'Mention me to your lord', in other words, seek existence at the station of the spirit through love and settlement therein, for when love intoxicates the spirit with the wine of divine love, the spirit rises to the station of [inclusive] unity and the heart to the station of the spirit: at that station the spirit is referred to as being 'hidden' (khafiyy) and the heart as being a 'mystery' (sirr), but none of that is annihilation because both of them would in that instance be in existence and engulfed by the light of the Truth. Such a halting at this station gives rise to insolence and I-ness, which is why He says: But Satan caused him to forget to remember his Lord, in other words, the Satan of estimation causes Joseph the heart to forget to remember God, exalted be He, by being annihilated in Him, [and this was] because of that lingering presence of the remnant and the seeking of the station of the spirit - for otherwise, he would have been distracted from remembering [both] his soul and his existence. It was because of his being veiled at this station and because of this remnant that he tarried, in prison for some years. To this the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, alluded when he said, 'May God have mercy upon my brother Joseph. Had he not said, “mention me to your lord”, he would not have stayed in prison for some years'. Or [it could also be interpreted as] that the vanquished Satan of estimation, forbidden and veiled from the Side of the Truth caused the Messenger of love brought near after the raising of his degree, his mastery and the prevailing of his authority as well as his bewilderment in the divine beauty and the overwhelming intoxication, to forget to mention Joseph the heart in the presence of presential vision, because the lover who witnesses the [divine] beauty is bewildered and oblivious to all creatures, including the differentiations of his existence, nay, his very soul, immersed as he would be in the source of the union until his annihilation is complete and his intoxication comes to an end, whereafter he returns to wakeful consciousness (ṣaḥw) and remembers the differentiation. Moreover, when his annihilation comes to an end at his immersion in the sea of Ipseity and obliteration in the Essence of [exclusive] Unity and the period of imprisonment is concluded, God, exalted be He, will give him life through His life and will endow him with an existence from His Essence and His attributes.
