The Seal of the Wisdom of the Imam in the Word of Harun (Aaron)
Know that the existence of Harun, peace be upon him, was from the presence of mercy (rahamut) by His words, "We endowed him with Our mercy, making his brother Harun a Prophet." (19:53) So his prophethood was from the presence of the Rahamut. He was older than Musa, and Musa was greater than him in prophethood. The prophethood of Harun is from the presence of mercy (rahma) and, for that reason, he said to his brother Musa, peace be upon him, "O son of my mother!" (7:150) So he called to him by his mother, not by his father, since, in principle, mercy belongs in greater abundance to the mother than the father. Were it not for that mercy, the mother would not have the patience necessary for upbringing. Then he said, "do not seize me by the beard or by the hair," (20:94) and do not let my enemies gloat over me. All this is one of the breaths of mercy. The reason for that is the lack of ascertainment in looking at the tablets which had been given into his hands. If he had looked at them with ascertainment, he would have found guidance and mercy in them.
Musa would have found guidance, which is an elucidation of what happened in the matter which made him angry and of which Harun was innocent, and mercy towards his brother. He did not take him by the beard because of that state in which he saw his people because of his age, for Harun was older than him. That was compassion for Musa from Harun because the prophethood of Harun is from the mercy of Allah. Only the like of that issued from him.
Then Harun said to Musa, "I was afraid that you would say: You have caused division in the Tribe of Israel,'" (20:94) and you would make me the cause of their division since the worship of the Calf divided them. There were some of them who worshipped it following and imitating the Samiri, and there were some of them who refused to worship it until Musa returned to them so that they might question him regarding it. Harun was afraid that he would have that division between them attributed to him.
Musa knew the matter better than Harun because by his knowledge he knew the One the people of the Calf worshipped since Allah decreed that only He would be worshipped. When Allah decrees something, it must occur. Musa chided his brother Harun since the business consisted of disavowal and inadequacy. The gnostic is the one who sees Allah in everything, rather he sees Him as the source of everything. Musa was teaching Harun with the instruction of knowledge even though Musa was younger than him in age.
For that reason, when Harun said what he said, he turned to the Samiri and said to him, "What did you think you were doing, O Samiri," i.e. what were you doing in turning aside to the form of the Calf, and in your making this shape from the jewelry of the people so that you captured their hearts for the sake of their wealth? 'Isa used to say to the Tribe of Israel, "O Tribe of Israel! Every man turns to where his wealth is, so put your wealth in heaven, and then your hearts will be in heaven." Wealth is only called that (mâl) because by essence it inclines (yumîl) the hearts to worship. It is the greatest and most exalted goal in the hearts since they need it. Forms have no going-on, so the form of the Calf must vanish. If Musa had not hastened to burn it, jealousy would have overcome him. So he burned it and then scattered the ashes of that form in the sea. He told the Samiri, "Behold your god." He called it a god to alert him in order to teach him that he did know some of the places of divine tajalli, "I will surely burn it!"
The animality (hawayâniyya) of man has freedom of action over the animality of animals since Allah has subjected animals to man, especially in view of the fact that man's origin is not animal. Man has greater subjugation because that which is not-animal does not possess will. In fact, the non-animal is under the jurisdiction of whoever administers it without any recalcitrance whatsoever. The animal, on the other hand, has both will and instinct. Recalcitrance appears in some of its actions. If it has the power to manifest that, reluctance and resistance to what man wants appears from it. If it does not have that power or if what the man wants agrees with what the animal itself wants, then the animal obediently follows what is wanted of it.
Even so, man's "like" follows a command in whatever Allah has called him to in respect of the wealth which he hopes for from Him, which is designated in some states by "the other World" as when Allah says, "We have raised some of them above others in rank so that some of them are subservient to others." (43:32) His like is only subjugated to him by his animality, not by his humanness. The two likes are two opposites. The higher is degree subjugates the lower in degree by wealth or by rank with his humanness, and that other was subjected to him either by fear or greed from his animality, not from his humanness, so his like is not subjected to him.
Do you not see that what is among the beasts in the way of jostling against one another is because they are likes? Two likes are two opposites. That is why He said, "and He raised some of them above others in rank," so he is not with him in rank, and so subjugation occurs in respect of rank. Subjection is of two kinds. First, there is subjection intended by the subjector like the active conqueror when he subjects this subjected person - like the subjugation by the master of his slave although he is his like in humanness, and like the subjugation of the Sultan of his subjects who are his like in humanness, He subjugated them by rank.
The second sort is subjugation by the subjects of the king establishing their command that he drive harm away from them, protect them, do battle against those who attack them, and preserve their property and lives. All this is subjection through state by the subjects who subjugate their king in this act. In reality, it is called the subjection of rank. Rank has jurisdiction over him by this act. There are kings who work just for themselves, and there are those who recognise the matter and know that their subjectsı' subjugation of them is by rank. He knows their power and rights. Allah rewards him for that with the reward of those who know. The reward of the like of this is up to Allah, in Allahıs being involved in the affairs of His slaves, for all the universe is subjected by state. Who is there who cannot be referred to as being "subjected"? Allah said, "Every day He is engaged in some affair." (55:29)
Lack of power was in fact the armour of Harun which saved him from the people of the Calf by mastery over the Calf as Musa had mastery over it. This is a wisdom from Allah which is manifest in existence that He should be worshipped in every form. When the form departed after that, it only departed after it had been clad with divinity by its worshipper. For this reason, there is no species but that it is worshipped, either by the worship of making divine or by the worship of subjugation. That must be so for the one who has intellect.
Nothing is worshipped in the universe except after it is clad in elevation for the worshipper and its rank is manifest in his heart. For that reason, Allah called Himself for us, "the Exalter of ranks," and He did not say the "Exalter of rank," for ranks are many in the same source. He decreed that we worship only Him in many ranks. Each rank accords a divine locus of tajalli which is worshipped in it, and the greatest locus of tajalli in which He is worshipped and the the highest, is passion (hawa). As He said, "Have you seen him who takes his passion to be his god?" (45:23) It is the greatest idol. Nothing is worshipped except by it, and it is only worshipped by itself. Of it I say:
The truth of passion is
that passion is the cause of passion.
If there had not been passion in the heart,
passion would not have been worshipped.
Do you not see how perfect Allah's knowledge of things is? How it is completed it in respect of the one who worships his passion and takes it as a god? He said, "he who Allah has misguided knowlingly." (45:23) Being astray is bewilderment (hayra). That is when this worshipper sees that what he worships is only his passion, by following it in obedience to Him in what He commanded him of worship of whichever person worships Him, until his worship is for Allah the Great. That too is from passion because if passion had not occurred in him in that pure presence – and it is the will to love – he would neither have worshipped Allah nor preferred Him to others. In the same way, everyone worships a certain form among the forms of the universe, and takes it as a god, and he only takes it by passion. The worshipper is under the power of his passion.
Then he sees that idols take on various forms among the worshippers. Each worshipper, for some reason, denies the one who worships another. What he has is a nearer perception which is confused by the unity (ittihâd) of passion, rather by the oneness (ahadiyya) of passion as He mentioned. It is the same source in every worshipper. Allah led him astray, i.e. confused him in respect to a knowledge that every worshipper only worships his own passion, and only seeks to worship his passion whether or not it agrees with the command of the Shari'a.
The complete gnostic is the one who sees that every idol is a locus of Allah's tajalli in which He is worshipped. For that reason, they are all called "god" in spite of having a particular name of a stone, tree, animal, man, star, or angel. This is the nature of the personality in it. Divinity is a rank which the worshipper imagines it to have, and it is the rank of his idol. In reality, it is a locus for the tajalli of Allah belonging to the sight of this particular worshipper devoted to this idol in this particular locus of tajalli.
This is why some of those who did not recognise an ignorant statement said, "We only worship them so that they may bring us nearer to Allah" (39:3) although they called them "god", as they said, "Has he turned all the gods into One God? That is truly astonishing." (38:5) They do not deny Him, rather they are amazed. They stop at the multiplicity of possible forms and the ascription of divinity to them. That is why the Messenger came and called them to one God who is recognised and not witnessed by their witnessing. They confuse Him with them and believe in Him when they say, "We only worship them so that they may bring us nearer to Allah" by their knowledge of those forms in stones. This is why the proof went against them when He said, "Say: Name them!" and they only named them by what they know those names to have in reality.
As for those who recognise the matter for what it is, they manifest the form of denying what is worshipped in the way of forms because their rank is in knowledge, and their rank is in accord with their being based on the principle of the moment, since they know that the moment is one of the mighty places of the tajalli of Allah in which He gives tajalli at each moment by some of His attributes. This is why time (ad-Dahr) is one of Allahıs Names. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Do not curse time, for time is Allah!" At every moment, people are overcome by the principle of the quality in which He gives tajalli at that particular moment. The Messenger who is sent in that moment is the greatest manifestation of the perfection of that quality. He calls creation to Allah, manifested by tajalli in him, by obedience to him, which is obedience to Allah, as Allah says, "Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah." (4:80) This is why is obligatory to trust in him and obey him.
However, the gnostics know that they do not worship the forms themselves. Rather, they worship Allah in them according to the power of the tajalli which they know of these forms. The one who denies and has no knowledge of what Allah has manifested in tajalli is ignorant of this. The complete gnostic veils himself from the Prophet and Messenger and their heirs. He commands himself to leave that form which the Messenger of the moment left in order to follow the Messenger desiring Allah's love for them by His words, "Say: if you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you." (3:31) He called on a God to whom one has recourse and Who is known in respect to the whole and is not witnessed, "nor do the eyes perceive Him, but He perceives the eyes" (6:103) by His lutf and His diffusion in the source of things. The eyes do not perceive Him as they do not perceive their spirits which govern their shapes and outward forms. "...He is the Latif, the All- Aware."
Experience is tasting, and tasting is tajalli. Tajalli occurs in forms. They must be and it must be, and the one who sees Him by his passion must worship Him, if you only knew! Allah possesses the goal of the path.