Did We not expand for thee thy breast, and lift from thee thy burden that weighed down upon thy back, and raise up for thee thy mention? Know that when God brought the creatures from the concealment of nonexistence to the confines of existence with the command “Be!” and when He scattered over them the treasuries of mercy and the gardens of blessings, He showed largesse to that master of the world, that greatest child of Adam, through exalted bounties, generous gifts, and various sorts of favor. From the begin- ning of the cosmos to the annihilation of the children of Adam, all creatures are his followers. The first thing desired by the beginningless gentleness was he. He is the king, and the rest of the creatures are his army and horse. He is the dear guest, and the dear ones are all his followers and hangers-on. Look carefully at the edict of his splendor and the book of his good fortune to see if the specification and explicit statement of this announcement of generosity and elevation was given to any other prophet. Did We not expand for thee thy breast? “O paragon of the universe! O honored chosen one! O foremost messenger! O ennobled eminent one! Did We not brighten your heart with the light of recognition, give it courtesy and rectification with the subtleties of contemplation and unveiling, give it goodliness and proximity with the generous gifts of exaltedness and elevation, and give your clay the cape of adornment and the robe of elevation? “O master! The goal of creation was to unveil the sign of your perfection, the flag of your majesty, and the form of your beauty. 'But for thee, I would not have created the spheres. But for thee, the world would have neither bottom nor top.' “O master! You were the first in prophethood and the last to be sent out. You are the manifest in union and the nonmanifest in blessings. You are the first of all creatures in nearness and famil- iarity and the last in judgment and felicity. You are the manifest in sinlessness and greatness and the nonmanifest in the majesty of state.” In the reports about the miʿrāj it has come that MuṣṬafā said, “The All-Compeller said to me, 'Ask, O MuḤammad!' “I said, 'My Lord, You took Abraham as a bosom friend, You gave David a tremendous king- dom [4:54] and forgave him his slip, You bestowed on Solomon a kingdom such as no one after me will have [38:35], You spoke to Moses directly [4:164], You raised Idris to a high place [19:57], You taught Jesus the Torah and the Gospel [3:48] and You made him heal the blind and the leper and give life to the dead with Your permission [3:49].
