He is not dependent on the people...

He is not dependent on the people, nor is he in need of them for his wants and the world. He feels intimate only with Allah, and gives no utterance, makes no gesture and draws no breath except by Allah, for Allah, from Allah and with Allah.”[^3] In short, when the sālik finds himself, in all aspects (affairs, states = shu'ūn ), being the very Presence [ hudūr ], he covers all his internal and external kinds of nakedness [' awrāt ] in order to observe the Presence and the discipline of Presence.

He realizes that the exposure of the internal nakedness in the Presence of Allah is much more hideous and disgracing than the exposure of the external nakedness, as in the hadīth : “Allah does not look at your forms, but He looks into your hearts.”[^4] The internal kinds of nakedness [' awrāt ] are the dispraised characters, vile customs and immoralities, which deprive man of being worthy of the Presence [ mahdar ] and of the discipline of Presence [ hudūr ].

This is the first stage of violating the covers and the exposure of the nakedness [' awrāt ]. It must be noted that if one does not cover himself with Allah's veiling and forgiveness, and if he does not put himself under the Names of “the Concealer” and “the Forgiver,” demanding concealment and forgiveness, it frequently happens that when the visible curtain is rolled up, and the worldly veil is removed, they cause his exposure in the presence of the favorable angels and the appointed prophets (' a ).

Allah alone knows how much the exposed internal nakedness is ugly, disgraceful, stinking and scandalous. O dear, do not compare the conditions of the Hereafter with this world, as this world can never have the capacity of the appearance of a single blessing or punishment of that world.

This world, with all its vast heavens and kingdoms [' awālim ], cannot take in the appearance of a low invisible world such as the world of the grave, let alone the high kingdom of heaven, of which the resurrection world is a sample.