Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alterna- tion of night and day there are signs for people of pith. Those who remember God standing and sitting and on their sides The signs which the Real سبحانه presents to ordinary people are from the lessons and the vestiges [of people gone by] in the regions [of the heavens and the earth]. The signs which He presents to the elect are within their souls. [God] سبحانه said “We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and in their own souls” [41:53]. The outer signs lead to the knowledge of certainty ʿilm al-yaqīn while the inner signs lead to the eye of certainty ʿayn al-yaqīn. The alternation ikhtilāf of night and day alludes to the different responses ikhtilāf to the night among the servants. The nights of the people of communion are short and the nights of the people of separation are long. [Someone] said: Months pass- we have not noticed their midpoints nor their ends. And he said: For you morning is drunkenness and the night a hangover. You slept even as the days of happiness were short. A second [poet] said: After they departed the nights were long in so many ways- [once short] the night of the lovers is [now] long. A third [poet] had nothing to say about the length or brevity of the night for he said because of what had overwhelmed him: How should I know whether the night was long or notḍ How can one who is on fire know thatḍ If I had paid attention to the length of the night I would have been deprived of watching the stars. For people of pith: The people of pith ulū l-albāb are those whose intellects have been kept sound from the drunkenness of forgetfulness and inattention. The sign of one like this is that his gaze will be through the Real. When he gazes from the Real to the Real his gaze is in the right direction. But when he gazes from created beings and things to the Real his thoughts are thrown into upheaval which causes a state of confusion. Those who remember God standing and sitting: Remembrance dhikr permeates their every moment. If they stand it is in remembrance of Him.
