When I awakened, a fear of separation fell upon my heart, and I remember days past and bygone sins. My fear increased, and I abased myself, saying, "My God! I fear your wrath on the Day of Resurrection, when my sins will be exposed before the knowers of God!"
I saw myself in that hour above the utmost 'Illiyyin in the presence of might, between the prophets and the sincere ones and the nearest angels, in the form of raving and rapture. I heard from beyond a veil something that quiets my heart from that, and all the sorrows fell away from me when I saw myself in the station of expansiveness. I was in the oceans of testing, and the vicissitudes of time befell me.
I asked God most high for salvation from them, and said, "If You gave everything from the divine throne to the earth to a tiny ant, Your Kingdom would not be diminished by an atom, for in Your hand are the keys to the fates of the nonexistent. In less than an instant, seventy thousand worlds issue from non-being by Your encompassing power, from the worlds of kingdom and witnessing.
What is this distress, and what is Your message, O Master of those who would know You? Pacify me and purify me of all ambitions for anything but You. You gave the kingdom of Solomon to Solomon, and You gave the kingdom of David to David, and you gave the kingdom of Egypt to Joseph, though You had no obligation to them, O Holy One!"
~ 165. Diary section titled: 'Release from Fear', by Ruzbihan Baqli
2.
The wonder of oneness manifested themselves to me, but the effects of the world of actions remained with me. I said, "My God, let me come to You by isolating Your oneness from all else." Then He, all glory is His, manifested to me the world of existence, rising like a full moon from behind the mountain peak, or like the sparks from a smokeless fire. And the Truth (who is transcendent) made me enter that world. I shed my skin of external accidents, but I could not stand apart from them, for that station is the station of sanctity, transcendence, and annihilation. He explained to me here the realities of reality, and my conscience was burned. It was said to me, "This is the world of oneness, which I have described in my book: "laysa kamisli Hi / Nothing is like Him / Hu is beyond any likeness / Hu is Supremely Unique, Forever and Ever." [Quran 42:11]
~ 66. Beyond the World of Existence
3.
Fatiru as-samawati wal-ardi. jaAAala lakum min anfusikum azwajan, wamina al-anAAami azwajan. yathraokum feehi. laysa kamithlihi shay-on. wahuwa assameeAAu albaseer
Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you from yourselves, your partners, and among the animals as well; that's how He multiplies you. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
~ The Qur'an 42:11
Watch carefully what Hu is saying unto you, unto me, now, at this exact very moment.
Hu calls our attention to the exalted truth of Creation, for it is He Who brought forth existence from non-existence and you, I can never comprehend that creational mystery. Yet still, we are called to marvel at that mystery, to witness that wonderment by the Wonderful Creator.
Then He helps us to ground your understanding by drawing forth similitude from our existential world by mentioning one of the mechanism through which multiplicity is propagated from a single being. From the breath of Hu, man is made into Human. From single man and his partner many are created ~ and same goes for other sentient beings. The way this multiplication happens is still an amazing phenomena if we simply observe carefully how pregnancy happens, its levels of unfolding, how a seed grows into a full being by the invisible fashioning of the Fashioner.
Then after offering that similitude He asks you to transcend the world of comparisons and similarities and contrast. Hu then unveils His quality, He offers Divine Gnosis by mentioning the truth "laysa kamisli Hi" ~ nothing is like Him.
Now stay in your bewilderment of His tremendous uniqueness, His incomparable beauty, grace, awesomeness, majesty and power.
And then He doesn't leave you like that. He pushes us into the realm of Fana and then in His mercy, brings us into Baqa by offering us His sweet consolation that, even though He is Ever Transcending and beyond any comparison or similitude, yet, and yet so sweetly He is the very Hearing, the very Seeing of all hearing, of all seeing, that is He has made Himself available in giving Himself to us through becoming the Hearing, the Seeing. Ya Samee, Ya Baseer! He so wonderfully has entangled our senses to His qualities that it is His Hearing and it is His Seeing that we participate in.
Now listen to what He hears through You in the silent moments of your being.
Now sit still in front of a mirror and gaze within your eyes and know that He is the Seeing!
Blessed be our surrender into this bewildering divine play, His Leela of the Most Glorious Sweet Beloved.
4.
I sought God most high at dawn, but I did not find him. He created in me spiritual imaginings in different forms, turning them into the thought of oneness and making them familiar with the thought of love. Time passed, and all my concentration was on the occurences of lights of special manifestation qualified by eternal attributes.
These do not give rise to the shapes of actions or the qualities of of being clothes with divinity. But the Truth manifested himself first from the womb of the hidden, them from the throne, and then in the form of Adam. My concentration learned from this, and it sought the reality of oneness. He manifested himself to me with attributes and with beauty that I cannot describe.
But I will say of what I saw of Him when He manifested Himself; pearls and roses scattered from His face. I saw Him in a world full of shining planets, and the Most High was as though He were displaying musical instruments. All existence laughed from the pleasure of it. Then He manifested attributes every instant with an attribute more beautiful than I had ever seen. That was His artistic creation, in His spontaneity.
~ 116. The Music of Spheres
From The Unveiling of Secrets: Diary of a Sufi Master
- by Ruzbihan Baqli, translated Carl W. Ernst, may Allah be pleased with them both
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