al-Amīr ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Jazāʾirī · Kitāb al-Mawāqif fī baʿḍ ishārāt al-Qurʾān ilā al-asrār wa-l-maʿārif
المواقف
The Book of Stations
Mawqif 58 · “For those who do good, the best, and more”
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 117, Damascus 1966, p. 118, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 123, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 124 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا الْحُسْنَى وَزِيَادَةٌ»
He, exalted is He, said: "For those who do good is the best, and more" (Q 10:26).
الْمُرَادُ: أَحْسَنُوا لِأَنْفُسِهِمْ•
What is meant is: they did good to themselves.
وَأَحْسَنُوا دَخَلُوا حَضْرَةَ الْاِحْسَانِ، فَاِنَّ الْحَقَّ ـ تَعَالَى ـ لَا يُحْسِنُ أَحَدٌ اِلَيْهِ، وَلَا يُسِيءُ، كَمَا قَالَ: «مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحاً فَلِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ أَسَاءَ فَعَلَيْهَا»
And "they did good" means they entered the Presence of iḥsān; for no one does good to the Real, exalted is He, nor does anyone do Him harm, as He said: "Whoever does a righteous deed, it is for his own soul, and whoever does evil, it is against it" (Q 41:46).
وَالْاِحْسَانُ هُوَ الْحُضُورُ مَعَ اللَّهِ ـ تَعَالَى ـ فِي الْأَعْمَالِ الصَّالِحَةِ•
Iḥsān is being present with God, exalted is He, in righteous deeds.
وَهُوَ يَسْتَلْزِمُ اِخْلَاصَ الْعَمَلِ مِنْ كُلِّ شَوْبٍ،
It entails making the deed pure of every admixture,
وَفَسَّرَ ـ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ـ الْاِحْسَانَ كَمَا فِي الصَّحِيحِ، فِي حَدِيثِ سُؤَالِ جِبْرِيلَ ـ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ ـ فَقَالَ: «هُوَ اَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ»•
The Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, explained iḥsān, as is found in the Ṣaḥīḥ, in the ḥadīth of Gabriel's questioning (peace be upon him), saying: "It is that you worship God as though you see Him."
يَعْنِي الْعِبَادَةَ عَلَى الْحُضُورِ•
He means worship performed in presence.
فَالْعِبَادَةُ الْخَالِصَةُ مِنَ الشِّرْكِ الْخَفِيِّ؛ لَا تَكُونُ اِلاَّ لِمَنْ دَخَلَ حَضْرَةَ الْاِحْسَانِ•
So worship pure of hidden association belongs only to one who has entered the Presence of iḥsān.
وَقَدْ وَعَدَ اللَّهُ ـ تَعَالَى ـ وَوَعْدُهُ الْحَقُّ، فَاِنَّهُ لَايُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ مَنْ عَبَدَهُ، كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ بِالْحُسْنَى، أَيِ الْمَعْرِفَةِ وَالشُّهُودِ اللَّائِقَيْنِ بِهَذِهِ الدَّارِ•
God, exalted is He, has promised (and His promise is the truth, for He does not break the promise) whoever worships Him "as though you see Him" the best, that is, the knowledge and beholding befitting this abode.
وَالزِّيَادَةِ وَهِيَ الْمَعْرِفَةُ وَالشُّهُودُ اللَّائِقَانِ بِالدَّارِ الْآخِرَةِ•
And with the increase, which is the knowledge and beholding befitting the abode of the next world.
فَاِنَّ الشُّهُودَ هُنَاكَ أَتَمُّ، وَالْمَعْرِفَةَ أَكْمَلُ، لَا أَنَّ الشُّهُودَ يَتَبَدَّلُ وَالْمَعْرِفَةَ تَتَغَيَّرُ،
For beholding there is more complete and knowledge more perfect; not that beholding is exchanged or knowledge altered,
فَاِنَّ صَاحِبَ الشُّهُودِ وَالْمَعْرِفَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا، يَكُونُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ كَمَا هُوَ فِي الدُّنْيَا، كَمَا قَالَ بَعْضُ الْعَارِفِينَ، هُمْ، ـ يَعْنِي الْعَارِفِينَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ، كَمَا هِيَ فِي الدُّنْيَا اِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ•
For the one who possesses beholding and knowledge in this world will be in the next world as he is in this world, as one of the knowers said: "They" (meaning the knowers) "in the next world are as it is in this world," God willing.
وَاِنْ كَانَ الْحِجَابُ مُصَاحِباً فِي الدَّارَيْنِ، لِأَنَّ رِدَاءَ الْكِبْرِيَاءِ لَايَرْتَفِعُ عَنْ وَجْهِهِ ـ تَعَالَى ـ لَا دُنْيَا وَلَا آخِرَةً، كَمَا وَرَدَ فِي الصَّحِيحِ•
This is so even though the veil accompanies him in both abodes, because the cloak of grandeur is not lifted from His face, exalted is He, neither in this world nor in the next, as has come in the Ṣaḥīḥ.
وَلَيْسَ بَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ وَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَنْظُرُوا اِلَى رَبِّهِمْ؛ اِلاَّ رِدَاءُ الْكِبْرِيَاءِ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ فِي جَنَّةِ عَدْنٍ•
There is nothing between the folk and their looking upon their Lord but the cloak of grandeur upon His face in the Garden of Eden.
وَرِدَاءُ الْكِبْرِيَاءِ هُـوَ أَوَّلُ التَّعَيُّنَاتِ، وَهُوَ الْحَقِيقَةُ الْمُحَمَّدِيَّةُ•
The cloak of grandeur is the first of the determinations, and it is the Muḥammadan Reality.
وَقَوْلُهُ– صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ–: «اَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ» تَعْلِيمٌ لِدُخُولِ حَضْرَةِ الْاِحْسَانِ، وَاِذْنٌ فِي تَخْيِيلِ الْحَقِّ– تَعَالَى– بِالْحُضُورِ مَعَ الْعَابِدِ، وَأَنَّهُ فِي قِبْلَةِ الْمُصَلِّي، وَبَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ الْقِبْلَةِ، وَأَنَّهُ يُنَاجِيهِ– كَمَا فِي صَحِيحِ الْأَخْبَارِ–
His saying, God bless him and give him peace, "that you worship God as though you see Him," is instruction for entering the Presence of iḥsān. It is also permission to imagine the Real, exalted is He, as present with the worshipper: that He is in the qibla of the one praying, and between him and the qibla, and that He converses intimately with him, as in the sound reports,
فَاِذَا أَرَادَهُ اللَّهُ– تَعَالَى– لِقُرْبِهِ، وَأَزَالَ الْحِجَابَ عَنْ عَيْنِ بَصِيرَتِهِ؛ صَيَّرَهُ اِلَى حَالَـةٍ لَايُعَبِّرُ عَنْهَا لِسَانٌ، وَ لَاتَخْطُرُ لِعَاقِلٍ بِجَنَانٍ؛ مِنْهَا أَنْ يَرْفَعَ عَنْهُ الْكَافَ مِـنْ كَأَنَّ•
Then, when God, exalted is He, wants him for His nearness and removes the veil from the eye of his inner sight, He brings him to a state that no tongue can express and that does not cross the heart of any intelligent person. Part of it is that He removes from him the kāf of ka-anna (the "as" of "as though").
وَحِينَئِذٍ تَصِيرُ حَضْرَةُ الْاِحْسَانِ فِي حَقِّهِ؛ فِيهَا نَوْعُ سُوءِ أَدَبٍ، لِمَا فِيهَا مِنَ الْحَصْرِ وَالتَّقْيِيدِ بِالنِّسْبَةِ اِلَى مَا صَارَ اِلَيْهِ•
At that point the Presence of iḥsān, in his case, becomes something containing a kind of discourtesy, because of the confinement and restriction in it relative to what he has come to.
وَحَسَنَاتُ الْأَبْرَارِ سَيِّئَاتُ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ،
The good deeds of the pious are the bad deeds of those brought near,
وَاِنَّمَا أَمَرَ– صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ– وَرَغَّبَ فِي حَضْرَةِ الْاِحْسَانِ، تَعْلِيماً وَتَدْرِيجاً وَتَدْرِيباً لِمَا هُـوَ أَعْلَى وَأَقْدَسُ وَأَغْلَى وَأَنْفَسُ وَهُـوَ– صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ– سَيِّدُ الْمُعَلِّمِينَ، وَأَحْكَمُ الْعَالَمِينَ•
He, God bless him and give him peace, commanded and encouraged the Presence of iḥsān only as teaching, gradual progression and training toward what is higher, holier, more precious and more valuable. He, God bless him and give him peace, is the master of teachers and the wisest of all beings.
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