7:143 When Moses came to Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, "Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee." He said, "Thou shalt not see Me, but look at the mountain. If it stays firm in its place, thou shalt see me." Then, when his Lord disclosed Himself to the mountain, He made it crumble to dust, and Moses fell down thunderstruck. When he recovered he said, "Glory be to Thee! I repent to Thee!"
Moses had two journeys: one was the journey of seeking, the other the journey of revelry. The journey of seeking was the night of the fire, as in His words, "He observed a fire on the side of the mountain" [28:29]. The journey of rejoicing was this one: When Moses came to Our appointed time.
Moses came, having become selfless to self, lost to himself in his own secret core. He had drunk the wine of love from the cup of holiness, so the pain of this talk's yearning was pressing into him and the wave of Show me was billowing up from the ocean of his passion. He wandered around the neighborhoods of the Children of Israel and gathered the words of their messages and goals so that he could draw out his words when he arrived at the Presence.
I consider it unlawful to talk with others-
whenever I talk with You, I draw out my words.
When he reached the presence of whispered prayer, he was drunk with the wine of yearning and burnt by listening to the Real's Speech. He forgot everything, and the hard cash of his state appeared like this: "Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee!"
The angels threw the stones of blame at his desire: "O child of menstruating women! Do you hope to see the Exalted Lord? What does dust have to do with the Lord of lords?" How can a being made of dust and water talk to Eternity? How can someone who was not, then was, be worthy of seeking union with Him who always was and always will be?
In drunkenness and selflessness Moses answered with the tongue of solitariness: "Accept my excuses, for I did not fall here by myself. First He wanted me-I did not want. I saw the Friend at my pillow when I woke up from sleep. I was seeking for fire, and being chosen came forth: I chose thee for Myself [20:41]. I was not aware, and the sun of bringing near rose up-And We brought him near as a confidant [19:52].
"From the first You began passion's talk-
now make me worthy of You!"
The command came to the angels, "Leave Moses alone, for when someone drinks the wine of I chose thee for Myself from the cup of I cast upon thee love from Me [20:39], he will make no less of an uproar than this."
In the realities of those unveilings Moses tasted the wine of love from the storeroom of gentleness. His heart flew into the air of solitariness, and the breeze of union's intimacy blew on his spirit from the side of proximity. The fire of love shot up in flames, patience fled from his breast, and he lost all restraint. He said, "Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee: Please, at least a look!"
If sparks were to shoot from this burnt heart,
no trace would remain of Pleiades' circle.
There's danger when I stand before you, sweetheart-
at least lift separation's veil for a look.
The Pir of the Tariqah said, "Everyone has a hope, and the recognizer's hope is vision. Without vision he recognizer has no need for any wage, nor any use for paradise. People are all passionate for life, so death for them is difficult. The recognizer needs death in the hope for vision. Then his ears may enjoy the listening, the Real's lips will pay back the debt of love, his eyes will be adorned with the day of vision, and his spirit will be drunk without giddiness from the wine of finding."
I want a heart for choosing only You,
a spirit for breathing the pain of Your passion,
A body for desiring only Your love,
an eye for seeing You and only You.
He said, "Thou shalt not see Me." They say that at the moment Moses heard "Thou shalt not see Me," his station was higher than at the moment he said, "Show me, that I may gaze upon Thee." At the former moment he was in what the Real desired, and at the latter moment he was in what he desired. Moses' being was more complete in what the Real desired than in what he desired, for the latter is dispersion and the former togetherness, and inescapably togetherness is more complete.
He said, "Thou shalt not see Me, but look at the mountain." Moses received the blow of Thou shalt not see Me. At once, however, He applied the balm of but. He said, "O Moses, I struck the blow of Thou shalt not see Me and applied the balm of but so that you would know that this was not My severity, but rather an excuse."
Then, when his Lord disclosed Himself to the mountain. When a sliver of the signs of majesty and a trace of the exaltedness of unity reached the mountain, it returned to the state of nonexistence and no mark of it remained. He said, "O king! If a black stone had the capacity for this talk, it would have accepted the Trust at the beginning of existence and bought it with spirit and heart." Here there is a subtle point: The mountain with all its tremendousness could not endure, but the hearts of the weak and the old women of Muḥammad's community could endure. God says, "And they feared it, and man carried it" [33:72].
And Moses fell down thunderstruck. When Moses' existence disappeared in that strike and his mortal nature was thrown to the mountain, the self-disclosure fell on the true center point: "Now, We are. When You disappear from the midst, It is We who are seen."
The Pir of the Tariqah said, "O God, I seek the Found. I say to the Seen, ''What do I have, what should I seek, when will I see, what should I say?' I am entranced by this seeking, I am seized by this speaking.
"O God, the splendor of Your exaltation left no room for allusion, the eternity of Your unity took away the road of ascription-I lost all that I had in hand, and everything I fancied came to nothing.
"O God, Yours kept on increasing and mine decreasing until at last there remained only what there was at first."
You said, "Be less and less"-that was good and straight.
You are Being enough, less and less is fine for Your servant.
When he recovered he said, "Glory be to Thee! I repent to Thee!" When he came back to his senses, he said, "O Lord, You are far too pure for any mortal to hope to reach Your self-sufficiency, or for anyone to seek You through himself, or for any heart or spirit to talk today about the vision of You. I repent."
It was said, "O Moses, do people put down the shield all at once the way you do? Do they wander off all at once the way you do? Have you turned back so soon and so easily?" The tongue of Moses' state was saying,
"I desire union with Him, He desires separation-
I give up my desire for His desire."
"What should I do? I did not reach the goal. Well then, let me go back to the place of service and the station of servanthood's incapacity, and let me go to the beginning of the command."
When someone's perplexed in his own work,
he'd best go back to the beginning of the thread.
When he went back to the place of service and the station of repentance, the Lord of the Worlds repaired his heart and spoke to him with benevolence: