9:112 The repenters, the worshipers, the praisers, the journeyers, the bowers, the prostrators, the commanders to the honorable, the prohibiters of the improper, the keepers of God's bounds-give good news to the faithful!
These are the attributes of the faithful, the conduct of the familiar, and the custom of the friends, who are the hindmost in this world and the foremost in that world. They are the witnesses among the prophets and the interceders for the people, the masters of this world, the lovers of the religion and the beloved of the Real. In this verse their grades are mentioned in a pleasing arrangement. He praises them and bears witness to them, beginning with the lowest of them. First He mentions the lower ones, those who repent and turn back from sin, so that they will not stay ashamed and stricken in heart, but will have new hope. He is saying:
“The repenters, those who have turned back from sin, who apologize and are regretful; the worshipers, those who worship, observe the commands, and do service; the praisers, those who praise, extol, and laud; the journeyers, those who go on the hajj, keep the fast, and seek for knowledge; the bowers, those who are humble, who serve others, who obey the commands of a pir they have reached; the prostrators, those who say the prayer, who plead, and who put their faces in the dust for the sake of My majesty; the commanders to the honorable, those who command the people to the religion, who call out and invite to obedience, who give good counsel and advise each other; the prohibiters of the improper, the just sultans, those who call to remembrance and who bring the people away from evil and who receive them with spirit and heart. Give good news to the faithful! Give good news to the faithful that whatever shortcoming they may have, My unneediness is equal to it. Whatever may be displeasing from them, My loving kindness is on top of that. Whatever the servant may hope, My bounty is greater than that. Give good news to the faithful that when I chose them, I saw the faults. I did not approve before I had examined the hidden things. With My own unneediness I bought the servants as they are.”
Ibn ʿA?āÌ said, “There is no correct worship without repentance, nor correct repentance without praise of Him for the path of repentance that came. Praise is not correct without constant journeying and discipline, nor are these stations and preliminaries correct without constant bowing and prostration. And none of this is correct without commanding the honorable and prohibiting the improper. And none of these are correct without keeping the bounds outwardly and inwardly. The person of faith is someone who has this description, for God says, 'Give good news to the faithful'- those who have this description.”
It has come in the traditions that tomorrow on the Day of Resurrection a group from the community will be brought to the place of the Scales. The angels to whom they were entrusted will begin to enumerate their bad acts: “O Lord, these are the breakers of the Covenant, the unfaithful, the forgetful, the sinners, the bold, the insolent.”
The Exalted Lord will say, “Inasmuch as this is their doing, that is the way they are, but inasmuch as this concerns My generosity and pardon, they are the repenters, the worshipers, the praisers, the fasters, and the performers of the prayer. They want My friendship with their spirits and hearts and they are One-sayers in My love.”
Through the attribute of brokenness and poverty the tongue of the state of these helpless ones is saying, “O Lord, whether ungodly or worshipful, we are Yours as we are. We are dependent upon Your keeping and Your will. We are recognized as Your servants-there's no passing You by, and without You nothing is complete.”
The servants, whether beautiful or ugly, belong to You.
The passionate, whether knowing or not, are Yours.