41:53 We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in their souls until it is clear to them that He is the Real.
It is said that the Lord's religion, which is the cause of the deliverance of the servants and the foundation of their familiarity with Him, is built on two things: One is showing on the part of the Real, and the other traveling on the part of the servant. Showing is what He says: "We shall show them Our signs on the horizons." Traveling is what He says: "Whoso does a wholesome deed, it is for himself" [41:46]. As long as there is no showing on the Real's part, there will be no traveling on the servant's part.
Showing takes place in both the signs of the horizons and the signs of the souls. In the signs of the horizons, it is what He says: "Have they not gazed upon the dominion of the heavens and the earth?" [7:185]. In the signs of the souls, it is what He says: "And in your souls; what, do you not see?" [51:21]. He is saying, "Do you not look at yourself and do you not think about your own makeup?"
This is because the Lord of the Worlds has written out many fine points of wisdom and many realities of artisanry with the pen of eternal gentleness on the tablet of this makeup. He has inscribed on it the lights of fabrication and the traces of honoring. He made the round head-the pavilion of intellect and the gathering place of knowledge-a monastery for the senses. Whatever worth has been acquired by this hollow makeup and composite person has been acquired from intellect and knowledge. The worth of the Adamite lies in intellect and his respectability in knowledge, his perfection in intellect and his beauty in knowledge.
God created his forehead like a bar of silver. He strung the two bows of his eyebrows with pure musk. He deposited the two dots of his eye's light into two figures of darkness. He made a hundred thousand red roses grow up in the garden of his two cheeks. He concealed thirty-two teeth like pearls in the oyster shell of his mouth. He sealed his mouth with glistening agate. From the beginning of his lips to the end of his throat He created twenty-nine way stations, making them the places of articulation for the twenty-nine letters. From his heart He brought a sultan into existence, from his breast a field, from his aspiration a fleet-footed mount, from his thought a swift messenger. He created two taking hands and two running feet.
All the aforementioned is but the robe of creation and the beauty of outwardness. Beyond this is the perfection and beauty of inwardness. For a moment ponder the Lord's subtleties and compassionate acts and the traces of the divine solicitude and kind favor that have been made ready in this handful of dust. Look at the different kinds of generosity and the special favors of proximity that He has placed within them: He created the whole cosmos, but He never looked at any creature with the eye of love. He sent no messenger to any existent thing and gave no message to any creature until it was the turn of the Adamites. They were pulled up by gentleness, caressed by bounty, and turned into quarries of light. He made their secret cores the locus of His own gaze, He sent them prophets, He set angels over them as watchers, He placed the burn of passion in their hearts, and He sent them incitements to yearn and motivations to desire one after another.
What is intended by these expressions and allusions is that the Adamite is a handful of dust. Whatever bestowals of eminence and honor he has received derive from the gentleness and solicitude of the Pure Lord. When He gives, He gives because of His own generosity, not because of your worthiness. He gives because of His magnanimity, not because of your prostration. He gives because of His bounty, not because of your acts. He gives because of His Godhood, not because you are lord of the manor.