42:26 And He responds to those who have faith and do wholesome deeds, and He increases them in His bounty.
This "increase," according to the commentators among the Folk of the Sunnah, is the vision of the Lord. In the same way, He says in another place, "Those who do what is beautiful shall have the most beautiful and an increase" [10:26]. When the servant reaches the vision of God, he reaches it through God's bounty, not his own obedience, as He says: "and He increases in His bounty." Tomorrow, when He bestows His vision on His friends, he will do so by the request of His own beauty, not the request of mortal man. How could an insignificant mortal have the gall to make the request himself? What a marvelous business! Before the vision of others the exaltedness of jealousy requires mask upon mask, but the perfection of beauty requires self-disclosure upon self-disclosure!
Though He's always hidden behind the curtain
the light of His face is apparent on every horizon.
Once when he was overpowered by ecstasy, Abū Bakr Shiblī said, "O God, tomorrow raise up everyone blind so that only Shiblī may see You!"
Another time he said, "O God, raise up Shiblī blind, for it would be a shame for someone like me to see You!"
The first words were jealousy for beauty against the eyes of others, and the second time was jealousy for that beauty against his own eyes. In the road of the chevaliers, the second step is more complete and more exalted than the first.
Jealous for You, I'll pull out my heart and eyes
so that these not see You, and that know nothing more of You.
Evidence that tomorrow's vision of the Lord will be at the request of beauty is in the sound report, "When the folk of the Garden enter the Garden, a call will come to them, 'O folk of the Garden, you have an appointment with God that He desires to fulfill.'" When the folk of paradise come into paradise and they take up residence in their own goodly dwellings, a call will come, "O friends of the Real! You have a promise with the Real. Come and be present, for the Real will realize that promise through His bounty.'
They will say, "What promise is that?" How lovely are promises by friends, even if broken. What then if a promise is truthfulness itself? These are the words of one created thing to another:
"You put me off, you procrastinate,
you promise, but you don't come through."
The paradise-dwellers say, "What is the promise You have made?," though it is not as if they do not know what it is, but they pretend to be ignorant.
This is like Shāfiʿī. Someone said to him, "Who is the intelligent man?" He replied, "The clever man who pretends to be heedless." He brings his knowledge as if it were ignorance.
"So He removes the veil, and they gaze upon Him." The Real lifts the veils from their eyes so that they may look upon their Lord.