“... a golden cow bright in color gladdening to beholders.” They said “Pray to your Lord for us that He make clear to us what she may be; the cows are all alike to us; and if God wills we shall then be guided.” Just as her [bright] color would have been perceived by the eyes the allu- sion here is to those of the people of the story ahl al-qiṣṣa whose witnessing overwhelms the hearts [of others] because of that which is clothed with the garment of invincibility jabarūt and made to rise from the witness of the unseen. One notices that someone like this is oblivious to human states and is overtaken by the remembrance of the Real. Thus in the transmitted tradition: The friends of God are those who when they are seen God is remembered.
