He said, exalted is He, “Fulfill My covenant” [al-Baqara 2:40] within the domain of obligation, this world; “I shall fulfill your covenant” in both abodes, this world and the Hereafter. This much suffices in this chapter, if God, exalted is He, wills. “God speaks the truth and He guides the way” [al-Ahzab 33:4].
Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety-Seven: On Gnosis of the Abode of Praise of the Shaping of Adam’s Clay in the Highest Station, from the Muhammadan Presence
Be transcendent, O shaped creation,
Equally upon the attribute of the Shaper.
Do not look at what changed from it
And the Messenger brought from heaven.
If you fear the brink, you are supported within it
Through what hope’s place of safety gives.
A Solomonic [one] stood before me;
Through her I abide in ease from ease.
Notes
Translator’s note TN6081-1: The poem’s hāla minhu, “changed from it,” leaves the referent compressed. The first written al-rajā is provisionally “the brink,” beside the final al-rajāʾ, “hope”; poetic omission of the hamza in the first occurrence also remains possible. Sulaymāniyya, “Solomonic,” supplies no noun; rakhāʾ permits ease or a gently blowing wind. The main rendering does not identify the feminine figure.
