and earth." He did not say, "I am watcher over the Throne and the Footstool." Concerning the Adamites He said, "I am watcher over you." This is because a watcher is the precondition for a possessor of beauty, and no created thing has the beauty of the Adamites.
He raised up the seven domes and painted them with the stars and planets. He spread out the seven dusty circles, He set up the firmly rooted, unshakeable mountains. He brought a hundred thousand wonders and artifacts out from the concealment of nonexistence into existence. He set in rotation the universe-decorating sun, He gave form to the heaven-traversing moon, and He illuminated the realm of being with their beauty. He addressed no existent thing and bestowed upon none of them the eminence of He formed you-except this handful of dust.
Of all the beauties and lovelies of the army,
you are fitting for belt and cap.
And He provided you with the goodly things. Since you know that the Real set out your provision before your existence, that He made its secondary causes, and that He Himself gave the assurance that He would convey it, it is not beautiful for you to debase yourself before the wishes of just anyone and to lift up your need to created things. Thus they say, "A created thing seeking aid from a created thing is like a prisoner seeking aid from a prisoner."
Bishr Ḥāfī said, "I saw the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī in a dream and asked him for advice. He said, 'How beautiful it is for the rich to show tenderness toward the poor in seeking God's reward! And more beautiful than that is for the poor to be haughty toward the rich by relying on God.'"
The master Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said to someone, "Your belief is that you have no escape from your daily provision, but my belief is that your daily provision has no escape from you."
Ah, where is a poor man!-bound with the turban of disengagement, wearing the cloak of solitariness, breast cleansed of the dust of the others, quit of the realm of being, taken as friend by the Creator of being. Then, from beneath the feet of his togetherness, by virtue of the eternal gentleness, the springhead of the goodly things of provision will boil up. He will lift up these spirit-increasing drafts and drink them to the vision of the Friend.
40:64 He is the Living, there is no god but He.
Who is the painter of the forms of the Adamites, the shower of powers in earth and heaven, the conveyer of daily provisions to the servants? He is the Living: That living, lasting one who has always been, is, and will be. His being has no first, His existence no last, He subsists after the world and the world's folk. The creatures' work goes back to Him forever.