Surah 28: al-Qaṣaṣ
28:1 ṬāÌ Sīn Mīm
ṬāÌ alludes to the purity [?ahāra] of the recognizer's heart of everything other than He. Sīn alludes to His secret [sirr] with His friends in their contemplation of His majesty and beauty. Mīm alludes to His favors [minna] toward the faithful in His blessings and bounties.
Wherever talk of Him goes, the session becomes fragrant. Where there is listening to His name and mark, the spirits become luminous. In the 18,000 worlds, no one can step on the carpet of His success-giving without His help and gentleness. In the two realms of being and worlds, life is not given over to anyone unless by His protection and kind favor.
The great ones of the religion have said that the chevaliers and the friends of the Real have three sorts of life: life through remembrance, life through recognition, and life through finding. The fruit of the life of remembrance is intimacy, the fruit of the life of recognition is stillness, and the fruit of the life of finding is annihilation. In reality, this annihilation is subsistence. Until you have been annihilated from yourself you will not subsist through Him.
Abū Saʿīd Kharrāz said, “I was at Arafat on the Day of Arafa and I saw that the hajjis were making supplications and weeping beautifully: on every tongue a remembrance, in every heart a fervor, in every soul a passion, in every corner a burning and a need, with everyone a pain and a melting. The wish arose in me that I also should make a supplication and ask for something. I asked myself what supplication I should make and what I should ask, since everything needed is itself given, unasked for; it is made ready and taken care of without being spoken. In the end I made the intention to open up the road of the Haqiqah to Him and to supplicate. He inspired in my secret core, 'You want something from Me after finding Me?'”
In wonder the violet keeps on saying, “Strange-
if someone has the Friend's tresses, why would he pick me?”
Abū Saʿīd stepped back from that and kept on reciting this verse:
“Your loyalty clings inside my heart,
Your love is my goal, yearning my supplies.”