Kashani Tafsir

Everything in the heavens and the earth glorifies God, and He is the Exalted, the Wise. He who desires to make his glorification of Him limpid should make his heart limpid without the traces of his soul, and he who desires his life in the Garden to be limpid should make his religion limpid without the filth of caprice. The world's folk are two groups: The life of one group is with the Real's gentleness and bounty, and their ease is the glorification and remembrance of the Real. The life of the other group is a mark of the Real's justice, and their ease is found in the shares of the soul. Those who are the folk of gentleness and bounty have a heart that is limpid, an aspiration that is high, and a breast that is empty for the divine remembrance. Their tongue is given over to bearing witness, their heart turned over to recognition, their spirit mixed with love, their secret core fled to God, and their own attributes disowned. It has been said that every attribute of selfhood is an attachment, every attach- ment a color, and every color a disgrace in the road of men. He who painted a thousand worlds with color- why would He buy my color and yours, O bankrupt man! The glorification and remembrance of this group come from the pure quarry and reach the pure Lord, accepted and approved by God, as He says: “To Him ascend the goodly words, and He uplifts the wholesome deed” [35:10]. As for those who are the mark of the Real's justice and who live through the shares of the soul, their breast is tainted with appetite, their heart is the quarry of trouble, and their inwardness is dif- ferent from their outwardness. Their names are written in the register of the hypocrites. Their acts are different from their words, just as the Lord of the Worlds says:

Everything in the heavens and the earth glorifies God, and He is the Exalted, the Wise. He who desires to make his glorification of Him limpid should make his heart limpid without the traces of his soul, and he who desires his life in the Garden to be limpid should make his religion limpid without the filth of caprice. The world's folk are two groups: The life of one group is with the Real's gentleness and bounty, and their ease is the glorification and remembrance of the Real. The life of the other group is a mark of the Real's justice, and their ease is found in the shares of the soul. Those who are the folk of gentleness and bounty have a heart that is limpid, an aspiration that is high, and a breast that is empty for the divine remembrance. Their tongue is given over to bearing witness, their heart turned over to recognition, their spirit mixed with love, their secret core fled to God, and their own attributes disowned. It has been said that every attribute of selfhood is an attachment, every attach- ment a color, and every color a disgrace in the road of men. He who painted a thousand worlds with color- why would He buy my color and yours, O bankrupt man! The glorification and remembrance of this group come from the pure quarry and reach the pure Lord, accepted and approved by God, as He says: “To Him ascend the goodly words, and He uplifts the wholesome deed” [35:10]. As for those who are the mark of the Real's justice and who live through the shares of the soul, their breast is tainted with appetite, their heart is the quarry of trouble, and their inwardness is dif- ferent from their outwardness. Their names are written in the register of the hypocrites. Their acts are different from their words, just as the Lord of the Worlds says:

O you who have faith, why do you say what you do not do? Concerning the hypocrites to whom these words refer, the Lord of the Worlds says,

O you who have faith, why do you say what you do not do? Concerning the hypocrites to whom these words refer, the Lord of the Worlds says,

Greatly hateful to God is it that you say what you do not do. Very ugly, inappropriate, and hated by God are words that do not bring deeds in conformity, or preaching in which the preacher has no portion of the practice. Do not prohibit the people and then do the like of that! Your disgrace is tremendous when you do so. God revealed to Jesus, “O son of Mary! Counsel yourself. If you take the counsel, counsel the people. Otherwise, have shame before Me.”

Greatly hateful to God is it that you say what you do not do. Very ugly, inappropriate, and hated by God are words that do not bring deeds in conformity, or preaching in which the preacher has no portion of the practice. Do not prohibit the people and then do the like of that! Your disgrace is tremendous when you do so. God revealed to Jesus, “O son of Mary! Counsel yourself. If you take the counsel, counsel the people. Otherwise, have shame before Me.”