BB00165: Sharh-i-Du’a’-i-Sabah I

Part 1: “Praise be to God, Who, by His command…”

In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

Praise be to God, Who, by His command and out of no thing, hath brought into being the atoms of all that exist, that the tongues of all possible beings might attest to that whereunto God hath borne witness unto Himself by Himself, in the ranks of Command and of Creation; that every limit might recognize the effulgences of the station of the Divine Theophanies in the tokens of the Names and Attributes before the dawning of the Presence of the Divine Essence.

And praise be to God, Who hath devised all inventions in the station wherein the ultimate ends of Command and the seals of consummation are revealed, in accordance with what He hath willed in the mystery of essential realities, in the mention of identities, in the ordinance of beings, and in the decree concerning the souls—yea, and what God hath willed beyond these stations, in the indications of Lahut and the degrees of Jabarut and the signs of Mulk and Malakut, and the finalities of Command in the manifestations of Nasut—to the end that all may learn the rulings of all things from their beginnings unto their endings, and thereafter whatsoever God hath willed beyond such allusions, of infinity upon infinity, and of what no one’s knowledge can encompass save God. Verily, there is none other God but He, the All-Glorious, the Most Exalted.

O God, I call Thee to witness, in this day of Friday, by that wherewith Thou dost bear witness unto Thyself in every affair, that Thou art God, the One, the Single. Thou hast ever been—there was naught with Thee—and Thou shalt forever be even as Thou hast been. Nothing that pertaineth to Thy degree hath been commemorated in any matter; for Thy essential identity is cut off from the station of comprehension, and Thy ipseity severeth beings from the station of exposition. Never hath any save Thee known Thy Essence, nor is it possible, in the realm of Thy origination, that aught attain thereto; for in the primal eternity Thou wast the Describer of Thyself and the Unifier of Thine Essence in every affair, without change and without decay.

Thou art the Self-Subsisting One Whom eyes perceive not; to Thee the highest-flying birds of hearts and thoughts may never ascend. Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! If I say, “Thine Essence pointeth to Thy Essence,” and “Thy beingness maketh known Thy beingness,” and “Thine essential oneness uniteth Thine essential oneness,” I do but testify to the signs of Thy invention, the manifestations of Thy devising, and the tokens of Thy origination. And if I say, “Thou art Thou,” the similitude speaketh, in the station of origination, of majesty—yet Thou, O my God, art exalted above being known by similitudes or described by the verses of magnificence. And if I say, “Thou art He,” the Oneness denoteth the very essence of Thy Will, and Lordship the beingness of Thy Purpose; and even as they are, they signify only severance and bespeak but interdiction. Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! I perceive no path, nor find I any mention that might serve as proof.

Wherefore, having borne witness to the stations of my impotence, and having returned, after my ascent unto Thee, with the empty palm of my poverty and despairing of my nearness, I commune with Thee in this tongue, invoking Muhammad and His Trustees—peace be upon them—that the remembrance of them may still my heart, and that my secret and my open parts may find repose in confessing their right.

I entreat Thee, O my God, by that wherewith Thou art invested of majesty and Lahut, of power and Jabarut, that Thou wouldst send Thy blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad by Thy wondrous manifestations and Thy ancient signs, and by whatsoever Thou art bringing forth in every affair—whereof none hath knowledge save Thee. Verily, Thou art God, the All-Glorious, the Bestower.

And now, in this my station, I bear witness that there is no God but Thee, alone, without partner—by that wherewith Thou dost bear witness unto Thyself and Thy very Essence acknowledgeth Thy right—even though I am unable to comprehend its ruling or to taste the sweetness of its knowledge. Glory be to Thee! By Thee have I known Thee; by Thyself have I confessed Thy unity; by Thy summons hath my soul ascended unto the court of Thy holiness and the sanctuary of Thy might; and but for Thee I had been as naught, unable to know how Thou art.

Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! By Thy might and Thy majesty, I bear witness for myself only to sin; and I know that whatsoever sin acquiseth is, before Thee, but sin. How then shall my soul find rest, after my knowledge of my transgressions? By Thy might! Wert Thou to chastise me with the eternity of everlastingness, by the permanence of Thine Essence, with all Thy vengeance and Thy might; wert Thou to make whatsoever Thy knowledge encompasseth within space a fire, and then to enlarge my body until none should fill this earth save I alone—by Thy glory, Thou wouldst still be praised in Thy deed and obeyed in the sovereignty of Thy majesty. And I, for my part, should be but deserving thereby of the recompense of my deeds before Thee.

How then shall the decree be, whether Thou judgest by justice or callest through bounty? This is a matter under which the heavens and the earth would well-nigh be weighed down! Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! By Thy might, there is no refuge for me but unto Thee; no salvation for any soul save through Thy grace; nor can any intercede with Thee except by Thy leave.

Sanctified art Thou and exalted! If I mention Thee as Thou hast described Thyself, Thy justice and Thy beginningless decree make me to fear; and if I fall silent before the city of Thy all-bountiful mercy, the manner of Thy dealing with the believers among Thy servants and the sinners among Thy creatures maketh me yearn. Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! Thou art the One, the Self-Subsisting: Thou doest continually what Thou willest, as Thou wilt. None can turn back Thy command, nor can any reverse Thy words. Verily, Thou art God, the All-Glorious, the Bestower.

And I bear witness that Muhammad—peace be upon Him—is Thy servant, whom Thou didst choose, in the broad expanse of pre-eternity, above all that Thou hast brought forth and devised; for in His station He desired none but Thee and the path of Thy love. Thou didst make Him, in every degree, the locus of Thy power and Thy might in decree and judgment, in origination and fulfilment, for Thou wert ever knowing the ordinance of all things in the heavens and on the earth.

I therefore beseech Thee, O my God, to cause to descend upon Him, in this very hour, Thy wondrous bounties and Thy ancient signs, and whatsoever Thou dost merit at the time of bestowal. Verily, Thou art the All-Glorious, the Most Exalted.

And I bear witness, before Thee, concerning His Trustees—may Thy blessings rest upon them—that they are the pillars of Thy unity, the tokens of Thy sanctity, the manifestations of Thy oneness, and the effulgences of Thy mercy; the sites of Thy command, such as Thou Thyself hast testified for them in the knowledge of the unseen. Thou hast made them the station of Thy Self in all the worlds, and hast ascribed whatsoever is ascribed unto them unto Thy presence, that none may doubt in any matter regarding their majesty, but that all may confess their virtue, even as Thou didst ordain for them in Thy knowledge. Verily, Thou art the Lord of mighty favour.

And I bear witness, O my God, unto my own self, to the supreme affliction and the grievous trespasses which Thy knowledge hath encompassed and Thy Book reckoneth. Nay, I know that my very existence is sin itself—how then when I acquire sin upon sin? Wherefore I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy bounty, to vouchsafe unto me perfect severance unto the pinnacle of Thy holiness, and entrance upon the carpet of Thy might, that I may find no sweetness but in nearness unto Thee, nor recognize any affair save Thy oneness; that I may be conjoined with the mine of grandeur, the mystery of identity, the token of oneness, and the light of self-subsistence which Thou hast ordained for all possible things in the realm of Thy invention and the theatre of Thy devising—so that, in every affair, I may act according to that whereunto Thou callest me in secret and lovest for me in the open. Verily, Thou art the Lord of pardon and bounty; naught in heaven or on earth overburdeneth Thee. Thou, indeed, art the All-Glorious, the All-Forgiving.

And I entreat Thee, O my God, in this very hour of this festival-day, to forgive me and those who have followed Thy command and have not shown enmity toward me before the dawning of the splendour of Thy Presence; and judge between me and those who have borne witness against me and disputed my right, according to what is meet for Thee and within Thy power. Verily, Thou art God, from Whose knowledge nothing in the heavens or on the earth is concealed; and Thou art the All-Glorious, the Most Exalted.

Part 2: “Before the august threshold—may God preserve…”

Before the august threshold—may God preserve it through His love and through his fair deeds until the Day of Return—this is a clarification of what was asked of me concerning the meaning of his word, peace be upon him, in the Du’a’ al-Sabah: “O Thou Who hast made Thyself known by Thyself.” Behold, I now set the Pen in motion to manifest what God hath deposited in the frame of being, bringing it forth to open view, that the lights which God created in the realities of possibility, in the rank of man, may be beheld.

Know that the knowledge of the Essence of the Eternal—glorified be He—is impossible for contingent being; for, as He is, there was none with Him to unite Him, and naught is mentioned in any rank until it be known. All allusions from all souls revert to the station of His origination, speak of the degree of His devising, and point—by the closing of the way and the forbidding of proof—away from knowledge of the manifestations of His theophanies; for knowledge is a branch of conjunction.

Access unto the station of finding in the world of vision is by the self-disclosure of God unto each thing according to its measure, in the degrees of Command and the consummations of the Seal. And since God knew that within the realm of the contingent the comprehension of the inmost reality of His Essence is impossible, He originated signs for the appearance of the knowledge of Him in the horizons and within the souls, and He made the recognition of those signs to be naught but those very signs themselves; for true knowledge is not attained save by the thing itself. He who would know the colour red—were he to know it by the colour white—would not have truly known it; the reality of a thing is not known but by itself.

Thus the Imam said: “Know God by God.” And Ali, peace be upon him, declared: “O Thou Who hast made Thyself known by Thyself.” And Ali ibn al-Husayn, peace be upon him, in his supplication for Abu Hamzah al-Thumali, saith: “By Thee have I known Thee; Thou hast guided me unto Thee and summoned me unto Thee; and but for Thee I had not known what Thou art.” This is the loftiest of the degrees of knowledge attainable by contingent being and the portion of existent things, above which, in the realm of possibility, there lieth no higher station.

In the subtlety of His workmanship and the greatness of His grace, God hath placed the signs of His knowledge within the realities of souls and horizons, as He hath indicated in His mighty Book: “We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves, until it become manifest unto them that He is the Truth.” Were the splendours of Majesty and the allusions to be unveiled from the court of the sanctity of the token of the Essence, they would perceive the station which God hath deposited within their realities; to this pointeth the saying of al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, in al-Misbah: “Servitude is a jewel whose essence is Lordship; that which is hidden in Lordship is attained in servitude, and that which is lost in servitude is found in Lordship.”

God, exalted be He, hath said: “We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it become manifest unto them that He is the Truth,” that is: He is found in thine absence and thy presence. When thou turnest unto God, the veils, allusions, degrees, and signs are lifted, and thou knowest the indication of His self-manifestations—Essence by Essence. Even as the Word “There is none other God but God” pointeth to the oneness of God—albeit it is created within God’s kingdom—so too is the token of thy very reality an indication of God, though created; the pre-eternal mystery lieth hidden in thy rank, the divine light in thy beingness, and the self-subsisting splendour in thine essential identity. Thereby dost thou confess His unity and know Him; and no soul within possibility can tread the path of knowledge save by the knowledge of that station and the movement through those degrees deposited within souls and horizons.

In this station have the feet of the wise slipped; for they have supposed, in the ranks of their unities and the tokens of their abstractions, that they have attained unto the pure Essence. This, in the creed of the People of Infallibility—peace be upon them—is unbelief. They adduce, as proof, the saying of al-Husayn, peace be upon him, on the Day of ʿArafah:

“Hath aught other than Thee any manifestation not Thine, that it should be the one to manifest Thee? When wast Thou absent that Thou shouldst need a proof to guide unto Thee? When wert Thou distant that the traces should be those that lead to Thee? Blind be the eye that beholdeth Thee not while Thou art ever watching over it! Ruined the bargain of the servant who appointed for himself no share of Thy love!”

Assuredly they have not grasped the true intent, nor gazed upon the station of origination with the light of the heart. By my spirit—and by all who dwell in the kingdoms of Command and Creation—he meant naught thereby but the vision of His self-manifestation—exalted be His remembrance—the station wherein He revealed Himself to him by Himself; not the vision of the Essence nor arrival thereunto, for that is impossible within the realm of possibility. Doth not the Greatest Master—may the blessings of God be upon Him and His House—confess: “We have not known Thee as is Thy due, nor worshipped Thee as is Thy due”?

The very saying of al-Husayn, upon which the philosophers have relied, and the Qur’anic verses and the words of them of insight—these are plain to whoso considereth the traces and looketh upon the utterances of the people of exposition. Among them are the explicit words of ʿAli, peace be upon him, in the Khutbah al-Tatanjiyyah: “I beheld God and Paradise with the eye of vision,” and in another place: “I worship not a Lord whom I do not see.” None can doubt that his—may my spirit be a ransom for him and for them that abide in the kingdom of names and attributes—intent was the rank of the theophany, that God revealed Himself unto him thereby in the stations which God had decreed for him. This is witnessed at thy sublime threshold when the veils are rent from before the heart.

By the knowledge of this station all contradictions among certain men of learning and contention are lifted, when the servant beholdeth the lights of majesty in the realities of origin and return. If thou hast comprehended this exposition, know then that this noble clause hath a meaning which none knoweth save God and whomsoever He willeth; it speaketh of the station of its Speaker and pointeth to the exaltation of the degree of His identity. None among existent things hath apprehended its meaning as He—may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him—intended; for He standeth at the station of true unity, in the rank of the pliant alif, after Muhammad, the Messenger of God—may God bless Him and His family—at the station of the Point. None encompasseth the knowledge of this save whom God willeth. All that we have made known unto thee in these allusions is but a mode of the inner meanings of that noble clause.

As for the outward path, it is manifest at thy presence; for “whoso knoweth his self knoweth his Lord.” Even as the self is not known by aught else, so is the decree in the knowledge of the Essence and in the appearance of the stations of manifestation within the kingdom of names and attributes.

And here I stay the Pen from its course; for the oceans of possibility suffice not to convey the meanings of that noble clause. I beg God’s forgiveness, out of His bounty—and from the keen-sighted observer I beg pardon for what hath flowed from my Pen. My very existence is sin—how then when I add sin unto sin? Glorified be God, the Lord of the Throne, above that which they ascribe unto Him! And I verily say as God hath sent down in the Qur’an:

“Peace be upon the Messengers; and praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds.”