[2:27] Those such as break the covenant with God after its solemn binding, and such as cut what God has commanded to be joined; and such as do corruption in the land - they shall be the losers.
The allusion in it is to the state of one who has traveled the way of spiritual desire (irāda), then returned to what ordinary people have. He claimed to be willing to abandon his soul yet proved insincere when things became serious. He gave up allusions to reality (ishārāt al-ḥaqīqa) for concessions in the Sharīʿa (rukhaṣ al-sharīʿa). Just as the return of one who travels the way with his bodily self (nafs) is not praiseworthy so long as a dirham remains in his bag, so the return of one who quests with his heart (qalb) is not pleasing so long as a breath (nafas) remains in his spirit (rūḥ):
Those who die
following the religion of guidance
find death
a sweet watering place.
And such as cut what God has commanded to be joined: The joining of the cords of the Real is through the cutting of the cords of creation. The joining of what belongs to Him is not completed without cutting what belongs to you. When the matter is the reverse, the opposite is the case.
Among that which the servant has been commanded to join is the protection of the sacred relationship of the people of this path. What one expends to achieve [this joining] is through sincerity of concerns, not the offering of favors. [The servants'] concerned efforts are dedicated (mawqūfa) to connecting the cords of this path and arranging its conditions, while their hearts are directed (maṣrūfa) to the expectation of the guardianship of God Most High for its people. The corruption of this path in the land is their negligence of the margins of their situations and the edges of their affairs. They make themselves too busy to guide a novice (murīd) with their words and too busy to sharpen the aim of a seeker (qāṣid) with their concerned efforts. This is some of what displeases the Real (s) in them.
Part of breaching the covenant is also that your innermost self turns away from witnessing Him for even a moment. Part of the cutting off of what you have been commanded to join is when even a breath of your worldly concerns enters at any time without upholding His right. Part of your corruption in the land is any hour which passes you in which you did not see Him. Surely that is the manifest loss, the grave trial, and the vast calamity.