For the Knowers

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Said the Beloved to the Lover: “So come back to Me when it is Time.  Though the world thinks you crazy.  With just one call, I Will Be there.  For I have never left.  And if you walk to me, I will Run.  And if you move nearer one step, I Move nearer seventy steps.  I have Always Answered your call.  Because I Know you.  Even when you have no more faith in yourself.  Your pain is My Pain, your joy is my Joy.  Indeed I am the Friend.”

Said the Lover to the Beloved: “I will Return; my Light, my Sun, my Moon, my Eleven Planets.  I will Return; my Reason, my Heart, my Desire.  Return to me, my Glimpse of Paradise.  Because the Garden is not the Abode.  I seek only You.  You are my Treasure in dunya, and my Treasure in akhirah.  My pain is Your Pain, My Joy is Your Joy.  I do not exist in your Presence.  There is only You.  And I know now, We were never apart.”

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: "يَقُولُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: أَنَا عِنْدَ ظَنِّ عَبْدِي بِي، وَأَنَا مَعَهُ إِذَا ذَكَرَنِي، فَإِنْ ذَكَرَنِي فِي نَفْسِهِ، ذَكَرْتُهُ فِي نَفْسِي، وَإِنْ ذَكَرَنِي فِي مَلَإٍ، ذَكَرْتُهُ فِي مَلَإٍ خَيْرٌ مِنْهُمْ، وَإِنْ تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ بِشِبْرٍ، تَقَرَّبْتُ إِلَيْهِ ذِرَاعًا، وَإِنْ تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ ذِرَاعًا، تَقَرَّبْتُ إِلَيْهِ بَاعًا وَإِنْ أَتَانِي يَمْشِي، أَتَيْتُهُ هَرْوَلَةً"

رواه البخاري (وكذلك مسلم والترمذي وابن ماجه)

As recorded in Swahih al-Bukhari, Swahih Muslim, Sunan at-Tirmidzi, and Sunan ibn Majah, on the authority of Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sakhr ad-Dawsi az-Zahrani al-Azdi (r.a.), the Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “Allah (s.w.t.) Says, ‘I Am as My servant thinks I Am.  I Am with him when he makes mention of Me.  If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make Mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make Mention of him in an assembly better than it.  And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I Draw near to him a fathom’s length.  And if he comes to Me walking, I Go to him at speed.’”

Another possible rendering of the Arabic for the portion, “I Am as My servant thinks I Am”, is “I Am as My servant expects Me to be.”