it is a seizing restricted by an attribute: unbelief, which is nothing other than concealment. It resembles what is behind, because the human being does not perceive it.
We have never seen the seizing of encompassing occur through witnessing, wherever it appears. When God seizes any of His friends, He seizes him only from behind, lest He take him by surprise. He seizes him gently, so that he does not feel it. When the friend senses this, he becomes intimate through the delight he finds within it, because it is not through a witnessing that annihilates him.
(Turning Aside and Gathering by Way of Allusion)
For this reason He turned aside from the first statement through the particle bal, ‘rather,’ saying, ﴿Rather, it is a glorious Qur'an﴾ [al-Burūj 85:21]—that is, a noble gathering, meaning the Names and attributes He possesses—﴿within a preserved Tablet﴾ [al-Burūj 85:22]. This is you, by allusion and analogical consideration. And you are not, in relation to yourself, in any direction, although the directions are within you and there is none but you.
What is behind was thus negated through this turning aside, yet it was not negated in any respect, for it is your very entity. Nothing remains in existence but a single entity, which is you. Be attentive to what we have indicated through this turning aside. ﴿God speaks the truth, and He guides the way﴾ [al-Aḥzāb 33:4].
Chapter Five Hundred and Fifty-Four: On Knowing the State of a Pole Whose Abode Was ﴿Do not suppose that those who rejoice in what they have done and love to be praised for what they have not done﴾ [Āl ʿImrān 3:188]
