And when their state in turning towards the immediate is because it is attainable, and turning away from the outcome is because it is absent, it is similar to the state of those who were before them from the past nations and former generations. He made that clear to them and concluded by explaining the evil of their conditions and the ugliness of their outcome due to the loss of their deeds. He said, turning to the style of address, for it is more effective in the matter of reproach and more conducive to attracting benefits for the repentant: "Like those" meaning: the outcome of what has passed of your affair, O hypocrites, is that you are like those; and since the doer of what is mentioned is indeed some of those who have passed, he affirmed the preposition and said: "Before you" meaning: from the past nations. Then he began to explain their state and mention the point of similarity, saying: "They were stronger than you in power" because the time then was closer to the age of youth, "and more wealth and children." This refers to His saying: "So let not their wealth or their children impress you" [At-Tawbah: 55]. "So they enjoyed" meaning: they sought enjoyment and benefit in this world with utmost desire, turning away from the Hereafter, "with their share" meaning: their portion which Allah has decreed and created for them. It would have been more appropriate for them to attain it in the journey that is inevitable to the Hereafter. "So you enjoyed your share" meaning: like those who follow in their footsteps and are heading towards their fire. "As they enjoyed" and in the mention of His saying: "Those" and since they did not exhaust the past time, he affirmed the preposition and said: "Before you with their share" clearly and not implied, as a warning against their blameworthy state due to their lack of foresight for themselves, which necessitates the lack of their intellects, as they were inferior to them in strength, bodies, wealth, and children. They did not cease from enjoying and plunging out of fear of what obliterated those parties upon their strength from punishment without any benefit from any means. "And you plunged" meaning: you went into your sayings and actions haphazardly and without a straight path. "Like that" meaning: like their plunging which "they plunged" and it refers to their saying: "We were only engaging and playing" [At-Tawbah: 65]. Abu Hayyan said: It is borrowed from plunging into water and is only used in falsehood; for the handling of truth is indeed on order and system, and matters of falsehood are merely plunging. From it is His saying: blessings and peace be upon him: "Perhaps one who plunges into the wealth of Allah will have the Fire on the Day of Resurrection."

And when this verse informed them of loss, there arose a longing for the outcome of their affair. So he informed about that by saying: ﴿Those﴾, meaning: the far ones from goodness. It is apparent that this refers to those whom he described with severity and abundance of wealth and children. ﴿Their deeds have failed﴾, meaning: they have become corrupt and invalidated. ﴿In this world﴾, meaning: by its removal from them and forgetting its pleasures. ﴿And the Hereafter﴾, meaning: in the everlasting abode, for they did not strive for it as it should be striven for. And he increased in warning about their distance from what they intended for themselves of benefit by saying: ﴿And those are﴾, meaning: specifically ﴿the losers﴾, meaning: there is no loser in reality except them, for they have lost their share in both abodes, so they have lost themselves. There is no greater loss than that of one who resembles them. And perhaps in turning to the address there is also a warning for every listener from such a state, for it is valid that this saying is intended for this discourse. For indeed, one of the secrets of the Qur'an in its miraculousness is that its expression is directed towards something while its indication encompasses others by virtue of its description with the cause of that state or otherwise from the qualities. Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Harali said at the end of the 'Uruwat al-Miftah in explaining the comprehensiveness of the Qur'an for the entirety of the verse and for every reader who recites it from the people of understanding and certainty: Know that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has revealed the Qur'an as news about all the worlds. And that all that it has informed about, from the affair of Adam to the time of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon them, regarding prophethood, messages, caliphates, types of kings, pharaohs, tyrants, and types of criminals, and all that has befallen them from rewards and punishments from the day of Adam, peace be upon him, to the time of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, which is six thousand years or so, all of that is repeated in its entirety on the day of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, which is about a thousand years, in numbers with numbers and conditions with conditions, in good or evil. For each of the past ones is a parable that is repeated in this final nation, as he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "For every prophet before me in my nation is a counterpart." Then he mentioned, blessings and peace be upon him, the counterparts: "The example of Ibrahim is like Abu Bakr, and the example of Musa is like Umar, and the example of Harun is like Uthman, and the example of Nuh is like Ali, and the example of Isa is like Abu Dharr." And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "Indeed, I know the counterparts from my nation by their names and the names of their fathers and their tribes, both the disbelievers and the believers, from those who were and from those who are and from those who will be after. And if I wished to name them, I would have done so."

So, what has prevented most of this nation from understanding the Qur'an is their assumption that what is in it of the stories of the ancients and the news of the rewarded and the punished from the people of all religions is merely for the purpose of news and stories only, and it is not so! Rather, its purpose is to serve as a lesson and a reminder for a recurring observation in this nation of the parallels of all those events and those conditions and effects, so that the listener hears all of the Qur'an from its beginning to its end, applicable to this nation and its leaders, both its guides and its misled. At that time, the door of understanding will open for him, the light of knowledge will shine for him, the state of fear will direct him, and he will see among the types of this nation what he has heard of the conditions of the past centuries. And indeed, as has been said in the popular proverb: 'I mean you, so listen, O neighbor.'

Then when he witnesses the correspondence of the Qur'an with the entirety of the nation, he becomes knowledgeable by that, and a door of advancement opens for him. His hearing advances until he finds all of the entirety of the Qur'an that corresponds to the entirety of the nation corresponding to himself in the states of his soul, its fluctuations, his actions, and the crowding of his thoughts. Until he hears the Qur'an corresponding to him, he benefits from hearing all of it and considers any verse he hears from it. He seeks its position in himself and finds it in some way, whether it is a desire or a fear, whether it is closeness or distance to the highest of goals or to the lowest of levels. Thus, he becomes knowledgeable by that. This is the purpose of the indication in this section as a whole. Let us take an example that guides to understanding that correspondence with the entirety of the nation in knowledge and specifically with the essence of the listening reader. Know that the roots of the dual religions that have not advanced to the stability of the truths of the believers and those above them from the doers of good and the certain ones, which are all under the protection of the King, the recompense, and the accountability. Those who are terrified by the terrifying nature of death first, then the terrifying nature of the resurrection second, to what is included in the Day of Judgment from the horrors of the fifty positions, each position of which is a thousand years on a day whose measure is fifty thousand years. The number of these religions is seven. There is not a religion among them except that it exists in a category of this nation. You find it considered in itself at some time with little or much, with permanence or fleetingness, with weakness or strength following a dominant religion or from a fleeting glance. These seven religions are the religion of 'those who have believed' from this nation, and they have not realized the truth of faith, so they are not among the believers whose faith has become a stable description in their hearts, the monotheists who disavow reliance on strength and power, those who realize its meaning, as a decree from Allah upon them as He wills, not as they will. "Those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble, and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith, and upon their Lord they rely" [Al-Anfal: 2]. "Those are the true believers" [Al-Anfal: 4]. As for those who have believed, they are those who do not remain steadfast in their state of faith, but rather fluctuate from time to time. Therefore, they are the ones who are called upon, prohibited, and commanded in all of the Qur'an. The call is repeated upon them in a single surah many times, as indicated by His saying, the Exalted: "O you who have believed, fear Allah and be with the truthful" [At-Tawbah: 119] to His saying, the Exalted: "O you who have believed, whoever of you reverts from his religion" [Al-Ma'idah: 54] to what is between that, such as His saying, the Exalted: "Indeed, those who have believed, then disbelieved, then believed" [An-Nisa: 137]. These are the people of a stable religion, who are organized with those who do not have stability from the past religions, organized with those who have a foundation in the correctness of the three religions, as in His saying, the Exalted: "Indeed, those who have believed and those who are Jews and the Christians and the Sabians, whoever has believed in Allah and the Last Day" [Al-Baqarah: 62]. They are also organized with those who change their religions and those who fabricate a religion that Allah has not sent down with authority, as in His saying, the Exalted: "Indeed, those who have believed and those who are Jews and the Sabians and the Christians and the Magians and those who have associated others with Allah" [Al-Hajj: 17]. This is the first religion; as for the second religion, it is the religion of those who are Jews, among whom are those who were entrusted with the Torah but did not uphold it, and those who inherited the Book, taking a fleeting benefit from this world and saying: 'We will be forgiven.' And if a similar benefit comes to them, they take it, and those who write the Book with their own hands, then say: 'This is from Allah,' and those who envy people for what Allah has given them of His bounty, and those who consume usury, although they have been forbidden from it, and those who have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah and the Messiah, son of Mary. As for the third religion, it is the religion of those who said: 'Indeed, we are Christians,' among whom are those who have gone astray from the straight path, who have exceeded in their religion and said about Allah what is not true, and have taken their monks as lords besides Allah and the Messiah, son of Mary. As for the fourth religion, it is the religion of the Sabians, among whom are those who worship the stars, the sun, the moon, and the planets, and those who change them. They are, in order, the first to worship a tangible heavenly being. As for the fifth religion, it is the religion of the Magians, the dualists, who made two gods: light and darkness, and worshipped a tangible worldly being. As for the sixth religion, it is the religion of those who have associated others with Allah; they are those who worship a tangible earthly being, whether it is an idol or a statue. These six religions fulfill the count of six as mentioned in it. As for the seventh religion, know that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has made the seventh one always encompassing the six, whether good or evil. The seventh religion is the religion of the hypocrites, whose outward appearance is with those who have believed, while their inward is with one of the other five mentioned religions down to the lowest religion of its polytheists. When they meet those who have believed, they say: 'We have believed,' and when they are alone with their devils, they say: 'Indeed, we are with you.' These seven religions are entirely repeated in this nation in a manner similar to what occurred before in the past nations. This is guaranteed by the comprehensive hadith that mentions that in His saying, blessings and peace be upon him: "You will surely follow the ways of those before you, inch by inch and step by step, so much so that if one of them were to enter a lizard's hole, you would follow them in it." They said: 'O Messenger of Allah! Like what the Persians and the Romans did?' He said: 'And who are the people except them?' What the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, clarified in this hadith is part of the meaning of His saying, the Exalted: "Like those before you, they were stronger than you in power and more abundant in wealth and children. So they enjoyed their share, and you enjoyed your share as those before you enjoyed their share, and you have engaged in what they engaged in". And the people of these seven religions - or among them - are the inhabitants of the seven levels of Hell in their order, and the ones who are saved entirely and victorious are the believers and those above them from the doers of good and the certain ones. And there is an additional preference in that and a reiteration of the saying that will be pointed out by the will of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, from directions that follow the sects of this nation, following the ways of those who preceded them in that. As for the reason for the repetition of the religion of those who have associated others with Allah in this nation, it is due to their taking idols and deities that they worship besides Allah, tangible and material, just as the polytheists took idols and statues from stones and wood. This nation has taken, in a gentler and more hidden manner, idols and statues, for they have taken the dinar and the dirham as idols, and the gold and silver as statues, in that the idol is what has a form, while the statue is what does not have a form. He, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "The idol of my nation is the dinar and the dirham." And he said: "For every nation there is a calf, and the calf of my nation is the dinar and the dirham." There is no difference between the belief of the polytheist that the idol he made with his own hand benefits him and the belief of the deluded among this nation that what they have earned from the dinar and the dirham benefits them until their example is: 'Nothing benefits you except your dirham.'

﴿They swear by Allah that they did not say it, and indeed they said the word of disbelief and disbelieved after their Islam﴾ [At-Tawbah: 74]. So there is no verse that was revealed about the polytheists regarding their conditions, clarifying their misguidance, the details of their secrets, and their proclamations, except that it applies to every person who is captivated by his dinar and dirham. The statement of the polytheists regarding their idols ﴿We only worship them so that they may bring us nearer to Allah﴾ [Az-Zumar: 3] is similar to the statement of the captivated one: I do not love wealth except to do good and to seek assistance with it in acts of righteousness. If he truly wanted righteousness, then leaving the pursuit of wealth would be more righteous for him. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Indeed, what destroyed those before you was the dinar and the dirham, and they are your destroyers." So whoever loves them and is impressed by gathering them is a polytheist of this nation, and they are the two idols that invalidate his saying of 'There is no deity but Allah'; because he has taken his wealth as a deity. The Prophet ﷺ said: "There is no deity but Allah, a salvation for the servants of Allah from the punishment of Allah, as long as they do not prefer the transaction of their worldly affairs over their religion." So whoever finds in this a trace should listen to all that has been revealed in the Quran concerning the polytheists, as it applies to him and is revealed to him and surrounds him until Allah saves him from his polytheism, just as He saved those who were brought out from darkness into light from the earlier ones. So this polytheist is saved by what he has from the darkness that has enveloped the weakness of his faith to the clarity of the light of faith, in the meaning of His saying, ﴿To bring out those who have believed and done righteous deeds from darkness into light﴾ [At-Talaq: 11]. This is a point of preference that clarifies a kind of the recurrence of the religion of polytheism in this nation. As for the aspect of the occurrence of Magianism and its similarity in this nation, it is the consensus of people on seeing the actions from themselves, both good and evil, and attributing their actions to their creation, where their beliefs have firmly established that such-and-such is a doer of good, and such-and-such is a doer of evil, and such-and-such gives, and such-and-such withholds, and such-and-such is better than me, and such-and-such has given me, until they filled the records with poetry, speeches, and letters praising the creation of Allah for what they did not do, and blaming them for what they did not prevent. They praise the creation for the provision of Allah and blame them for what Allah did not give them, and they distort His names until some of them write to one another: "My master and my support and my most noble of numbers, your servant and your possession." They invalidate with this the brotherhood of faith and disbelieve in the equality of the creation of the Most Merciful, and they claim for themselves the actions of Allah, saying: We did and we made and we did well and we punished - a word of Nimrod, given to them without their realizing the exclusivity of Allah in it, by a matter like that which Ibrahim argued regarding his Lord when he said: I give life and cause death. And this is pure Magianism and absolute Qadarism, which does not validate the religion of Islam alongside it; because a Muslim is one who submits the creation and the command to his Lord.

﴿I have submitted my face to Allah and to those who follow me﴾ [Al-Imran: 20] ﴿Indeed, to Him belongs creation and command﴾ [Al-A'raf: 54] and what is besides that is Qadarism, which is the Magianism of this nation, where they made the servant a partner in the actions of the Lord. They made for him, glorified and exalted is He, power, strength, will, choice, and management. They did not know that the decree prevents management, and that He, glorified and exalted is He, manages the matter from the heavens to the earth. The Prophet ﷺ said, "The Qadarites are the Magians of this nation." Everything that Allah, the Exalted, has revealed in the Quran, which encompasses the mention of all sects and religions, from what he attributed to those who distributed actions between the truth and creation, from the words of one who is tyrannical or Nimrod-like or one who has authority, then for the believer, there is praise and blame in it according to how deeply they immerse themselves in those whom they claim to be partners with. They fear them and hope for them. So, every fearful one of creation or one who hopes from them is among those who have believed and those who have submitted in this nation. They are from the Magians of this nation. Let the listener hear what he reads from that as evidence against him, to ask Allah, the Exalted, to be freed from it, and to know that this has always been evidence against him even if he did not feel it before. This is one aspect of the occurrence of Magianism in this nation. As for the aspect of the occurrence of Sabianism and its like in this nation, it is what has dominated most of them, especially its kings and rulers, and those in leadership among them, from looking into the stars and acting according to what their appearance shows them of good and bad, and seeking rain through the stars, and relying on the winds, and the inclination of the heart towards celestial phenomena, judging by them according to what has occurred to those who have passed away, who know the apparent of this worldly life while they are heedless of the Hereafter. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Four things from my nation are considered disbelief, and they do not abandon them" - and he mentioned among them seeking rain through the stars. So, those who are concerned with their fear and hope in celestial phenomena are the Sabians of this nation, just as those who are concerned with their fear and hope in themselves and others from creation are the Magians of this nation. Likewise, those who are concerned with their longing and hope in their dirhams and dinars are the polytheists of this nation. Whatever secret each group of them has that they are concerned with in their fear and hope, that is their Lord and what they worship, to which all their actions are directed. The name of every person is written according to what his heart is assured of. Everything that has been revealed in the Quran regarding the falsification of the views of the Sabians is evidence against him, whether he reads it or hears it from where he does not realize, until a group reads the Quran, which is a warning for them before the impending severe punishment, while they do not realize and think that they will be shown mercy by it, and they are the greatest losers.

﴿And it does not increase the wrongdoers except in loss﴾ [Al-Isra: 82]. Among what is specific to this group that is deviating is what is similar to His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And thus We showed Ibrahim the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and that he might be of those who are certain﴾ [Al-An'am: 75] - the verses. In mentioning the star, the moon, and the sun, to the verses mentioning their subjugation, similar to His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And He is the One who made for you the stars that you may be guided by them in the darkness of the land and the sea﴾ [Al-An'am: 97] ﴿And the sun, the moon, and the stars are subjected by His command﴾ [Al-A'raf: 54] ﴿And He has subjected the sun and the moon, constantly﴾ [Ibrahim: 33] ﴿He is the One who made the sun a light and the moon a نور, and He has determined it as phases so that you may know the number of years and the calculation. Allah created that only in truth﴾ [Yunus: 5] ﴿And indeed, He is the Lord of Sirius﴾ [An-Najm: 49]. All of that is to divert the fear of creation and their hope from the celestial bodies and the stars that are subjected to the Subjugator, the Overpowering, above His servants who has taken His place over all of them. This is a way in which the calamity befalls those who have believed and those who have submitted in this nation. As for the way in which what has dominated this nation and has increased in it and has spread in their actions and conditions from the persistence of groups among them on a similar path to that of the Jews and Christians in their differences and the predominance of their conditions - their kings and their sultans - over the conditions of their prophets, scholars, and saints, it is that which this nation has warned against, and those of understanding have been made aware of its occurrence among them, similar to what is implied in His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And do not be like those who divided and differed after the clear proofs had come to them﴾ [Al-Imran: 105]. And what he ﷺ informed of: "You will certainly follow the ways of those who were before you, inch by inch and cubit by cubit, so much so that if they entered a lizard's hole, you would follow them." And in some narrations: "So much so that if among them was one who committed incest with his mother openly, you would follow him." We said: O Messenger of Allah! The Jews and the Christians? He said: "So who else?" The condition of these two sects has become strong and widespread in this nation due to what Allah has given them of the Book, knowledge, and wisdom. They differed in it for their own interests and desires, preferring the fleeting pleasures of this world. They excused the kings and rulers and permitted for them what Allah has forbidden and prohibited for them what Allah has permitted. They used them to achieve their own interests in transgressing against those whom they envied from the people of truth and uprightness. Oppression has increased among them, and their condition has settled into a state similar to theirs. Punishments similar to theirs have been imposed upon them, and this has persisted among them since the caliphate was transformed into kingship until the war lays down its burdens and all sects become one sect, and the division returns to the unity of monotheism. So whoever has taken and limited himself from this comprehensive Muhammadan Sharia, which encompasses the apparent and the hidden, a specific share from the apparent or the hidden and has not combined between them in his knowledge, state, and understanding, he is like the Jews of this nation regarding what is obligatory in the apparent Sharia without the truth of its hidden reality. He is like those who maintain the apparent conditions that allow the world to continue according to what pleases the kings of the time and their sultans, neglecting the actions of the inner selves, denying the conditions of the people of realities, witnessing their attachment of fear and hope to the people of this world, preferring the fleeting pleasures of this lower world. Thus, the conditions of the Jews have appeared in this nation. "The Bedouins passed by the Prophet ﷺ with a green, flourishing lote tree. The people of ignorance used to have a lote tree that they revered and gathered around and hung their weapons on it, calling it Dhatu Anwat. They said: O Messenger of Allah! Make for us this lote tree a Dhatu Anwat like they have a Dhatu Anwat! He ﷺ said: "You have said it, by the Lord of the Kaaba, just as the Children of Israel said: ﴿Make for us a god just as they have gods﴾ [Al-A'raf: 138]. Indeed, it is the traditions." So where the events of the Jews have appeared from oppression, envy, and the reverence of what is revered from the perspective of the world and the belittling of the weak believers, there the signs of Judaism are evident. Likewise, whoever has limited himself from this comprehensive Muhammadan Sharia to the hidden aspect of rectifying a condition or heart while neglecting the apparent matter and the sources of good and the support of Islam, and has been satisfied with what he has internalized and has neglected what he has manifested, he is among the Christians of this nation. He is not a person of distinction, so how can he be a person of the Qur'an? This is because this comprehensive religion is established upon the landmarks of apparent Islam and the symbols of faith in the hearts and the conditions of the inner self that are based on witnessing realities. The one who witnesses with Allah does not witness anything else, and the believer does not believe with Allah in anything else, nor does the Muslim submit to anything other than Him. Thus, it is completed, and groups have adhered to the landmarks of Islam that are called the scholars, and groups have adhered to the symbols of faith that are called the fundamentalists and the theologians. And groups have reached the reality of goodness that are called the Sufis. Whenever the scholar denies the truth of the conditions of the Sufis due to what he may see as a flaw in the conditions of the Sufis, he has taken on the traditions of the Jews. Whenever the Sufi does not honor the scholars due to what he may see as a flaw in the conditions of the scholars, he has taken on the traditions of the Christians. Likewise, the condition of the theologian is between the two sects, whichever way he leans. The leaders of the religion are those whom Allah has gathered to establish the landmarks of Islam and the faith of the people of faith and the witnessing of the people of goodness. Their skins and hearts soften to the remembrance of Allah, so the Sufis follow them, and the lights of their hearts shine upon the darkness of the ambiguous, so the people of faith follow them. The landmarks of Islam appear in their actions completely, so the people of Islam follow them. ﴿And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth humbly, and when the ignorant address them, they say, Peace﴾ [Al-Furqan: 63]. "The best of people is a believer with good character, and the worst of people is a disbeliever with bad character." So the people of distinction are comprehensive and insightful. Whoever has limited himself to the apparent and denied the hidden has incurred the blame of the Jews regarding what has been revealed in the Qur'an concerning them according to his immersion and limitation. Whoever has limited himself to the hidden without the apparent has incurred the blame of the Christians regarding what has been revealed in the Qur'an concerning them. It is mentioned that a righteous man from the Muslims entered a church and said to a monk there: Show me a pure place to pray in. The monk said: Purify your heart from anything else and stand wherever you wish. The righteous Muslim said: I was ashamed of him. Know that each of these two conditions is not the condition of a person of distinction nor the condition of a person of the Qur'an; because the person of the Qur'an does not feel ashamed of this saying because it is his condition, and his heart is purified from anything other than Allah. With that, he must also purify his apparent self; because Allah, glorified and exalted is He, just as He is the hidden, loves the purity of the hidden, He is also the apparent, loves the rectification of the apparent. So the person of the Qur'an, when called to the purity of the hidden, responds and does not stutter, and when called to the rectification of the apparent, he responds and does not hesitate in fulfilling the distinction and the right of the Qur'an. It is mentioned that a king, may Allah have mercy on him, entered the mosque after Asr and he is among those who do not see the prostration after Asr, so he sat and did not prostrate. A boy said to him: O Sheikh! Stand and prostrate. So he stood and prostrated and did not argue with him regarding what he sees as a doctrine. It was said to him about that, and he said: I feared that I would be among those ﴿And when it is said to them, Prostrate, they do not prostrate﴾ [Al-Mursalat: 48].

'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' The Prophet ﷺ stood by the water source of Zamzam. Al-Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, had made basins of sweet date drink. The Muslims were coming to him, and they had dipped their hands into it. The Prophet ﷺ inclined to drink from their drink. Al-Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said to him: 'O Messenger of Allah! Shall we not give you a drink from our water in our vessels?' He ﷺ said: 'I drink from this, seeking the blessing of the hands of the Muslims.' So he ﷺ drank from it. The companion of the Qur'an worships Allah, glorified and exalted is He, with his heart and body. He does not limit himself to the outward without the inward, nor to the inward without the outward, nor to the first without the last, nor to the last without the first. He ﷺ said: 'My nation is like rain; it is not known whether its beginning is better or its end.' Therefore, it is the right of the reader to consider the Qur'an as himself and to observe its points of blame for the difference. He should weigh his own conditions against these six religions in this nation. As for the reason for the occurrence of hypocrisy and the conditions of the hypocrites, they are the calamity of the reciters and the affliction of the caliph. He ﷺ said: 'Most of the hypocrites of my nation are its reciters.' Some of the great followers said: 'I encountered seventy who saw the Prophet ﷺ, all of them feared hypocrisy for themselves.' The root of their entry into creation is the preference of the sanctity of creation over the sanctity of the truth, out of ignorance of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and being deceived by people. Therefore, he should remain with the good qualities of the righteous and truthful outwardly, while he hates them in his heart inwardly. Following this, from the wavering between the two states, is what Allah, glorified and exalted is He, described of their conditions, and what the Prophet ﷺ clarified of their signs until he ﷺ said: 'Between us and the hypocrites are the witnesses of the night prayer and the dawn prayer; they cannot perform them.' And as Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said: 'And they do not come to prayer except while they are lazy, and they do not spend except with disdain.' [At-Tawbah: 54] The hypocrite looks at what he can use to discredit the virtues of the virtuous and turns a blind eye to their good qualities. It has been narrated that Allah hates the one who neglects the good deed of the believer while taking his bad deed. The sincere believer overlooks the faults of the people of faults; how about the defects of the people of virtues! Among the most apparent signs of the hypocrite is his annoyance with the actions of the truthful, as has been mentioned. There has never been a believer in the past nor will there be a believer in the future except that beside him is a hypocrite who hates his actions. About that hypocrite, he is a backbiter, a slanderer, stingy, cowardly, terrified, burdened in the gatherings of good, foreign to them, and belittling in the places of evil, advancing in them. He is fluent in gossip and slander, but heavy-tongued regarding the remembrance of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, neglecting the remembrance of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, in every state. He looks at people with every face, and with that, he pretends to be friendly with them but does not truly befriend them. He takes from the religion what benefits him in this world but does not take what benefits him in the Hereafter. He avoids in religion what harms him in this world but does not avoid what harms him in the Hereafter from what does not harm him in this world. This is a reason for the spread of hypocrisy in this nation. Therefore, it is the right of the reader to feel the locations of the Qur'an within himself, in the essence of his heart, in the conditions of his soul, in the actions of his body, in his secret with his Lord, and in his public dealings with his creation. For by this, he finds the entire Qur'an applicable to him, specific to him, until it seems as if all of it was revealed only to him. Until when he desires a matter, he inclines towards it from a perspective and does not say: 'This was only revealed regarding such and such.' And when he fears the Qur'an regarding a matter, he fears it from a perspective, and when he elevates, so likewise, and when he lowers, so likewise. He does not say: 'This was only revealed regarding such and such' until he finds for every part of the Qur'an a place in his actions, whatever the action may be, and a position in his soul, whatever the state may be, and an indication for his heart, whatever the observation may be. He listens to the Qur'an as a message from Allah, glorified and exalted is He, to him without any intermediary between him and it. At that point, it is likely that his skin will shiver at the beginning, then his skin and heart will soften at the end. Perhaps he will find from Allah, glorified and exalted is He, a breath of mercy that opens for him a door to embodying the Qur'an, following the example of the Prophet ﷺ. 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, was asked about the character of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and she said: 'His character was the Qur'an.' And by that, he is of great character - and Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing. The end.