1:5 Thee alone we worship, and from Thee alone we ask for help.
This alludes to two of the religion great pillars of the religion, around which revolves the traveling of the religious. The first is to adorn the soul through worship and self-purification. It is to keep oneself adorned with a worship that has no eye-service and an obedience that has no hypocrisy. The other is to purify the soul of associating others with God and of paying attention to power and strength. It is to purify one's own soul, to keep it cleansed of associationism and corruption, and not to depend on one's own power and strength.
“Adornment” alludes to everything in the Shariah that ought to be, and “purification” alludes to everything in the Shariah that ought not to be.
Look carefully at these two short words: When someone's heart has familiarity and brightness, he will understand from them all the laws of the religion. The words of Muṣ?afā will be verified for you: “I was given the all-comprehensive words and my speech was made very concise.”
Thee alone we worship. It has been said that this is sheer tawḥīd, and that it is the belief that nothing other than God is worthy of worship. The worshiper knows that lordhood is fitting for God and that He is an object of worship without peer, for He is unique and one.
And from Thee alone we ask for help. This is an allusion to the recognition of the recognizers. It is recognizing that He is solitary in all acts and that the servant cannot get along by himself without His help. The root of this tawḥīd and the basis of this recognition is that you recognize the Real's being and oneness; then His ability, knowledge, and loving kindness; then His beautiful-doing, friendship, and nearness. The first is the foundation of the submission, the second the foundation of faith, the third the foundation of self-purification.
The road of the first recognition is to see the governance of the Artisan in loosening and tying the artifacts. The road of the second recognition is to see the wisdom of the Artisan in oneself and to recognize the correspondences. The road of the third recognition is seeing the gentleness of the Patron in doing deeds and putting aside sins. This is the playing field of the recognizers, the alchemy of the lovers, and the path of the elect.
Someone may ask, “What is the wisdom in putting the words Thee alone at the beginning? Why did He not say, 'We worship Thee'? That would be more concise and have the same meaning.”
The answer is this: This is God's alerting the servant that he should not let anything come before God. When he looks, he should look from God to himself, not from himself to God. He should look from God to his own worship, not from his own worship to God.
The Pir of the Tariqah, Shaykh al-Islām Anṣārī, said, “It is thus that the recognizer finds seeking from finding, not finding from seeking. He finds the cause from the meaning, not the meaning from the cause. The obedient person finds obedience from self-purification, not self-purification from obedience. The disobedient person finds disobedience from chastisement, not chastisement from disobedience.”
The reason for this is that the traveler has gone forth from what has preceded him-neither ability nor incapacity is in his hands. No one can get ahead of God in any deed. Anyone who fancies that he can get ahead of God knows nothing of God. This is why Muṣ?afā said to Abū Bakr when they were in the cave, “Grieve not; surely God is with us” [9:40]. He put the remembrance of the Worshiped One at the front and observed the courtesy of the address. Hence he was more excellent than Moses who said, “Surely with me is my Lord” [26:62]. Moses looked from himself to God, and Muṣ?afā looked from God to himself. The latter is the center point of togetherness, and the former dispersion itself. How different they are!
The Pir of the Tariqah said, “They should look from Him to Him, not from self to Him, for the eye should belong to what they saw at first and the heart with the first Friend.”