Appendix 3

Appendix 3

(Taken from the book of A Part of the Interpretation of Surat Al-Fatiha

and from The Allegories Vol 2.)

From hereon, the greater a servant’s gratitude, the greater is the support of Allah by which this servant is directed towards this gratitude. So the blessing upon the close servants of Allah has become greater, and their work and gratitude has become a new blessing, which in itself requires gratitude. And this gratitude is by the support of Allah swt, and by His power and His strength, as it is a new blessing which is greater than its previous one which requires greater gratitude, and so on until the Generous overwhelmed them with His generosity, so their tongues were silenced and their eyes were overflowing with tears when they realized that they were deficient in thanking Him swt. Rather, in their praised ranks, when they realized that they were still flawed by the nothingness and its darkness and the imperfection and its truth [the imperfection], they considered their existence and remaining to be a guilt, so they sought forgiveness of Allah from this guilt, they repented to Him and asked for His forgiveness and mercy. This is even though their existence is necessitated by the remaining of this veil, and their remaining is necessitated by their defect with darkness and nothingness. And here is the Prince of Believers Ali pbuh saying,

O lord, I have done myself injustice by considering it, so it is damned if You do not forgive it.^[1]

So he counted his turning towards his existence to be guilt, rather might I say, he counted his existence to be guilt because of what it includes from the defect of nothingness, without which, no name or image remains of him pbuh, rather he disappears and none remains save Allah, the One, the Conqueror.

In the narration from Al-Sadiq pbuh, he said,

Gabriel asked him to stop at a place saying, “Wait right there O Muhammad (meaning this is your rank, as Gabriel cannot reach the rank of the prophet, so he pointed out to him to elevate to his rank pbuhap), you have stood at a place where at no angel or prophet has ever stood before you. Your Lord Is praying.”

He asked, “Oh Gabriel, how does He pray?”

[Gabriel] said, “He says, ‘The Glorious, the Holy, I am the Lord of the angels and the Spirit. My mercy exceeds My anger.’ ”

He [Holy Prophet pbuhap] then said, “Oh Lord, I beg Your forgiveness, I beg Your forgiveness.”

“It was as Allah has said,

9. ﴾And he was at a distance as the length of two bow or nearer.﴿”

-Sura An-Najm (The Star) 53.

Abu Basir then asked, “May my soul be your ransom, what is ﴾the length of two bows, or even less﴿?”

So he pbuh said, “It is the distance between the arch and the head of the bow.”

He pbuh then said, “And between them there was a veil that shined and oscillated^[2]…,” until he pbuh said, “It was emerald. He looked into what Allah willed from the light of Greatness the size of the eye of a needle.”^[3]

As for the request of the prophet for forgiveness, it has been clarified. As for the oscillation of the veil, it is a response from Him (m) to the request of the prophet for forgiveness and his request for removing the veil of nothingness and the darkness from his blessed page of existence. But it is a partial response, according to what He swt would do, since if the veil was removed, the Prophet would no longer have a name, an image, or a truth.

From hereon, you know the rank of this generous one, pbuhap. He has given his all to Allah, so Allah gave him what he has given no one from the worlds.

“He looked into what Allah willed from the light of Greatness the size of the eye of a needle.”

And this is sufficient in this rank for you to know that everyone must rush towards Him swt, lowering their heads, repenting to Him, hoping for His mercy and forgiveness, alternating between a bow, a prostration, submission, and humility.^[4]

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Question: Based on the words of Al-Khomaini (may Allah have mercy

on him) in his book of Al-Adab Al-Ma’naweyya, Imam Ahmad Al-Hassan pbuh was asked the following questions: 1) Are these veils of darkness mixed with the veils of light? 2) What is the meaning of veils of darkness and veils of light? 3) How are some veils of darkness and veils of light lifted? 4) Are these veils never lifted as Al-Khomaini (may Allah have mercy on him) said? What happens if they were lifted?

The dark veils are the soldiers of ignorance, which have been mentioned by Imam Al-Sadiq pbuh,^[5] and the detested manners and the “I” which is implanted in the nature of the human being. So the more that the “I” increases with a human being, these veils increase. And the more that the “I” decreases with a human being, these veils decrease. So these veils originate from the darkness, the nothingness, and the material. And they are nothing other than ways of seizing each good.

As for the veils of light, they are the words of Allah swt and the overflow which descends from Him swt to His creation, and they have a condition at each rank and for each person who walks the path towards Allah swt. So for the finest of creation, Muhammad pbuhap, the veils of light are the Quran, or the oscillating veil, as in the narration from Al-Sadiq pbuh, in which he said,

Gabriel asked him to stop at a place saying, “Wait right there O Muhammad (meaning this is your rank, as Gabriel cannot reach the rank of the prophet, so he pointed out to him to elevate to his rank pbuhap), you have stood at a place where at no angel or prophet has ever stood before you. Your Lord Is praying.”

He asked, “Oh Gabriel, how does He pray?”

[Gabriel] said, “He says, ‘The Glorious, the Holy, I am the Lord of the angels and the Spirit. My mercy exceeds My anger.’ ”

He [Holy Prophet pbuhap] then said, “Oh Lord, I beg Your forgiveness, I beg Your forgiveness.”

“It was as Allah has said,

9. ﴾And he was at a distance as the length of two bow or nearer.﴿”

-Sura An-Najm (The Star) 53.

Abu Basir then asked, “May my soul be your ransom, what is ﴾the length of two bows, or even less﴿?”

So he pbuh said, “It is the distance between the arch and the head of the bow.”

He pbuh then said, “And between them there was a veil that shined and oscillated^[6]…,” until he pbuh said, “It was emerald. He looked into what Allah willed from the light of Greatness the size of the eye of a needle.”^[7]

And this emerald green veil which oscillates is an indication of the veils of darkness and the veils of light, and the lifting of the veils of darkness by the opening of the like of an eye of a needle, and the lifting of the veils of light by the oscillation which occurs to the veil. So the veils of darkness are disfigured by abandoning the soldiers of ignorance and the “I”, and the veils of light are contained within the human being and he disappears into them when he acquires the soldiers of intellect and the favored manners. This is how the human is in his walk towards perfection, he strives to achieve the lifting of the “I” from his page of existence and to acquire all the soldiers of intellect, and this is the clear opening.

1. ﴾We have bestowed upon you a clear opening﴿.

-Surat Al-Fath (The Victory) 48.

And this is the praised rank which the generous messenger Muhammad pbuhap has reached, and in this rank, Allah swt manifested Himself to Muhammad pbuhap at moments,

“Between them there was a barrier that shined and oscillated…,”

meaning that the veil lifts at a moment and returns at another, and at the moment it is lifted, Muhammad pbuhap does not remain, he rather disappears and burns and the face of Allah, Muhammad pbuhap, does not remain; rather none remains save Allah the One, the Conqueror.

And the above narration from them pbut does not at all negate the revealing of the veils of darkness and light, it rather negates the complete, permanent revealing. As for the complete revealing at moments, it has occurred with Muhammad pbuhap and he pbuhap oscillates with the oscillation of the veil. And the entire universe oscillates with Muhammad pbuhap. And if you read the Quran, you would oscillate with its oscillation, back and forth, with no intention for you to do so, rather as if you are compelled to do so.

Answer to Questions 1 and 2: The light or the veils of light are from

Allah swt, and the veils of darkness are from the material or the nothingness. And the creations were made existent by the shining of the light into the darkness, or say the manifestation of the light in the darkness. And the mixing which occurs between the light and the darkness is not like a mixing of homogeneity, rather it is a mixing of manifestation and appearance, as the Prince of Believers pbuh said that which means,

Within the things with no homogeneity and out of them with no removal.

Answer to Question 3: The veils of darkness and light are lifted by

the striving towards Allah swt and obtaining His satisfaction. And the veils of darkness in particular are lifted by abandoning the soldiers of ignorance and the detested manners, and by turning away from the “I” and abandoning it. And the veils of light are lifted by knowledge, practicing knowledge, acquiring the soldiers of intellect and the favored manners, and climbing the ladder of ascension to the holy ranks within [the level of] the people of the seventh sky.

Answer to Question 4: It has been clarified from what was mentioned

previously that they were lifted completely for Muhammad pbuhap but not permanently, rather for moments. And as it has been clarified, that the reason they were not permanently lifted is because if they were, the servant would have no identity remaining, rather none stays save Allah the One the Conqueror after the burn and disappearance of the slave into the Divine Self. And these veils were not completely lifted for any other than Muhammad pbuhap and he is the man of the praised rank. And the Master of the Knowledgeable ones, Ali pbuh said,

If the cover was revealed to me, I would not have increased in certitude.

And this is the veil and the cover which has been lifted for Muhammad pbuhap, whereas Ali pbuh had the veil lifted for him at the ranks lower than the rank he pbuh mentioned [in the narration above], and he pbuh would walk in the graveyard of the city of Kufah and speak to the dead, as Haba Al-Arni has narrated.

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