And hold fast to God's bond together and do not scatter; remember God's grace upon you when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together so that by His grace you became brothers; and you were upon the brink of a pit of fire; but He delivered you from it. So God makes clear to you His signs that you might be guided. Holding fast to His bond سبحانه is clinging to the traces of the intermediary āthār al-wāsiṬa-the noble one ʿazīz ﷺ. This [comes] from confirm- ing what is true and right taḥaqquq and remaining devoted taʿalluq to the Book and the sunna. It is rightly said that [the words] and hold fast to God's bond are spoken to the elite khawāṣṣ while [the words] and hold fast to God [4:146 and 22:78] are spoken to the elect of the elect khāṣṣ al-khāṣṣ. Whoever turns from His auspicious occurrences sawāniḥ back to his own choosing and devising iḥtiyāl his own thinking and reasoning istidlāl his own ways of knowing and behaving ashkāl; and takes refuge in the shade of his own planning tadbīr seeking illumination by the light of his own intel- lect and speculation tafkīr-such a person is denied the shade of divine solicitude and is left with his unfortunate state. And do not scatter: Scattering or separation tafriqa is the most intense punishment. It is the companion to associating others with God shirk. And remember God's grace upon you when you were enemies: They were enemies when they remained with their worldly concerns turning toward the narrowness of human nature and competing with one another as befits the stinginess of [their] lower selves. And He brought your hearts together through deliverance from the cap- tivity of created things. He drove away afflictions from their innermost selves. Then what they sought together became one thing. If a thousand people were to be brought together in one pursuit they would in truth be one. So that by His grace you became brothers: His grace is His safeguard- ing ʿiṣma of you as brothers united in aim and aspiration annihilated from the worldly concerns of the lower self and the furtive impulses of stinginess and avarice. And you were upon the brink of a pit of fire by your being held captive to the objects of your desire munākum and [being] bound by the shackles of your worldly concerns and whims hawākum.
