Did you not read the story of the people of Seba? Perhaps you did, but I heard only noise. That mountain does not understand; a mountain’s intellect cannot grasp meaning. The mountain gives voice without understanding, deaf and senseless. But when you are silent, it too falls silent. Allah bestowed great abundance and ease upon the people of Seba, granting them hundreds of thousands of palaces, animals, and gardens.
These ill-tempered individuals did not show gratitude for this blessing. They were less loyal than a dog. If a dog is given a morsel of bread through a gate, it will attach itself to that gate, becoming a servant, a watchman for the gate. Even if mistreated, if its food is provided adequately, it will not abandon that gate. It settles there, refusing to go elsewhere.
If a stray dog were to wander there, the dogs of that place would harass it day and night. Return to your first abode; you were blessed from there, and the right of those blessings is to pledge your heart there, they say. Go back, do not abandon that blessing excessively, they urge.
You too have tasted the water of life from the gate of the heart and its people, and your eyes have been opened. Your soul has nourished itself with the language, grace, and selflessness of those who are of the heart. Yet, you abandoned that gate due to greed, wandering around every shop. You rush about seeking a small crumb at the door of those who generously bestow blessings. Know this, dear soul: true richness is found here; it is in a state of despair that one’s affairs are rectified.
The place of worship for Jesus is the gathering place of the people of the heart. Come to yourself, O afflicted one! Do not abandon this gate. People gather from all directions – blind, lame, crippled, and disabled—all waiting at the gate of the place where Jesus worshipped, hoping to be healed by his breath.
When Jesus finishes his recitation and emerges at dawn, he sees many afflicted and distressed people sitting at the gate, hoping for a cure through his prayer. He prays: “O Allah, grant the desire of you all, fulfill your aims. Now walk free from illness and hardship; turn to Allah’s judgment and grace.”
As if tied to their feet, they resemble camels, and he releases their bonds with encouragement. They immediately regain health and joyfully continue on his way through his prayer.
You too have suffered many afflictions and witnessed experiences from them. You have found healing from the noble ones of the royal lineage; how often has your limp been corrected? How many times has your soul been freed from sorrow and tribulation?
Yet, you are acting heedlessly, as if tying ropes to your feet to prevent yourself from losing control! You do not show gratitude; you have forgotten the blessings you have attained. This forgetfulness does not bring to mind the times when you tasted honey. Indeed, that path has become bound to you because the hearts of the people of the heart are grieved and displeased with you.
Hasten to find them, confess your faults, and repent. Weep and moan like clouds. Then may their gardens of the heart open to you, and ripe fruits be scattered upon you. If you are a companion of the dog of the Cave Dwellers at that gate, do not be less than a dog. Even dogs advise each other to attach their hearts to their first home.
Attach yourself firmly to the first gate where you ate bones; do not abandon consideration for others. Let him be refined and go there so he may find salvation at that first gate – bite him, urge him on.
Do not openly display your ingratitude; do not expose it in vain. Loyalty is the nature of dogs. Go forth, do not malign the name of dogs, they say. The Mighty Allah Himself boasted of loyalty, saying: “Who among mankind shows loyalty besides Us?” Be loyal only after rejecting and disregarding rights.
Know that this loyalty is itself the very essence of ingratitude. For no one has a greater claim to Allah than Allah Himself. Even the right of a mother comes after the right of Allah, for Allah is the One who owes your existence to you in the form of an embryo within her womb. Allah clothed you in a form within her body, granting her rest and comfort during pregnancy and accustoming her to you.
She sees you as part of herself. Allah’s decree separates that part from the mother. Allah arranged thousands of arts and sciences; thus, she bound herself to you with love and compassion. Therefore, the right of Allah precedes the right of a mother; he who does not know this is a donkey.
It is He Who created your mother, her breasts, and her milk, and paired her with your father. Do not be rebellious towards Him.
O Allah, O ancient bestower of blessings, You know what I know and what I do not know. Remember Allah, for my right will never perish. In that morning hour, remember when I preserved you in Noah’s ark, and thus bestowed blessings upon you. At that time, I protected your origins, your ancestors from the flood and its waves, granting them mercy.
The fire-like water covered the earth, and its wave reached the peaks of the mountains. I did not reject you; I protected you in the presence of your father, his father, and his father. How can I strike you with My foot now that you are a leader? How can I ruin My own domain? You are sacrificing yourself to ungrateful people, going towards them due to suspicion.
I am free from ingratitude. Even if you were to come to me, you would come with bad intentions. You become twice as much like your own kind; be suspicious of those like them. How many noble and esteemed friends and companions have you made? When I ask where they are, you will say they have gone.
Your excellent friend has ascended to the lofty heavens. Your evil friend has descended into the depths of the earth. You remain stranded in between, without help or support, a remnant of the caravan destined to be consumed by fire. O father, cling to the feet of the one who is exalted above all things, both from above and below—He neither ascends to the heavens like Jesus nor descends to the earth like Qarun.
You have risen above the earth, your home, your possessions, and your trade; He is with you in the world of manifestation and in the world of non-existence. He extracts purity from impurity, replaces injustice with grace, and listens attentively so that you may be freed from imperfection and attain perfection.
If you abandon your recitation in times of hardship, you will fall into distress and tribulation. That is discipline—do not change that old covenant. Before this inner anguish takes the form of a chain, before what binds your feet becomes apparent, that reasonable hardship you undergo turns into something appealing to your heart and manifests itself.
When you commit sins, inner anxieties fill your heart; these anxieties take the form of a chain after death. A narrow existence is given to those who are reluctant to mention us, and they are punished with blindness. When a thief steals from people’s possessions, an inner anguish and constriction begins to grip his heart. “What is this distress? What is this constriction?” he says. Is there no oppressed person weeping for their loss? That is his distress; that is his constriction.
If he does not pay attention to this constriction and this hardship, the wind of his stubbornness will fan his fire. In short, inner anguish becomes the pressure of officials; those meanings become audible and visible and manifest themselves. Troubles become prisons and crosses. Trouble takes root; a root is hidden, then it appears. Consider your hardship and prosperity as a root. If it is a bad root, quickly uproot it so that an unsightly thorn does not sprout in the meadow. When you see inner anguish, find a remedy for it, because branches come from the root. Once you have seen abundance, water it; when it grows and bears fruit, distribute it to friends.
The people of Seba yielded to their desires and were ill-mannered individuals. Their actions and power were in showing ingratitude towards the blessings of the superiors. This ingratitude was like doing evil to one who bestows favors upon you, fighting against them. For example, if you were to do good to someone, you would say, “I don’t want this kindness; it hurts me; why are you hurting me?”
“Let us distance our cities from each other. Let evil and ugliness be better for us; let them take away our beauty and splendor. We do not want these palaces, gardens, and vineyards. How much business we have with beautiful women, how much safety and comfort.”
The cities are very close to each other, but there is a desolate desert and a beautiful plain there. There are predatory animals and monsters there,” they said. People desire summer and winter, but when winter comes, they do not want it; they never settle for one condition. They neither like hardship nor abundance, nor emptiness.
The human being who is misguided is also a disbeliever of his Lord. Once he attains guidance, he clings to disbelief. The nafs is one of these kinds of creatures, so it deserves to be annihilated. That’s why the Mighty Allah said, “Kill your selves.” The nafs is a three-cornered thorn; whatever way you twist it, it will prick you—is there any escape from it?
Abandon desire and passion; strike that thorn with fire; extend your hand to the good friend and embrace him!
When the people of Seba transgressed and showed such extravagance that they would say, “It is better than morning dew,” the Instructors advised them, trying to prevent their wickedness and disbelief. But they were intending to attack the blood of the instructors, sowing seeds of evil and disbelief.
When calamity comes, this world shrinks; even sweet halva tastes like poison in one’s mouth. When calamity comes, eyes close and do not see each other. The trickery of that rider raises a cloud of dust, which instantly distances you from seeking help. Ride towards the horseman, not towards the dust. Otherwise, the dust of the horseman will trample and destroy you.
Allah said to that man who was eaten by a wolf, “Did you not see the dust raised by the wolf? Did you not realize the dust raised by the wolf? With all your knowledge and skill, why did you wander about grazing?” Even sheep sense the scent of a wolf that will harm them and flee from it.
Even animals recognize lions by their scent, but he grazed. “Turn to Allah for refuge,” they say. They did not fear or be wary of the dust of the wolf; then the great wolf came crashing through. He tore apart those sheep. They had turned a blind eye to the shepherd. The shepherd called them as much as he could, but they scattered dust in his eyes.
“We are more than you; we are all leaders. How can we follow you? We are not food for wolves; we are not your people. We are fuel for fire; there is no shame in us,” they said.
Ignorance is a prejudice in the mind that causes crows to caw in the cities of those who cling to it, and their places become ruins. They dug pits for the oppressed but fell into the very pits they dug, beginning to wail. They skinned the skins of Joseph, but found what they had done.
Who is Joseph? Your heart seeking truth—that heart is bound in your homeland like a prisoner. You have chained him to a pole, opened hundreds of wounds on his wings and made him miserable. Then you bring him roasted calf, and sometimes you take him to the barn and say, “Eat this; it’s our fat food.”
But Allah has no sustenance for him other than union with Him. That distressed and wretched one will escape from this torment and this trial and complain to Allah, saying: “O Lord, I am exhausted from this old wolf.” Then Allah says to him, “Be patient; the time has come for Me to take revenge on every person who did not know.” Who but Allah answers cries?
“O Lord, my patience has run out of separation from Your face. I am Joseph, separated from the people of Samud, exalted above all things. O You who bestows blessings upon the lives of the prophets, either kill me or call me to Yourself, or come!” Even disbelievers cannot tolerate separation.
Even their hearts say, “If only I were dust.” “Your situation is such that you are without yourself;” they say. “But listen and be patient; patience is good. Dawn has approached, so be silent—do not get too excited. I am working for you, but you are not working!”
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