BB00279: Khutba writen near the staging post of al-Safra 2 (Khutbiy-i-Jamaliyyih)

Praise be to God, Who, by the exaltation of His Essence, hath ascended to a height before which all things fall away; and Who, by the grandeur of His Being, hath been enthroned upon the Seat of Oneness, before whose Countenance all bow the head—He is the solitary God, the Eternal, the One, the Living, the Self-Subsisting, the Single, the Unrivalled; Who hath taken unto Himself neither consort nor son, nor hath He any partner in might, nor protector out of abasement. There is no God but He, the Most Great, the Most Exalted.

Praise be to God, Who, by His command, upraised the heaven; Who, by His revelation, established the Throne upon the waters; then rent asunder the firmaments, cleft the air, and pierced the veils through the Word “Kaf” and “Alif”; Who raised the leaves upon the trees, the earth by the mountains, the seas by the rains, and the eyes by the similitudes. There is no God but He, the Ancient, the All-Bountiful.

Praise be to God, Who made His creatures to know the station of His theophany through His very Self; Who confirmed the signs of knowledge by the decree of His wisdom, without likeness or anthropomorphism; Who deposited the pattern of differentiation within the realities of hearts, without making similitude unto Himself; and Who sent down the verses of Sinai upon the forms of contingent beings, without any definition derived from aught else. There is no God but He, the Mighty, the Pre-existent.

Praise be to God, Who caused His servant to journey for twelve days from the Sacred Mosque, on the seventh day after the thirteenth of the sacred month, unto the Holy Land—the hallowed soil upon which the Throne of Majesty is established; whose sanctuary enshrines the resting-places of the family of God, the All-Exalted; the sanctified surface whose very particles were fashioned from the Face of the Throne. Upon it be the blessings of God so long as the sun riseth from the billows of origination and recordeth aught thereof, and so long as it setteth therein—at every moment the All-Merciful doth invoke benediction upon it. Glorified be God, its Maker, the Lord of the Throne and the Footstool, far exalted above what they ascribe to Him!

Praise be to God, Who permitted His remembrance to visit His own Self upon the Throne—severed from all things created—and admitted him, through the majesty of His bounty, to the carpet of His greatness—screened not from the Face in the realm of command. Say: Verily, I visited the Apostle, Muhammad, face to face, alone, by revelation from His Countenance, [assuring me] that Thou wast, in very truth, established upon the Throne; and that this was a decree from the All-Highest, directed toward the Ka’bih from the Houseward side, conjoined. Say: Now hath the revelation come from His presence that Thou wast, in very truth, a refuge upon the earth. This is a Beauty that hath shone forth, illumined by the light of the Sun of Glory, gathered in unity—yet it is He Himself; nay rather, it is not other than Himself, though, as to orientation, it be distinguished in the light of dawn. Say: This is a Message severed from the Throne by the Apostle of God: Whoso visiteth My servant, it is as though he had visited Mine own Self upon the Throne, beyond all approach. To God be praise—effulgent, hallowed, peerless—He surpasseth every laudation by reason of the grace wherewith He favoured Muhammad—may God’s blessings be upon him and his House—upon all the people of creation.

Then praise, with that praise He hath claimed for Himself: there is no God but He, the Lord of Might over all the worlds, one and all. To God be praise, on the Day of His Encounter, upon His Face, exalted above the people of the Bayan by the exaltation of His Beloved, Muhammad—blessings and peace be upon him—the Seal of the Prophets; purified, by the sanctification of Muhammad, from the likenesses wherewith the dwellers in the two abysses would compare Him; solitary, without peer, even as is His very Self, Who in His all-embracing Mercy is established upon the Throne; cleansed from similitude and comparison. A praise transcendent above all things, even as His Self transcendeth Muhammad—blessings be upon him and his House—purified from any co-equal, as His knowledge reckoneth His own Self; for none can reckon praise befitting His Beloved and the Manifestations of His Self, even as God hath praised them—mighty is He, the All-Thankful.

Glorified art Thou, O my God! Whoso appointeth for Thee a like hath but set up a partner in Thy justice. Wherefore, O God, send down upon him such praise as Thou art worthy of; for there is no God but Thee, Lord of the Throne and the Footstool. There is no God but Thou; naught is like unto Thee. Glory be unto Thee, exalted art Thou above the ascriptions of them who liken Thy Well-Beloved unto aught; exalted beyond measure is the Essence of Thy Being above the descriptions of the idolaters.

And Thou art, as Thou hast praised Thine own Self in the perspicuous verses:

“No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtle, the All-Informed.”

Behold, I, in my station upon the camel on the Day of Return, bear witness before Thee that Thou art God; there is no God but Thou, single, without partner. Hallowed art Thou, O my God, beyond every description and word; for Thy Being pointeth to naught save Thy Essence, and Thy Identity proclaimeth naught save Thy Eternity. The creation, though it attain the furthest limit of expression and the apex of severance, pronounceth but from the station of the Names and guideth but from the realm of the Attributes—realms which, of themselves, are cut off from origination and debarred, in their inmost reality, from the court of invention. Glorified, glorified art Thou! There is no refuge save in the knowledge of Thy signs; no resting-place save in entering the sanctuary of Thy chosen ones.

Wherefore, O my God, send down Thy peace upon them as beseemeth Thine excellence; for Thou art the Lord of piety and the Lord of forgiveness. Glorified be God, the Lord of the Throne, far above what they associate with Him; and exalted be the sanctuary of Muhammad and His trustees—the Throne of the All-Merciful—above what they attribute to Them. Peace, from God, be upon those who draw nigh; and praise be to God, the Lord of all the worlds.