The commentators side by side

﴿(نوح: 5-6) . وذكر عن قومه أنهم تصامموا عن دعوته لعلمهم بما يجب عليهم من إجابة دعوته. فعلم العلماء بالله ما أشار إليه نوح، عليه السلام، في حق قومه من الثناء عليهم بلسان الذم، وعلم أنهم إنما لم يجيبوا دعوته لما فيها من الفرقان، والأمر قرآن لا فرقان، ومن أقيم في القرآن لا يصغي إلى الفرقان وإن كان فيه. فإن القرآن يتضمن الفرقان والفرقان لا يتضمن القرآن. ولهذا ما يختص بالقرآن إلا محمد، صلى الله عليه وسلم، وهذه الأمة التي هي﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

خير أمة أخرجت للناس" (آل عمران: 110). فـ "لیس كمثله شیء

Qurʾān [a combining/uniting] and not Farqān [a separating/discerning]. Whoever is established in the Qurʾān does not attend to the Farqān, even though it is contained within it. For the Qurʾān comprises the Farqān, but the Farqān does not comprise the Qurʾān. Therefore, none is singled out for the Qurʾān except Muḥammad, God's blessing and peace be upon him, and this community, which is] 'the best community brought forth for humankind' (Āl ʿImrān: 110). So 'there is nothing like unto Him' —

﴿ولو أن نوحا جمع لقومه بين الدعوتين لأجابوه﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

معناه أن نوحا عليه السلام بالغ في التنزيه لإفراطهم في التشبيه ، وهم أثبتوا التعدد الأسمائى واحتجبوا بالكثرة عن الوحدة فلو لم يؤاخذهم بالتوحيد الصرف والتنزيه المحض وأثبت التعدد الأسمائى ودعاهم إلى الكثير الواحد والكثرة الواحدة . وألبس الوحدة صورة الكثرة وجمع بين الدعوة التشبيهية والتنزيهية كما فعل محمد عليه الصلاة والسلام لأجابوه بما ناسب التشبيه من ظواهرهم لألفتهم مع الشرك وبما ناسب التنزيه من بواطنهم ، ولكن اقتضى حالهم من التعمق في الشرك القهر بالغيرة الإلهية ، فلم يرسل إليهم إلا ليباريهم ولا يداريهم

Its meaning is that Noah, peace be upon him, went to excess in tanzīh (declaring incomparability) because of their excess in tashbīh (declaring similarity). They affirmed the multiplicity of the Names and were veiled by multiplicity from unity. Had he not taken them to task with pure unification (tawḥīd) and unmixed tanzīh, but instead affirmed the multiplicity of the Names and called them to the 'One-Many' and the 'unified multiplicity,' clothing unity in the form of multiplicity, and combined the tashbīh-call with the tanzīh-call, as Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, did—they would have answered him: with what suited tashbīh from their outward aspects, due to their familiarity with associationism (shirk), and with what suited tanzīh from their inward aspects. But their state, given their deep immersion in shirk, required subjugation through divine jealousy (ghayra); so he was sent to them only to contend with them, not to conciliate them.

﴿ولو أنّ نوحا جمع لقومه بين الدعوتين﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

على ما هو مقتضى قابليّتهم الأصليّة ( لأجابوه )

in accordance with what their original receptivity (qābiliyya aṣliyya) required, (they would have answered him)

﴿ولو أن نوحا جمع لقومه﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

أي لقومه الذين لم يجيبوا دعوته إذ القوم الذين أجابوه لا يحتاج في حقهم إلى الجمع

i.e., for those of his people who did not answer his call — for those of his people who did answer him require no combination in their regard —

﴿بين الدعوتين﴾

أي دعوني التنزيه والتشبيه (لأجابوه) من كان شانه قبول الدعوة ولم تف الدعوة بدون الجمع ولو جمع لهذا الطائفة أجابوا دعوته لا بمعنى أنهم أجابوا كلهم . كما أن رسول الله تعالی جمع بين الدعوتين ولم يجب من لا استحقاق لقبول الدعوة كأبي جهل وأضرابه . فظهر أن الجمع لا يوجب إجابة الدعوة مطلقا ولم يفعل نوح عليه السلام كذلك لأنه لم يؤت بجوامع الكلم

That is, the two calls of tanzīh (declaring incomparability) and tashbīh (declaring similarity) — "they would have answered him," [meaning] whoever it was his nature to accept the call; and the call would not have been fulfilled without combining [the two] — had he combined [them], this group would have answered his call, not meaning that all of them would have answered. Just as the Messenger of God, Exalted, combined the two calls, yet did not obtain the response of one who had no worthiness to accept the call, such as Abū Jahl and his like. Thus it becomes clear that combining [the two calls] does not necessitate the answering of the call absolutely. Noah, peace be upon him, did not do this [combine them], because he was not given the comprehensive words (jawāmiʿ al-kalim).

﴿فدعاهم جهارا﴾

إلى الاسم الظاهر وأحديته القامعة لكثرات الأسماء الداخلة تحته . فلم يجيبوه بظواهرهم لغلبة أحكام الكثرة عليهم وإصرارهم به

to the manifest Name (al-ẓāhir) and its oneness which suppresses the multiplicities of the Names subsumed under it. But they did not answer him with their outward aspects, because the rulings of multiplicity prevailed over them and they persisted in it.

﴿فدعاهم " جِهاراً "﴾

[ 71 / 8 ] في مظاهر الصور ومواطن التشبيه تنزّلا إلى درك إدراكهم

[71:8] within the manifest forms and loci of tashbīh, descending to the level of their comprehension

﴿فدعاهم جهارا﴾

إلى الاسم الظاهر والتشبيه (ثم دعاهم أسرار) إلى الاسم الباطن والتنزيه فلم يجيبوه لما سيشير إليه الشيخ رضي الله عنه . (ثم قال : "استغفروا ربكم") ، أي اطلبوا منه ستر وجوداتكم وذواتكم وصفاتكم بوجوده وذاته وصفاته

to the Manifest Name and similarity (then he called them secretly) to the Nonmanifest Name and incomparability, so they did not answer him, as the Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, will indicate. (Then he said: "Seek forgiveness of your Lord") i.e., ask Him to veil (satr) your existences, your essences, and your attributes with His existence, His Essence, and His attributes

﴿فدعاهم جهارا﴾

أي ظاهرا وهو دعوته قومه إلى الحق بالتشبيه

That is, manifestly (ẓāhiran) — this is his calling his people to the Real through tashbīh.

﴿ثم دعاهم إسرارا﴾

إلى اسمه الباطن وأحديته الغامرة لكثرات الأسماء المنسوبة إليه ، لعل أرواحهم تقبل دعوتهم بالنور الاستعدادي الأصلي . فلم يرفعوا بذلك رأسا لتوغلهم في الميل إلى الكثرة الظاهرة وبعدهم عن الوحدة الباطنة ، واستيلاء أحكام التعينات المظلمة الجرمانية عليه

to His nonmanifest Name (al-bāṭin) and its oneness which submerges the multiplicities of the Names attributed to it—hoping perhaps their spirits would accept the call through the original preparedness-light (al-nūr al-istiʿdādī al-aṣlī). But they paid no heed to this, due to their deep engrossment in inclination toward manifest multiplicity and their distance from nonmanifest unity, and the dominance over them of the rulings of the dark, corporeal entifications (taʿayyunāt).

﴿ثمّ دعاهم﴾

بكلمته المبعوثة في زمانهم على لسانهم ( " إِسْراراً " ) [ 71 / 9 ] في مكامن المعاني ومسالك التنزيه ، تسليكا لهم إلى مراقي كمال حقيقتهم . ثمّ إنّه لما شاهد منهم التصامم والتقاعد عن دعوته إيّاهم ، وعرف ممّا نوّر عليه من مشكاة نبوّته أنّهم إنّما عملوا ذلك لما في قوّة قابليّتهم من طلب القرآن الكماليّ الذي هو غاية حقيقتهم النوعيّة ، وعرف أيضا أنّ كلمته النوحيّة المبعوثة في زمانه ذلك على ألسنة قومه إنّما يفصح عن التنزيه الفرقاني ، وذلك هو الذي عليه كلمتهم ولسانهم في زمانهم . فاقتضى ذلك أن يعتذر عن نفسه فيما صدر عنه من الإخفاء والفرقان ، فأشار إلى ذلك الاعتذار المترتّب على عرفانه بما رأى منهم بقوله

by his word, sent forth in their time upon their tongue, ("secretly") [71:9] within the hidden depths of meanings and the paths of tanzīh, guiding them along the ascending stages toward the perfection of their reality. Then, when he witnessed from them deafness and abstention from his call, and knew - from what had been illumined upon him from the niche of his prophethood - that they did so only on account of what lay within the power of their receptivity, namely, the demand for the perfect Qurʾānic [reality], which is the ultimate end of their specific reality; and he also knew that his Noahic word, sent forth in that time upon the tongues of his people, expresses only Furqānic tanzīh, and that this is what their word and tongue stood upon in their time - this required that he excuse himself for what had issued from him of concealment and separation. So he alluded to that excuse, consequent upon his knowledge of what he had seen from them, by his saying:

﴿ثم دعاهم أسرارا﴾

أي باطنا وهو دعوته بالتنزيه فقد دعاهم بالتنزيه والتشبيه لكنه لا على طريق الجمع لذلك أورد بثم المقتضي للتأخير والتراخي

That is, nonmanifestly (bāṭinan) — this is his calling through tanzīh. So he called them by tanzīh and by tashbīh, but not by way of combining [them]; therefore he introduced [the second call] with "then" (thumma), which entails delay and separation.

﴿ثم قال لهم : " اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ "﴾

الواحد ليستركم بنوره عن هذه الحجب الظلمانية والهيئات الفاسقة

—the One—so that He might veil you with His light from these veils of darkness and these depraved states.

﴿ثمّ قال لهم " اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّه ُ كانَ غَفَّاراً "﴾

[ 71 / 10 ] أي أمرهم بالستر لربّهم في صور الشعائر الشرعيّة ، إنّه قد بالغ في ستره نفسه ، على ما هو مقتضى بعثته ومؤدّى رسالته ونبوته . ثمّ لمّا بلَّغ ما كان له أن يعبّر عنه لسان رسالته وما أنزل إليه أن يعلَّمهم به ويوقفهم عليه ، وشاهد منهم ما شاهد من النفار والفرار ، جاء يعرض ذلك أداء لحق التبليغ . فلئن قيل : إذا كان نوح عارفا بالأمر على ما هو عليه من مشكاة نبوّته . وعلم أنّ عدم إجابتهم دعوته إنّما هو لما في جبلَّتهم من طلب القرآن الكماليّ الجمعيّ ، وكان الأنبياء مبعوثين لتكميل أممهم ، فما سبب توقّفه في إبلاغهم القرآن الكمالي مع طلبهم إيّاه ؟ قلنا : إنّ الأمم وإن كان متوجّه طلبهم الأصليّ ذلك الكمال القرآنيّ . ولكن لهم بحسب نشأتهم الطارية على أصلهم ألسنة بها يتدرّجون إلى مراقي فهمه ، والأنبياء مبعوثون بحسب تلك الألسنة ، فإنّ كل نبيّ إنّما أرسل بلسان قومه . اعتذار نوح عن قومه ولذلك وقف نوح موقف الاعتذار عن قومه ( و" قالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي دَعَوْتُ قَوْمِي لَيْلًا وَنَهاراً . فَلَمْ يَزِدْهُمْ دُعائِي إِلَّا فِراراً " ) [ 71 / 6 ] ، أي ما رضوا بذلك ولا قنعوا بما بلَّغتهم من الدعوة الفرقانيّة ، لما في جبلَّتهم من الأهليّة للجمعيّة القرآنيّة الكماليّة ، بحسب قابليّتهم الأصليّة . وإذ قد علم أنّ مقتضى تبليغه ومؤدّى أحكام رسالته إنّما هو الستر ، وما صدر عن قومه من الفرار عن دعوته وعدم السماع لها كلَّه يستلزم ذلك . فهم أجابوه فعلا في صورة الإباء والإعراض ، أظهر ذلك أيض

[71:10] i.e., he commanded them to conceal [Him] for their Lord's sake in the forms of the legal rites, [and told them that] He has exceeded in concealing Himself, in accordance with what his mission required and what his message and prophethood conveyed. Then, when he had conveyed what it was for him to express by the tongue of his message, and what had been sent down to him that he might teach them and inform them of, and he witnessed from them what he witnessed of aversion and flight, he came to present that in fulfillment of the duty of conveyance. If it be said: since Noah knew the matter as it truly was, from the niche of his prophethood, and knew that their failure to answer his call was only due to what was in their innate disposition of demanding the perfect, comprehensive Qurʾān, and since the prophets were sent to perfect their communities, what then was the reason for his withholding the perfect Qurʾān from them, given their demand for it? We say: the communities, though their original demand was directed toward that Qurʾānic perfection, nevertheless have, by virtue of their contingent constitution superimposed upon their origin, tongues by which they gradually ascend the stages of its comprehension; and the prophets are sent in accordance with those tongues, for every prophet was sent only with the tongue of his people. Noah's excuse for his people And for this reason Noah stood in the position of excusing his people, ("and he said: My Lord, indeed I called my people night and day, but my calling only increased them in flight") [71:6] - i.e., they were not satisfied with that, nor content with what I conveyed to them of the Furqānic call, on account of what was in their innate disposition of fitness for the comprehensive, perfect Qurʾānic reality, in accordance with their original receptivity. And since it is known that what his conveyance required and what the rulings of his message conveyed was only concealment, and that what issued from his people - flight from his call and refusal to hearken to it - altogether necessitates that, they in fact did answer him, in the form of refusal and turning away; this too became apparent

﴿ثم قال لهم﴾

بعد الدعوة ("استغفروا ربكم" سورة هود : 3) . يعني لما علم نوح منهم أنهم لا يجيبون دعوته أبدا ولا يصلون إلى المعارف الحاصلة من الإجابة وعلم أن طريق وصولهم إلى ما يدعو إليه قومه لا يكون إلا بالاستهلاك يدعوهم به ليحصل لهم هذا المقام فقال

after the call ("Seek forgiveness of your Lord" — Sūrat Hūd: 3). That is, when Noah knew of them that they would never answer his call, and would not attain the gnoses (maʿārif) resulting from acceptance, and knew that the only path by which his people could reach that to which he called them was through annihilation (istihlāk) — he called them to it so that this station might be attained for them. So he said:

﴿اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ﴾

الذي كشف لكم حجابيّات الآيات المتلوّة عليكم من هذا الكتاب المسطور الفرقاني في حجابية تعيّنات سور النفس الرحماني في صور الكفر والستر على عين الكشف والجهر

who has unveiled to you the veiling aspects of the signs recited to you from this inscribed discriminating Book (al-Furqān), within the veiling determinations of the forms (suwar) of the Breath of the All-Merciful (al-nafas al-raḥmānī), in the forms of disbelief and concealment, over the very [reality of] unveiling and openness.

﴿استغفروا ربكم إنه كان غفارا … دعوت قومي ليلا ونهارا، فلم يزدهم دعائي إلا فرارا﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

ولما كانت هذه الحكمة في كلمة نوح ومرتبته، قال: إنه، عليه السلام، لو كان يجمع بين الدعوتين، أي لو كان يجمع في دعوته بين التشبيه والتنزيه كما جمع في القرآن بينهما، لأجابوه، لأنه لو أتى بالتشبيه، لحصلت المناسبة بينه وبينهم من حيث التشبيه، إذ كانوا مثبتين لأصنامهم الصفات الكمالية، لذلك قالوا

And since this was the wisdom contained in the Word of Noah and his rank, he said: Had he, upon him be peace, combined the two calls — that is, had he combined in his call tashbīh and tanzīh, as they are combined in the Qur'an — they would have answered him. For had he brought tashbīh, a correspondence would have been established between him and them from the aspect of tashbīh, since they affirmed for their idols the perfective attributes. That is why they said:

﴿استغفروا ربكم﴾

أي اطلبوا ستر وجوداتكم بظهور الحق بالصفة النهارية حتى يحصل لكم الوصلة إلى الحق باستهلاككم فيه لعدم قابليتكم واستعدادكم إلى حصول كمالكم بغير هذا الطريق وهو الهلاك فإذا هلكوا فقد وصلوا كمالهم. لكن لا يجديهم نفعا لعدم وقوعه في أوانه (أنه) أي الله تعالى

That is, seek the covering (satr) of your existences through the manifestation of the Real with the diurnal attribute (al-ṣifa al-nahāriyya), so that connection (wuṣla) to the Real may be attained for you through your annihilation (istihlāk) in Him — since you lack the capacity (qābiliyya) and preparedness (istiʿdād) to attain your perfection by any way other than this, namely destruction (halāk). So had they been destroyed, they would have attained their perfection. But this availed them nothing, since it did not occur at its [proper] time. ("Indeed He") that is, God, Exalted —

﴿"إِنَّه كانَ غَفَّاراً "﴾

كثير الستر لهذه الذنوب المربوطة . وشكا إلى ربه لبعدهم عن التوحيد ومنافاتهم عن حاله

—abundant in veiling these attached sins. And he complained to his Lord of their distance from unification (tawḥīd) and their opposition to his state.

﴿إِنَّه ُ كانَ غَفَّارا﴾

فاكفروا بهذا الكفر وآمنوا بما فيه من الستر ، يغفر لكم ذنوبكم ، ويكشف عليكم عيونكم ، ويظهر غيوبكم ، فإنّه كإستار الحقائق ذواتكم في غيب عينه « كان الله ولا شيء معه » من كونه ، فلمّا أحبّ أن يعرف ويعرّف إليكم منكم وفيكم بما عرف ، غلب عليكم نور التجلَّي ، وبهركم ما وقر وقرّ فيكم من أسرار التدلَّي والتولَّي ، فانقلبت حقيقة التلقّي ، بصورة الإعراض والتوقّي ، فحجبتم بالنور عن النور . وكذلك دأب غلبة الوضوح ، وشدّة الظهور تورث في نور الأبصار الضعيفة ظلمة الحجاب ، وتؤثّر صورة الحيرة والارتباك والارتياب ، فاستولت عليكم هذه الحالة في أوّل شرّتكم ، فحجبتم عن الوحدة الأصليّة الأصلية المستورة في كثرتكم فكفرتموه بحجابيّاتكم وسترتموه بإنانيّاتكم ، فوجبت المجازاة بالستر والغفران ، في مقابلة ما وقع من الكفر والطغيان ، والانحراف عن حقيقة الاعتدال الوسطي إلى حجابيّة الظاهرية والإطراف بالعصيان ، حتى يستركم عن نادية كثرة الفرقان ، ويجمعكم بجنان الوحدة والجمع من القرآن ، فإنّ في ذلك من الكمال ، ما ليس في ظاهرية الجلال والجمال ، وذلك هو مجتمع الأنوار والضلال ، والأمان من الحيرة والضلال ، فلم يعرفوا ما بيّن وقال ، وبهتوا في النور عن الضلال والاستظلال ، فقال كما قال عنه سلام الله عليه

So disbelieve with this disbelief, and believe in what it contains of concealment (satr), that He may forgive you your sins, and unveil your eyes for you, and manifest to you your unseen realities. For it [forgiveness] is like the veils (astār) of the realities [covering] your essences in the nonmanifestness of His Essence — "God was, and nothing was with Him" — of His Being. Then, when He loved to be known and to make Himself known to you, from you and in you, by what He knew, the light of self-disclosure (tajallī) overwhelmed you, and what settled and became fixed within you of the secrets of descent (tadallī) and turning-toward (tawallī) dazzled you. So the reality of receptivity was overturned into the form of aversion and self-protection, and you were veiled by the light from the Light. And such is the habit of the domination of clarity and the intensity of manifestation: it produces in weak eyes, [even] in the light, the darkness of veiling, and it produces the form of bewilderment, confusion, and doubt. So this state overcame you in the beginning of your onrush, and you were veiled from the original Oneness concealed within your multiplicity. Thus you disbelieved in it through your veiling-states (ḥijābiyyāt), and you concealed it through your I-nesses (ināniyyāt). So recompense by concealment and forgiveness became necessary, in requital for what occurred of disbelief and transgression, and the deviation from the reality of the middle balance (iʿtidāl) into the veiled state of the outward and the extremes of disobedience — until He conceals you from the wilderness of the multiplicity of the Criterion (Furqān), and gathers you into the gardens of oneness and gathering (jamʿ) of the Qurʾān. For in that there is a perfection not found in the outwardness of Majesty and Beauty, and that is the confluence of lights and error, and safety from bewilderment and error. But they did not know what He made clear and said, and they were dumbfounded in the Light, away from error and seeking shade. So he [Noah] said, as it was said concerning him, peace of God be upon him:

﴿"إنه كان غفارا"﴾

[نوح : 10]. كثير الستر لهذه الذنوب وشكى الى ربه ("قال رب إني دعوت قومي ليلا") من حيث حقائقهم الباطنة إلى التنزيه ( "ونهارا" ) [نوح :5] من حيث حقائقهم الظاهرة إلى التشبيه ("فلم يزدهم دعائي إلا فرارا" ) [نوح: 6] ويفروا مما دعوتهم إليه. (وذكر) نوح عليه السلام عن قومه أنهم تصامموا عن دعوته إلى التنزيه حيث جعلوا أصابعهم في آذانهم واستغشوا ثيابهم

Much concealing of these sins, and he complained to his Lord ("He said: My Lord, indeed I called my people by night") from the aspect of their nonmanifest (bāṭin) realities, unto incomparability (tanzīh), ("and by day") [71:5] from the aspect of their manifest (ẓāhir) realities, unto similarity (tashbīh), ("but my calling only increased them in flight") [71:6], and they fled from that to which I called them. Noah, peace be upon him, mentioned concerning his people that they feigned deafness to his call to incomparability (tanzīh), whereby they put their fingers in their ears and wrapped themselves in their garments,

﴿كان غفارا﴾

أي ستارا لمن طلب الستر. فدعاهم بثلث دعوات إلى الباطن وهو التنزيه وإلى الظاهر وهو التشبيه وإلى الفناء في الله تعالى وهو

That is, One who covers for whoever seeks covering. So he called them with three calls: to the nonmanifest, which is tanzīh; to the manifest, which is tashbīh; and to annihilation (fanāʾ) in God, Exalted, which is:

﴿وقال " دَعَوْتُ قَوْمِي لَيْلًا "﴾

إلى الباطن ( "ونَهاراً " ) إلى الظاهر ( " فَلَمْ يَزِدْهُمْ دُعائِي إِلَّا فِراراً " ) لبعدهم عن التوحيد ونفارهم عما فيه

to the nonmanifest (bāṭin), ("and by day") to the manifest (ẓāhir), ("but my call only increased them in flight") because of their distance from unification and their aversion to what it contained.

﴿إِنِّي دَعَوْتُ قَوْمِي لَيْلًا وَنَهاراً فَلَمْ يَزِدْهُمْ دُعائِي إِلَّا فِراراً﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

قال رضي الله عنه : « وذكر عن قومه أنّهم تصامموا عن دعوته لعلمهم بما يجب عليهم من إجابة دعوته . قال العبد : فلمّا لم يفهموا عنه لسانه ، ولكنّهم علموا من حيث لا يشعرون شأنه ، عدل نوح عنهم إلى ربّه ،. فقال بلسان سرّه وقلبه : " إِنِّي دَعَوْتُ قَوْمِي " ليالي الغيب وهم في غيبة عن عينهم العينيّ ، وحضور من شهود نورك العيني الغيبيّ ، فلم يجيبوا إلى عبادة وحدانيتك ، وهاموا في كثرة تنوّعات تجلَّيات نورانيتك ، في ملابس حجب ظلمانيّتك ، واشتغلوا بنادية ما استعلوا بعباداتهم من الصور الأسمائية التعيينيّة ، وحجابيّات الكثرة الصنميّة من عزّاهم ولاتهم . "ثُمَّ إِنِّي دَعَوْتُهُمْ جِهاراً" في عالم الشهادة إلى شهود الوحدانية نهارا ، والأحدية الجمعية عنهم مستورة سترا لا يقبل الشهود والظهور بالنسبة إلى أن استغرقوا في شهود الكثرة والعدد ، واستهلاك أحدية نور التجلَّي في ظلمة ما يتعدّد ، فلم يصدّقوا حجّتي ، وصرفوا عن قصد محجّتي ، ولم يجيبوا إلى دعوتي " فَلَمْ يَزِدْهُمْ دُعائِي إِلَّا فِراراً " وأخذ بأسماعهم صمم الصلابة والغشاوة عن استماع ندائي ودعوتي ، وعقل ألسنة عقولهم عن الإقرار والإجابة لدعوتي ، ما سمعوا من الكلام الجهر الذاتي الإلهي بلا واسطة ثبوتي . " وَإِنِّي كُلَّما دَعَوْتُهُمْ لِتَغْفِرَ لَهُمْ " ذنوبهم في عصيانهم وطغيانهم

He, may God be pleased with him, said: "And it is mentioned regarding his people that they feigned deafness to his call, out of their knowledge of what would be obligatory upon them were they to respond to his call." The servant [i.e., the commentator] says: When they did not understand his tongue, yet knew — without perceiving it — his true state, Noah turned from them to his Lord, saying with the tongue of his secret and his heart: "Indeed I called my people" during the nights of the Unseen (ghayb), while they were absent from their entified eye (ʿayn al-ʿaynī), and present in the witnessing of Your entified/nonmanifest Light (nūr al-ʿaynī al-ghaybī); yet they did not respond to the worship of Your Oneness, but wandered lost in the multiplicity of the varied manifestations of Your luminosity, clothed in the garments of the veils of Your darkness, occupied with the wilderness of what they exalted themselves by in their worship of the entified forms of the Divine Names, and the veiling multiplicities of idol-like [worship] — their mighty ones ('Azzā) and their patrons (their idols). "Then indeed I called them openly" in the world of witnessed manifestation (ʿālam al-shahāda), by day, to the witnessing of Oneness, while the Unity of Gathering (aḥadiyya jamʿiyya) remained concealed from them, veiled in a concealment that did not admit of witnessing and manifestation relative to their being immersed in the witnessing of multiplicity and number, and the annihilation of the oneness of the light of self-disclosure in the darkness of what is multiple. So they did not believe my proof, and they were turned away from the intent of my path, and they did not respond to my call: "but my calling only increased them in flight." And the deafness of hardness and the veil seized their hearing from listening to my call and my summons, and the tongues of their intellects were bound from acknowledgment and response to my call, [from] what they heard of the openly-declared, essential, Divine Speech without an established intermediary. "And indeed, every time I called them that You might forgive them" their sins, in their disobedience and their transgression,

﴿إني دعوت قومي ليلا ونهارا﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

أي، في العلانية. أو ليلا، في الباطن والغيب بالدعوة الروحانية، ونهارا، أي في الشهادة والظاهر بالدعوة الحاصلة بالقوى الجسمانية. (فلم يزدهم دعائي إلا فرارا) من قبول الوحدة وشهود الحق المطلق الظاهر بصور الكثرة

— that is, in the open. Or [alternatively]: "night" refers to the inward and the unseen, by the spiritual call, and "day" refers to the visible and the manifest, by the call effected through the corporeal faculties. "(But my calling only increased them in flight)" — from accepting oneness and witnessing the absolute Real manifest in the forms of multiplicity.

﴿دعوت قومي﴾

أي أخبر عن دعوته قومه

That is, he reports concerning his calling of his people.

﴿ليلا ونهارا﴾

أي تنزيها وتشبيه (فلم يزدهم دعائي إلا فرارا) صلة الفرار محذوفة للعموم وهي من وإلى إذ الفرار حركة لا بد له من البدء والغاية فكان المعنى في حق الخواص إلا فرارا من وجوداتهم إلى الله تعالى. أي تركوها ووصلوا إلى الله تعالی نكان ابتداء الفرار وهو الستر من وجوداتهم وذواتهم وغايته الحق . فكان هذا الكلام منه في حقهم مدحا وثناء لازمة يفهمه العلماء بالله . وكذلك في حق العامة مدح لكون ابتداء فرارهم من ذنوب أنفسهم وانتهاؤه إلى جناب الحق بحسب مراتبهم وأما في حق قومه من المشركين فذم لـ فرارهم من الحق إلى اللذات الحسية

That is, by tanzīh and tashbīh ("but my call has only increased them in flight"). The complement of "flight" (al-firār) is omitted for the sake of generality, and it is [understood as] "from" and "to," since flight is a movement that necessarily has a starting point and a goal. Thus the meaning, with respect to the elect (khawāṣṣ), is: flight from their [contingent] existences to God, Exalted — that is, they abandoned them and arrived at God, Exalted. The beginning of the flight was the covering [away] from their existences and essences, and its terminus was the Real. So this statement of his, with respect to them, was praise and commendation — a necessary implication understood by those who know God (al-ʿulamāʾ bi'Llāh). Likewise, with respect to the common people (al-ʿāmma), it was praise, since the beginning of their flight was from the sins of their own souls, and its end was to the presence of the Real, according to their ranks. But with respect to his people among the polytheists (mushrikūn), it was blame, on account of their fleeing from the Real to sensory pleasures.

﴿وذكر عن قومه أنهم تصامموا عن دعوته﴾

لأنهم فهموا بحكم ما غلب عليهم من الاحتجاب بالكثرة من الاستغفار الستر عما لا يوافقهم وينافي مقامهم وحالهم ودينهم من التوحيد الذي يدعوهم إليه

because they understood, by virtue of what dominated them of being veiled by multiplicity, from 'seeking forgiveness' (istighfār) a veiling from that which did not suit them and which opposed their station, state, and religion—namely the unification (tawḥīd) to which he was calling them.

﴿وذكر نوح عن قومه أنهم تصامموا عن دعوته لعلمهم بما يجب عليهم من إجابةدعوته﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

أي، لما علموا أن إجابة دعوته واجبة عليهم، تصامموا وسدوا أسماع قلوبهم بعدم القبول لقوله. كما قال: و

— that is, when they knew that answering his call was obligatory upon them, they feigned deafness and stopped the ears of their hearts through non-acceptance of his word. As He said:

﴿وذكر عن قومه أنّهم تصامموا عن دعوته ، لعلمهم بما يجب عليهم من إجابة دعوته﴾

أي هم علموا بحسب استعدادهم الأصلي أنّ الذي يجب عليهم في هذه الدعوة ، هو هذا النوع من الإجابة ، وهو الذي في صورة الإباء ، حتّى يعلم أنّهم ما قنعوا بهذا القدر من العرفان ، ولهم استيهال ما وراء ذلك من الكمالات المدّخرة لنوعهم . قال الشيخ رضي الله عنه

i.e., they knew, in accordance with their original preparedness, that what was obligatory upon them in this call was this very kind of response, which takes the outward form of refusal - so that it might be known that they were not satisfied with this measure of gnosis, and that they had a claim to what lies beyond it of the perfections reserved for their kind. The Shaykh, may God be pleased with him, said:

﴿وذكر عن قومه أنهم تصاموا عن دعوته لعلمهم بما يجب عليهم من إجابة دعوته﴾

Quotes words that differ from our text (wavy underline).

قال رضي الله عنه

He, may God be pleased with him, said:

﴿لعلمهم بما يجب عليهم من إجابة دعوته﴾

أي لما علموا بحسب اقتضاء حالهم ومقامهم أن إجابة دعوته في مقام التقييد الأسمائى . إنما يجب على هذه الصورة قال رضي الله عنه

that is, because they knew, in accordance with the requirement of their state and station, that answering his call in the station of Nominal restriction (taqyīd asmāʾī) was obligatory only in this form. He, may God be pleased with him, said:

﴿لعلمهم بما يجب عليهم من إجابة دعوته﴾

فتصامموا عنها لئلا يجب عليهم إجابتها. وكان هذا العلم حاصلا لهم بحسب فطرتهم الأصلية وإن لم يعملوا بما اقتضاه لغلبة الظلمة الحجابية عليهم

so they feigned deafness to it, lest it become incumbent upon them to respond to it. This knowledge was present in them according to their original fiṭra (innate disposition), even though they did not act according to what it required, on account of the veiling darkness that overcame them.