22:26 When We built for Abraham the place of the House: “Associate nothing with Me, and make My house pure for those who circumambulate, stand, and bow in prostration.”
Ibn ʿA?āÌ said, “We gave him the success to build the House, We gave him the ability to do so, We helped him with it, and We said to him, 'Associate nothing with Me,' that is, 'Do not have any regard for the House and do not look at the fact that you built it.'”
He is saying, “We gave Abraham ability and We gave him means, tools, strength, skill, power, and help so that he could build the house of the Kaabah as We wanted and commanded. Then We said to him, 'Do not look at what you have done and what you have made. Look at Our success-giving and Our help. Do not look at your striving but see Our desire and solicitude.”
O chevalier! The servant was given two eyes so that with one eye he would see the attributes of his own soul's blights and with the other eye the gentle attributes of the Real's generosity. With one eye he sees His bounty, with the other eye his own acts. When he sees His bounty, he boasts of it, and when he sees his own acts he shows poverty. When he sees the generosity of the Beginningless, he becomes joyful, and when he sees the footsteps of dust's nonexistence, he becomes needful.
That distracted man of ʿIrāq [Shiblī], burnt by the fire of separation, used to say, “Would that I were fuel for the furnace and had not heard this tale!”
Sometimes he would say, “Where are the proximate angels and residents of the Holy Palisades?! Let them spread their carpets before the throne of my good fortune and the chair of my exaltedness!”
Sometimes my hands are full of silver, sometimes I'm poor.
Sometimes my heart's elated, sometimes wounded.
Sometimes I'm behind the people, sometimes ahead-
I indeed am the chameleon of the days.
And make My house pure. In the tongue of learning, this is the Kaabah, but according to the explanation by allusion, the meaning is, “Empty your heart of all things save the remembrance of God.” He is saying, “Occupy your heart totally with My remembrance and do not give any stranger or other access to it, for the heart is the container of the wine of My affection and love.”
“The hearts are God's containers in the earth. The most beloved of the containers to God is the most limpid, the most tender, and the most solid.” Any heart that is more limpid in relation to engendered beings and more merciful toward the faithful is more exalted and beloved to the Exalted Presence. The heart is the sultan of your makeup. Be careful to consider it exalted and preserve it from the opacity of caprice and appetite. Do not pollute it with the darkness and appetite of this world.
Revelation came to David: “'O David, make for Me a pure house in which I may reside!' O David, make the house pure so that the Lord of the house may settle down in the house.”
He said, “'Lord God, which house can embrace You?' Which house is suited for Your tremendousness and majesty?”
He said, “That is the heart of the faithful servant.”
David said, “Lord God, how can I make it pure?”
He said, “Strike the fire of love in it so that everything that does not have My lineage may burn away. Then sweep it with the broom of remorse so that if anything is left it may be swept pure. O David, after that if you see anyone perplexed in the road of seeking Me, take that as the mark, for the pavilion of My holiness is there. 'I am with fevered hearts.'”