5:6 O you who have faith, when you stand for the prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to your elbows.... If you find no water, have recourse to goodly dust.
Outward purity has three sections: First is purity after impurity. Second is purity after excretion and sexual activity. Third is purity from the sheddings of the body, such as nails, hair, dirt, and so on. Each of these three sections has an explanation and an explication, and these will be spoken of elsewhere, God willing.
Inward purity has three duties: First, purity of the limbs from disobedience, such as backbiting, lying, eating the forbidden, betrayal, and looking at women illicitly. When this purity is gained, the servant is adorned with obedience and reverence. This is the degree of the faith of the pious. Its mark is that the remembrance of the Real is always on their tongue, the fruit of the promise in their heart, the freshness of His favors in their spirit. They are always visiting the sick, going to cemeteries, hurrying to pray for good people, and reaching for paradise.
The second duty is purity of the heart from unapproved character traits, such as self-admiration, envy, pride, hypocrisy, avarice, animosity, and frivolity. Self-admiration ruins the mirror of friendship, envy reduces the worth of people, pride darkens the mirror of the heart, hypocrisy dries up the wellspring of obedience, avarice puts aside respect for people, animosity blocks up the water of familiarity, and frivolity takes away the tent-pole of companionship. When the servant has become pure of these defilements, he is numbered among the godwary. His mark is that he flees from concessions, he does not cling to ambiguity, he is always fearful, trembling, and fleeing from hell; he is content with a morsel and a tattered cloak, he has put aside the world and the world's folk, and he has melted himself in the crucible of sorrow. Faith is his basis, godwariness his traveling supplies, the grave his way station, and the afterworld his goal. With all this, he constantly weeps with the tongue of pleading and says, "O God, everyone is upon something, but I don't know what I'm upon. I fear only the moment when who I am appears. O God, I am always talking and speaking. So long as You do not show Yourself I will be searching and seeking. Because of unsettledness I run in the field of incapacity. I'm in the midst of the work, but I smell no scent. O God, my mount has stood back, my feet are worn down, my fellow-travelers have gone, and nothing has increased except bewilderment."
I am bewildered in Thee, take my hand,
O guide of those bewildered in Thee!
The third duty is purity of the secret core from everything except the Real. God says, "Say 'God,' then leave the" [6:91]. This purity is their adornment today, for tomorrow the cup of "pure wine" [76:21] will be in their hand. Today the light of hope shines in their hearts, but tomorrow the light of face-to-face vision will shine in their spirits. Today in their yearning the liver's water flows from their eyes, but tomorrow contemplation's water will flow in the stream of gentle favor. Today the dawn of happiness has come up from the rising place of freedom, but tomorrow the sun of solicitude will advance in the heaven of face-to-face seeing.
The mark of this purity is that one washes away love for this world, effaces the tracks of human nature, and burns the veils of dispersion, so the heart is joyful in the garden of intimacy, and the spirit is occupied with the Real in the seclusion of face-to-face vision.
How well was it said by that chevalier! "At last will be a day then this drum will give forth a sound, and that Generous One will whisper in secret to the lover's spirit. What a wonderful work, what a marvelous bazaar! Here we have intimate togetherness without being the same in kind. Since there is no one of the same kind, what is this intimacy? Since there is no one like Him, what is this love? Since you have not seen Him, what is this incapacity? Since the wine is still in the grape, what is this existence? Since waiting is all tribulation, what is this happiness in the heart? Since the eye of the secret core is veiled from Him, what is this ecstasy like fire? Since this path is all trial, what is this enjoyment in the midst of trial?
Though Your ache has put me in the fire,
how I will ache if Your ache ever leaves me!
Wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows. Just as the command of the Shariah makes it mandatory for the outward purity to wash the face, so also the allusion of the Haqiqah makes it mandatory for the inward purity to preserve one's honor and not to disgrace oneself by seeking the trifling things of this world. Just as the former purity makes it mandatory to wash the hands, so also the latter purity makes it mandatory to wash one's hands of the creatures and entrust one's work to the Real. Just as it is mandatory to wipe the head, so also it is mandatory to turn the head away from serving created things and to avoid humbling oneself before just any piece of straw or a nobody. And just as it is mandatory to wash the feet, so also it is mandatory to step into good works and walk forth in obedience to God.
It has been said that these four bodily parts were specified for purity because man finds his eminence and superiority over other animals through these parts. First is the form of the face, for the other animals do not have this attribute. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, "And He formed you, so He made your forms beautiful" [40:64]. Second is the two hands with which the Adamite eats, for all other animals eat with their mouths. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, "And We honored the children Adam" [17:70], that is, with the two worthy hands that hold for eating and so forth. Third is the head, within which is the brain, for within the brain is intellect. In intellect is the eminence of knowing, which is the others do not have. The Lord of the Worlds placed a favor on them and said, "are signs for those who possess the kernels" [3:190]. Fourth is the two legs which He pulled into an upright, beautiful stature for walking, whereas others do not have legs with this attribute. God says, "We created man in the most beautiful stature" [95:4]. Having completed these blessings on the children of Adam, He asked them to show gratitude for these bodily parts by keeping them pure.
It has also been said that purity is the cause of ease and comfort after sorrow and tribulation, as has come in the story of Mary at the time of the birth of Jesus. When that spring appeared, she made herself pure and was released from the sorrow of childbirth and the alienation of exile.
It is also the cause of repelling Satanic disquiet, as Muṣ?afā said: "When one of you is angry, let him make an ablution." It is the cause of the removal of trial and tribulation, as has come in the story of Job the prophet in His words, "Stamp thy foot; here is a cool washing place and drink" [38:42].
It has also been said that the secret of the purity of these four members even if they are not defiled, is in two respects. First, tomorrow at the resurrection Muṣ?afā will discern his community and intercede for their sake. Their mark will be that they have faces bright and shining because of washing; and so also their hands, feet, and head will be white, bright, and fresh because of purity's water. Concerning the Prophet said, "Surely my community will be mustered on the Day of Resurrection white-faced and white-footed from the traces of the ablution." The second respect is that when a slave is sold, the custom is that he is taken to a slave-trader, and his hands, feet, face, and head are shown to the customer. Even if it is a slave-girl, the Shariah instructs that they should look at the face, see her hair, and look at her hands and feet. Tomorrow, Muṣ?afā will be the slave-trader of the resurrection and the Real will be the customer. Hence the servant was commanded to do a good job of washing these bodily parts today. As much as he can, he should not take away the water from them and he should try to renew the purity. Then, tomorrow, the light of his bodily parts will increase, and when he is shown in the house of the slave-trader at the resurrection, his hands, feet, face, and head will be bright and pleasing.
If you find no water, have recourse to goodly dust. God connected purity to water or, at the time of constraint, to dust, and not to anything else. The wisdom here is that the Lord of the Worlds created Adam from water and dust, and the Adamites should always be aware of this. They should know that their own eminence lies therein and that they should give gratitude for this blessing.
Adam found eminence over Iblis because Iblis was from fire and Adam from dust, and dust is better than fire. Fire shows defects, and dust conceals them. Whenever you put something in fire, it shows its defects. It distinguishes genuine from false silver and adulterated from pure gold. Dust, however, conceals defects. It conceals whatever you give to it, so the defects do not show.
Fire is the cause of cutting off, and dust is the cause of joining. With fire there is cutting and burning, with dust there is joining and keeping. Iblis was from fire, so he broke off. Adam was from dust, so he joined.
Fire's nature is arrogance, so it seeks to be higher. Dust's nature is humility, so it seeks to be lower. Iblis brought higherness with his words, "I am better" [38:76]. Adam brought lowerness with his words, "Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves" [7:23].
Iblis said, "I and my substance." Adam said, "Not I, rather my God."
They have also spoken about another wisdom in specifying water and dust for purity. They say that whenever something catches fire, the force of that fire is put out by water and dust. There are two fires in front of the person of faith: One is the fire of appetite in this world, and the other the fire of punishment in the afterworld. The Lord of the Worlds made water the cause of his purity so that today it will put out the fire of appetite for him and tomorrow the fire of punishment.
Know also that purity began in an era that was made known by a report from God's Messenger by way of the Commander of the Faithful, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. He said, "When the angels heard talk of Adam and his description, they said, 'What, wilt Thou set therein one who will work corruption there and shed blood?' [2:30]. Afterwards, they regretted saying that and they feared God's punishment. They wept and wailed and asked God for His approval. The command came from God, 'You want Me to pass over you, lift away the heaviness of those words from you, and have mercy on you. I have created an ocean under the Splendorous Throne and named it "the Ocean of Life." Go to that ocean and, with its water, wash your faces and hands, wipe your heads, and wash your feet.' The angels obeyed the command. The command came, 'Each of you now say, "Glory be to Thee, O God, and Thine is the praise. I bear witness that there is no god but Thou. I ask forgiveness from Thee and I repent to Thee."' They said that and the command came, 'I have accepted your repentance and will pass over you.' They said, 'O Lord, is this generosity specific to us, or do we share in it with others?' He said, 'It is for you, for the vicegerent whom I will create, and for his children until the coming of the Hour. Whenever someone conveys water to these four members as I have commanded you, even if he has filled heaven and earth with sins, I will pass over him and bestow upon him my approval and mercy.'"
In keeping with this meaning is the sound report from ʿAlī Murta?ā. He said, "Whenever I heard something from God's Messenger, God gave me benefit from it. From him I came to know the certainty of knowledge and the worthiness of deeds. If I myself had not heard his report, but someone narrated it to me, I would make that person swear an oath. When he swore it, I would rely on him. Abū Bakr Ṣiddīq narrated to me, but I did not make him swear an oath to the truthfulness of his words, because he always spoke the truth. He said, 'I heard God's Messenger saying, "Whenever a servant with faith does a sin and, after that sin, makes an ablution and washes himself fully, then, after finishing, he performs two cycles of prayer, God will pass over that sin from him and will pardon him."'" The explication of this report is in the Splendorous Qur'an: "Whoever does something ugly or wrongs himself and then asks forgiveness, he will find God forgiving, ever-merciful" [4:110].