BB00346: Tafsir-i-Ayat fi Surati’n-Nur

In the Name of God, the Wondrous, besides Whom there is no God

He hath initiated through the mystery of utterance the manifestation of that which God hath placed within creation, bringing it from potentiality into reality, until the people of utterance bore witness to that which God hath willed concerning man—from the most hidden of mysteries for the people of the innermost mystery. God hath not made this day a day of the hidden, that all differences may be removed. Sufficient as proof is the word of the All-Merciful concerning the creation of man:

“The All-Merciful hath taught the Qur’an, created man, taught him clear expression.”

Today a Persian soul asked me about this glorious verse revealed in the Surah of Light where God, glorified be He, saith:

“In houses which God hath permitted to be raised and that His name may be remembered in them. Therein do offer praise to Him at morn and evening men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from the remembrance of God, and from constancy in prayer, and paying to the poor their due; who dread the day when hearts and eyes shall be overturned that God may reward them with the best of what they shall have wrought, and of His bounty increase it to them more and more: for God provideth whom He will without measure.”

Look with insight into that which God hath taken from thee by covenant. Lo, I have cast unto thee from the elixir of the Worshipped One. Deprive not thyself of thy portion of that which God hath ordained for those who bow down in worship, wherein the All-Merciful hath promised the people of truth by the truth:

“It may be that thy Lord will raise thee to a praised station.”

Know that God, glorified be He, hath made the greatest of His gifts to the people of possibility the faculty of the heart [fu’ad], and the possessors of understanding have agreed, with the confirmation of the All-Merciful, on this purpose, as their master hath spoken and recorded with the pen of ink that the heart is the highest faculty of man. God hath made this faculty the seat of His exalted Name, the repository of His impenetrable mystery, and the station of His knowledge for the people of proclamation. He hath specially chosen it for Himself and preserved it for His Day, withholding it from all cycles until this our cycle, and severing it from all ages until this our age.

God hath made it a perfect word comprised of four parts together, and God hath taken a covenant from all things at the beginning of their existence—were they not to pledge allegiance to God they would not affirm His unity. The All-Merciful hath concealed it to preserve the station of the Known One, and its Creator hath named it the Fire of God to indicate the warmth of His nearness—and it is the kindled Fire of God which riseth above the hearts. God, glorified be He, intended by that House those hearts, and by the men the kindled fire, and by the names their names, and by the attributes their attributes. The All-Glorious hath named it the House of His Oneness—whoso entereth it knoweth God to the extent possible in the realm of contingent being, that He is the Truth, there is no God but Him, there is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. And whoso remaineth ignorant of it, the Fire shall encompass him through God’s justice, the Sovereign, the Subduer.

If thou hast believed in God, besides Whom there is no God, then submit to Our Cause. God hath made no house today other than Ours. Set thy face toward the religion, inclining to truth—the nature of God upon which He hath created mankind. There is no altering God’s creation, and God maketh no religion other than that of Muhammad and ʿAli. So establish thyself in that station and be assured that this rank, despite its perfect nearness is remote, and despite its perfect remoteness is near. God hath made it nearer to everything than anything else—neither darknesses can conceal it nor veils can hide it. It refineth vision and purifieth sight. Close thine eyes and ascend the subtle realms, and descend from the heights of truth what lieth in thy right hand from the glories of the subtle mysteries. Thy Lord calleth thee from the right side of the Mount: “Fear not, neither grieve.” We fear not through the possessor of the ascending ways, nor through the possessor of mysteries anything.

We have given thee to drink of the purifying waters of Kawthar, so drink and thirst not. Act according to this, for we are God’s and unto Him do we return. For the like of this let the workers work. There is no power nor strength save in God, the Most High, the Most Great.