Editing Suriy-i-Haykal/Page2/GPT4 31

O scholars, if you abstain from wine and its likes that you've prohibited in this book, it won't be an honor for you. By indulging in them, you lose your status among the people, alter your affairs, and your coverings are torn apart. True honor is in submitting to the word of truth and distancing yourself in both private and public from anything other than the Almighty, the Mighty and Majestic. Blessed is the scholar who doesn't let knowledge become a veil between him and the known. When he approaches the Self-Sustaining, he approaches with a radiant face. There are scholars whose breaths are sought for blessings by the people of paradise, and their light illuminates those in the heavens and the earth. Such a scholar is among the heirs of the prophets. Seeing him is like seeing the truth, and approaching him is like approaching the Mighty, Wise God.

O seekers of knowledge, be wary of changing yourselves, for when you change, most of the servants change too. This is oppression towards yourselves and towards the servants. Every knowledgeable person attests to this. You are like a spring; if it changes, the rivers branching from it change too. Fear God and be among the righteous. Similarly, if a person's heart becomes corrupt, his limbs become corrupt, and just like a tree, if its root is corrupt, its branches, twigs, leaves, and fruits become corrupt as well. We provide these examples for you so that you might not become veiled by your own understanding and recognize the generosity granted to you by the Mighty, Noble.

Even if we were to take a handful of soil and embellish it with the embroidery of names, it would become noble. This nobility is a favor upon it without it deserving it. Just as we have sent down the truth from a knowledgeable source. Consider the Black Stone which God has made revered among the worlds; its honor isn't from itself, by my soul! Nor is this nobility from its own essence, by my essence! None in the worlds can truly recognize it. Similarly, look at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the places we've made pilgrimage sites for those from distant lands. Their honor isn't inherent but due to their association with our manifestations, which we've made beacons of our revelation among the servants.

In all this, there's wisdom known only to God. If asked, He will clarify for you what He intends, for He is knowledgeable about everything. O people, distance yourselves from the world and its adornments and do not turn towards those who disbelieve and associate partners with God. Turn your gaze to the horizon of clarity in remembrance of your Merciful Lord. This is what God intends for you. Blessed are those who understand.

Say, O people, we commanded you in the tablets to sanctify yourselves when names manifest and from everything created between the earth and the sky, so that the sun of truth may manifest from the horizon of the will of your Mighty, Magnificent Lord. We also commanded you to purify your souls from both love and hatred towards those on earth, so that nothing diverts you in one direction and compels you in another. This is among the greatest advice to you in a clear book. Anyone who clings to either of them is incapable of truly understanding the matter. Every fair and knowledgeable person attests to this. You've forgotten God's covenant and broken His pact until you turned away from that which, by its appearance, brings delight to the eyes of the monotheists.

Purify your gaze from obstructions and barriers, then look at the arguments of the prophets and messengers to know God's decree in those days when the Promised One came with great authority. Fear God and do not deprive yourselves from the source of His signs. This is what benefits you. Your Lord is indeed self-sufficient, indifferent to the worlds. He has always been, and nothing was with Him. His banner of monotheism has risen on the mount of existence, both in the unseen and the seen. Indeed, there is no god but He, the One, the Mighty, the Unique. 

Those who were created by His will and sent by His command turned away from Him and took for themselves a god other than God. They are indeed among the astray. They should remember the Merciful at all times, but when the truth appeared, they opposed it. Woe to them for breaking the covenant when the light of the horizons shone from the will of the Holy, Knowledgeable, Wise God. They have drawn their swords of hatred against God, feeling in their souls as if they are dead in the tombs of their desires, even though God's breeze has blown between the houses. But they are behind a great veil. When God's verses are recited to them, they turn away arrogantly, as if they knew nothing and did not hear God's melody.

Oh, what a pity on you! You claim faith for yourselves but deny God's mighty and knowledgeable signs. Say, "O people, turn your faces to the Merciful God. Beware lest what is revealed in the clarification blinds you. It was revealed as a reminder by the Mighty, the Impenetrable, and its purpose is nothing but My beauty, which has filled the horizons with My evidence, if you are fair. Had the initial point, as you claim, been other than Me, and had he realized my meeting, he would not have left me. He preceded me to give glad tidings of my kingdom to people. This was revealed in the tablets if you are among the observers. 

Oh, if only someone with ears would listen to the uproar in the declaration because of what has come upon me from these heedless ones, recognize his longing in my absence and his passion for meeting me. Thus, his beloved is witnessed among the servants who were created for His days and prostrating before Him with humility. The pen has confessed its inability to mention it because of what has been inflicted by these oppressors. 

Say, "O people, we called you in the first appearances to the greatest sight, this most holy position, and gave them glad tidings of God's days. But when the greatest veil was torn and the beauty of the Eternal appeared on the cloud of destiny, you disbelieved in what you believed in. Woe to you, O group of polytheists! Fear God and do not refute the truth with what you have. When the sun of signs shines upon you from the horizon of the King of Names and Attributes, bow down with your faces in prostration to God, the Lord of the worlds. Your prostration is a fleeting door, better than worshiping the two weighty ones (humans and jinn). Your submission during its appearance is better for you than what is created in the heavens and the earth.

Say, "O people, I remind you for God's sake and I do not want any reward from you. My reward is only from God, who created me, sent me with the truth, and made me a reminder for all creatures. Hasten to God's sight and residence and do not follow Satan in your souls. He orders you to wrongdoing and indecency and prevents you from the path set up in the world by this wise and firm command. 

The devil has appeared in relation to his likeness in the places, and so has the beauty of the Merciful with an embroidery the likes of which the eyes of the ancients did not comprehend. The call of the Merciful has risen, and behind it is the call of the devil. Blessed is he who hears God's call and turns to the direction of the throne, a sanctified and generous sight. Anyone who has even the least love other than mine in his heart will not be able to enter my kingdom. My evidence is what the fabric of the book of existence is embroidered with, if you are among the knowledgeable.

Say, today is the day in which the greatest grace has appeared, and there was nothing, neither in the high heavens nor in the lower earths, but speaks of my remembrance and chirps in praise of myself, if you are among the listeners.