39:22 Is he whose breast God has expanded for the submission, so he is upon a light from his Lord [...]? Woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of God.
Know that the Adamite's heart has four curtains: The first curtain is the breast, the lodging place of the submission's covenant, in accordance with His words, "Is he whose breast God has expanded for the submission?" The second curtain is the heart, which is the locus of the light of faith, in accordance with His words, "He wrote faith in their hearts" [58:22]. The third curtain is the mindful heart, the pavilion of contemplating the Real, in accordance with His words, "His mindful heart did not lie about what he saw" [53:11]. The fourth curtain is the smitten heart, the place of putting down the saddle-bags of love, in accordance with His words, "ed"He smote her heart with love" [12:30].
Each of these four curtains has a characteristic, and the Real gazes upon each. When the Lord of the Worlds desires to pull one who has fled from Him with the lasso of gentleness into the road of His religion, He first gazes upon his breast, so that it may become pure of caprice and innovation and so that his feet may go straight on the avenue of the Sunnah.
Then He turns His gaze to his heart so that it may become pure of this world's defilements and of blameworthy character traits, such as self-admiration, envy, pride, eye-service, greed, enmity, and frivolity. Then he may go forth on the road of scrupulosity.
Then He gazes on his mindful heart and keeps him back from attachments and created things. He opens the fountainhead of knowledge and wisdom in his heart. He bestows the light of guidance on his heart's center point, as He said, "so that he is upon a light from his Lord."
Then He gazes on his smitten heart-a gaze, and what a gaze! A gaze that embellishes the spirit, brings the tree of joy to fruit, and awakens the eye of revelry; a gaze that is a tree whose shadow is companionship with the Friend, a gaze that is a wine whose cup is the recognizer's heart.
When this gaze reaches the smitten heart, it lifts it up from water and clay, and the lover steps into the lane of annihilation. Three things cease to be in three things: Seeking ceases to be in the Found, recognition ceases to be in the Recognized, and friendship ceases to be in the Friend.
The Pir of the Tariqah said, "The two worlds were lost in friendship, and friendship lost in the Friend. Now I dare not say that I am, nor can I say that He is."
I have an eye, all of it filled with the form of the Friend.
Happy am I with my eye so long as the Friend is within it.
Separating the eye from the Friend is not good-
either He's in place of the eye, or the eye itself is He.
So that he is upon a light from his Lord. Know that lights are of three sorts: of the tongue, of the heart, and of the body. The light of the tongue is tawḥīd and bearing witness, the light of the body is service and obedience, and the light of the heart is yearning and love. The light of the tongue conveys to the Garden, in accordance with His words, "God rewarded them for what they said with Gardens" [5:85]. The light of the body conveys to Firdaws, in accordance with His words, "Those who have faith and do wholesome deeds-the Gardens of Firdaws shall be theirs as hospitality" [18:107]. The light of the heart conveys to the encounter with the Friend, in accordance with His words, "Faces that day will be radiant, gazing upon their Lord' [75:22-23]. When someone finds these three lights in this world, he will be given three robes of honor already in this world: First dignity, so people will see splendor from him without fearing him; second sweetness, so they will seek him out without having any tie to him; third love , so they will love him without being his relative.
The Pir of the Tariqah said, "This dignity, sweetness, and love are because he has the light of proximity shining in his heart, and seeing the Friend is face-to-face with his heart's eye."
Woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of God. Know that this hardness of heart rises up from much disobedience, much disobedience rises up from many appetites, and many appetites rise up because of the fullness of the stomach. ʿĀÌisha the sincerely truthful said, "After God's Messenger, the first innovation that arose among the people was eating to their fill. They gave their souls repletion such that the inward and outward appetites stuck up their heads and began to rebel."
Dhu'l-Nūn Miṣrī said, "I never ate my fill without doing a disobedient act."
Abū Sulaymān Dārānī said, "If anyone eats his fill, six bad traits will appear in him: First, the sweetness of worship will not come. Second, his memory in recalling wisdom will be bad. Third, he will be deprived of tenderness toward the creatures, for he will fancy that they are full like him. Fourth, appetites will force themselves upon him and increase. Fifth, obedience and worship of God will become heavy for him. Sixth, when the faithful are going to the mosque and the prayer-niche, he will be looking for the privy."
A report has come that Muḥammad said, "Bring your heart to life by eating little and make it pure by hunger so that it will become limpid and beautiful." He also said, "When someone keeps himself hungry, his heart becomes clever and his thoughts great."
Shiblī said, "I never sat down hungry without finding a new wisdom and heedfulness in my heart."
The Prophet said, "The most excellent of you with God are those of you who go longest in hunger and reflection, and the most hated of you to God are those who eat, drink, and sleep. You should eat and drink to the middle of your stomachs, for that is one part of prophethood."