8. Al-Anfal
Abu Huraira (r.a.) narrates:
Rasulullah (saw) said:
“An ‘offering’ will not bring the sons of Adam anything which they do not already expect, in fact, it is Allah’s ordainment that attracts the sons of Adam. I weigh what ought to be given. With that judgment I will seek its attainments from the miser.” (Bukhari- Tajrid 2066)
“O believers, when you are invited to that which revives you (the knowledge of the reality) attend to the invitation of Allah and the Rasul. Know well that (if you do not attend to this invitation) Allah will intervene between the person’s consciousness and his heart (Allah creates a barrier between his emotions and reason, abandoning him to an emotional state of existence that comprises his hell through the system of the brain) and prevent him. To Him you will be gathered (you will reside in a realm in which the Absolute Reality will become apparent; you will be evaluated by the qualities of the Names that comprise your essence).” (Quran 8:24)
As can be seen from Rasulullah’s teachings, everything from the moment the universe came into being, till eternity, is known and determined. And nobody can change his destiny!
Everyone has to live his own fate. Indeed, the AHAD (inseparable) quality of Allah necessitates this to be so!
By the one who is denoted by the name Allah (who created my being with His Names in accord with the meaning of the letter ‘B’), the Rahman, the Rahim.
1. They ask you about the distribution of the spoils of war... Say, “The spoils of war are for Allah and His Rasul... Protect yourselves from Allah (from the consequences of not living your essential reality) and amend the relation (brotherhood based on faith) between you (by observing each other’s essential reality). If you are true believers, follow Allah and His Rasul (for your essential reality and the articulator of that reality wants you to experience your essential reality).
2. The believers (who are certain in their faith) are those who, when they mention and think of Allah, their consciousness shivers (they feel their impotence in respect of His might) and when His signs are recited to them, it increases their faith (to the extent they are able to contemplate)... They trust (submit to) their Rabb (they believe the Name Wakil in their essence will fulfill its function).
3. They are the ones who establish salat (through introspectively turning toward Allah, they realize all things are subject to His command and experientially acknowledge there is nothing in existence other than the Names of Allah, thereby manifesting the reality “Allah is pre and post eternal – the Baqi”) and they spend from what We have provided them (material provision or spiritual provision yielded as a result of experiencing the essence of salat).
4. They are the true believers (whose faith is founded on enquiry and verification)... They have degrees (formed by the stations of the Names comprising their essence) and forgiveness (formed by the knowledge – the forces of Names – that covers [dissolves] the ego-self) and generous provision (both material and spiritual).
5. Just as when your Rabb had taken you out of your home by making you experience the reality (i.e. this decision was not made as a result of your emotions, but rather based on the wisdom of your Rabb) some of the true believers were not pleased with this.
6. Even though the Truth had become clearly apparent, they were not accepting it... As if they were deliberately going toward death.
7. Remember when Allah promised you that one of the two groups (the Quraishi army or the caravan) will be yours... You wanted the unarmed group (the caravan) to be yours (you were interested in short-term gain, the one with an easy return, whereas this was going to give you harm in the long-run)... But Allah willed to establish the Truth with His warnings and eliminate the deniers of the reality.
8. (He wanted) to establish the Truth and invalidate that which is vain and baseless... even if those who commit crime against Allah dislikes it!
9. Remember when you asked for help from your Rabb and He answered you, “Indeed I will reinforce you with a thousand angels in succession.”
10. Allah did this only as good tidings and so your hearts would be assured by it... Help and victory is only from Allah... Indeed, Allah is the Aziz, the Hakim.
11. Remember when He formed a state of tranquility and security from Him, and sent down water from the sky (water symbolizes knowledge, the state of certainty and the actualization of Allah’s will) to purify you (from ego-based emotions) and to rid you of the filth of Satan (fear and doubt) and to strengthen the observation of the Truth in your consciousness and secure your feet (with this knowledge). (This verse is an example of the symbolic/allegoric expression in the Quran. For, ‘rain’, when taken literally, cannot secure one’s feet or cleanse one from satanic impulses. This is an example of how such verses should be construed and evaluated.)
12. Remember when your Rabb had revealed to the angels, “Indeed I am with you (since Allah cannot be literally next to the angels, this verse is referencing what is known in Sufism as ‘Unity of Existence’, thus, the angels are consciously aware that the power inherent within them is none other than the power of Allah)... Secure the believers... I will cast fear into the hearts of the deniers... Strike them upon their necks (anchor the deniers upon their delusion) and strike all their fingers.”
13. This is because they opposed Allah and His Rasul, and separated and detached themselves from Allah and His Rasul... And whoever opposes Allah and His Rasul, indeed Allah is the Shadid al-Iqab (severe in enforcing the due consequence of an offence).
14. Here it is (the results of your deeds), so taste it! And for the deniers of the knowledge of the reality, there is the suffering of the fire (the flames of which burns both internally and externally).
15. O believers... When you meet those who collectively deny the knowledge of the reality, do not turn your backs on them!...