They ask thee about the mountains. Say, “My Lord will scatter them as ashes.” In the outwardness He is showing His awesomeness, forcefulness, and exaltation to the creatures. In the inwardness He is bestowing eminence on His servants and friends: “We turned this earth into your bedspread and made it your carpet. If you are not there, of what use is the carpet? We made the heaven your roof, the stars your indications, the sun your cook, the moon your burning candle. When you go, of what use is the candle, what will be done by the indications? When a carpet is prepared for a friend and he goes, it must be taken up. When you go, We will take up this carpet, for We will not create anyone else. He it is who created for you all that is in the earth [2:29]. Heaven and earth, moon and sun, unshakeable mountains and surging oceans-these are the go-betweens of your road. Each has a torch in its hand and holds it over your road. “Tomorrow at the time of gazing, We will lift away everything from before you. We will say, 'The reports have gone, the gaze has come.'” Proofs are needed when there is no face-to-face vision. When face-to-face vision comes, what good are proofs? Go-betweens are useful as long as the friend has not reached the friend. When the friend reaches the friend, what use are go-betweens? Since the days were the days of reports, the hoopoe was needed to give the reports [to Solomon]. But when the era of the gaze arrives, the hoopoe is of no use. As long as MuṣṬafā was in Mecca, Gabriel used to come and go. When he reached the Lote Tree of the Final End, Gabriel stood still. He said, “Now I have become a veil. The friend has reached the friend, and the intermediary is of no use, the go-between is nothing more than a veil.”