Fusus al-Hikam The Seals of Wisdom by Shaykh al ... - ImagoMundi

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 notanimal
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