Many of you inquired about the final verse of Sūrat al-Raḥmān and the meaning of the prostration of the grass and the tree. These are not separate inquiries; they are two sides of the same luminous coin. To understand the end of this sūrah, we must begin where the sūrah itself begins: with the Name al-Raḥmān (The Most Merciful).

Know that this is no ordinary Name. It is the first name to be cleft from the ultimate Name of Essence, Allāh. It is both a Name of attribute (ism ṣifa) and a Name pointing towards the essence (ism dhāt). It is the very Name by which He established Himself upon the Throne: "al-Raḥmān ʿalā al-ʿArsh istawā” (The Most-Merciful established Himself upon the Throne). Do not take this Name lightly. Its letters are among qawāsim al-Qurʾān—the disjointed letters by which Allah swears in the Qurʾān. Alif, lām, and rāʾ appear in “Alif Lām Rāʾ,” a qasam; ḥāʾ and mīm in “Ḥāʾ Mīm,” another qasam repeated in many sūrahs; and nūn in “Nūn. By the pen…” (Q 68:1), yet another oath. These letters are not arbitrary—they hold secrets only grasped by those with illuminated hearts.

Consider the structure of this blessed sūrah. It has seventy-seven verses. Our Prophet ﷺ, peace and blessings be upon him, taught us that faith (īmān) has seventy-odd branches, the highest of which is the declaration, "Lā ilāha illā Allāh." The spiritual path laid out in this sūrah is a journey through these seventy-seven branches. And what is the highest branch, the culmination of this journey? It is the final verse: "Tabāraka ismu rabbika dhī al-jalāli wa-al-ikrām" (Blessed is the Name of your Lord, Possessor of Majesty and Generous Nobility). The blessing invoked, "tabāraka," is upon the Name of your Lord. Which Name? It is the Name that opened the sūrah: al-Raḥmān. Thus, the verse proclaims the blessedness of the Name al-Raḥmān, the Possessor of Majesty and Generous Nobility. This is why we are taught to call upon Him frequently with this Name. Your path as a seeker is to traverse these verses, to witness the blessings (ālāʾ) of God in creation, until you are led to the reality of the Name al-Raḥmān. From there, you grasp the nature of the Throne and the Footstool and you are moved to the Majestic Name, Allāh.

How does one arrive at this? Through the contemplation of His beauty in creation. And where does this knowledge come from? Let us look at the very first verse: "al-Raḥmān ʿallama al-Qurʾān" (The Most-Merciful taught the Qurʾān). This tells us everything. The Teacher is al-Raḥmān. The knowledge of the Qurʾān is not something you merely acquire from books or men; it is a knowledge you must receive directly from Him, from His name al-Raḥmān. This is a form of direct revelation, a waḥy ilhām, that is poured into a purified heart. 

Do you see the secret here? The numerical value of the word walī (saint) is seventy-seven. The message for you, O seeker, is this: if you wish to become a walī, you must realize within yourself the blessings of Sūrat al-Raḥmān. This is not about being a mere memorizer of the Book (ḥāfiẓ), but about possessing knowledge of the Book (ʿilm bi-kitāb Allāh). You can spend a lifetime memorizing, but that is only the beginning of learning (taʿallum).

The great Shaykh al-ʿAlawī al-Mustaghānimī hinted at this when he said, "I stood beneath the ceiling of the Throne of al-Raḥmān, and what a state it was!" He had arrived to the furthest point of creation and was taking knowledge directly from the Source, al-Raḥmān. And remember the noble Companion Ḥārithah (RA), who, when asked about his faith, declared, "It is as if I see the Throne of my Lord manifest (bāriz)." He too was receiving knowledge from this station. This is the reality for the Friends of God (awliyāʾ). If you do not turn your entire being towards al-Raḥmān and way-fare through the station laid out in this chapter, you will not receive this true knowledge of the Qurʾān. Indeed, He taught you the Qurʾān before your creation, on the Day of the Covenant when you answered "Balā." What He taught you after your birth into this world is the science of discernment (al-bayān): the discernment of that virgin, transcendent knowledge within the cosmic manifestations.

Now we come to your second question, concerning the prostration of the grass and the tree. On the outward level (ẓāhir), al-najm refers to the low-lying plant, and al-shajar to the tall, rooted tree. But in the realm of inner meanings (ḥukm al-maʿānī), al-Najm—the Star—is the light of gnosis (nūr al-maʿrifah) that dawns in the heart of the sincere seeker. Al-Shajar—the Tree—is the deeply rooted origin of that light: the Shaykh.

Here, we must reflect on the sun and the moon mentioned in the previous verses. The sun is the sun of knowledge (shams al-maʿrifah), and the moon is the moon of certainty (qamar al-yaqīn). This is the meeting point between the Law (sharīʿah) and the Reality (ḥaqīqah)—a twofold path of wayfaring: outward and inward, granting both exoteric and esoteric knowledge—of what is manifest and what is transcendent. The sun and the moon are markers on your path toward closeness to the Real and the True, just as their physical counterparts serve as measures for our daily lives—both worldly and religious.

The Star is the disciple; the Tree is the Guide. The verse reveals to us a fundamental state of the path: "yasjudān," they both prostrate. The one who has arrived (al-wāṣil) and the one who is just beginning must exist in a state of perpetual prostration (sujūd) before al-Raḥmān. Your journey, then, is to travel, equipped with this constant prostration, from being a star reflecting a distant light to becoming a tree, firmly rooted, a source of shade and fruit for others. You travel from the light of the najm to annihilation (fanāʾ) in the presence of the shajar of your guide, there you arrive at the reality of the Name al-Raḥmān. Then you yourself become a blessed locus of manifestation (majlā) for the final verse, embodying the majesty (jalāl) and generous nobility (karam) of your Lord.

The sūrah then guides us further: "wa-al-samāʾa rafaʿahā wa-waḍaʿa al-mīzān" (And the sky He raised, and He set the Balance). The sky was raised to establish this Balance, this distinguisher between high and low. You, O seeker, must become an embodiment of this just Balance (ṣāḥib al-mīzān al-ʿadlī), a unifying isthmus (barzakh) for within you is gathered all of creation. And then comes the grave warning: "Allā taṭghaw fī al-mīzān" (That you not transgress within the Balance). I say to you, beware! Beware of giving one pan of the scale its due at the expense of the other. If you lose your inner balance, you lose heaven and earth. Look at the fate of Qārūn, who transgressed and was swallowed by the earth, leaving nothing but a story. When the balance is lost, the higher collapses upon the lower.

And so, you must understand that this entire sūrah is a trace (athar) of the Name al-Raḥmān. It is a wall (sūr) and an isthmus (barzakh) revealing and mirroring the reality of that Name. If you travel through its seventy-seven verses with sincerity, you will taste the blessing (barakah) of the Name al-Raḥmān, Dhū al-Jalāl wa-al-Ikrām. Most of us find this chapter easy to read and connect with thanks to the merciful refrain, "Fa-bi-ayyi ālāʾi rabbikumā tukadhdhibān?" (Then which of the favors of your Lord will you both deny?). But you must reflect deeply on the fact that this very question—so melodic, so gentle—is being asked of you again and again, with every breath. It is not merely poetic; it is a call to wakefulness, a divine prod meant to shake you from your denial of these immense truths. Do not claim you had any prior knowledge of these realities. Instead, descend into your own darknesses—so that you may ascend through the branches of īmān toward the source of wilāyah and raḥma.

We pray that God guides you and us to the Truth and to sincere repentance. May He allow us to travel this blessed path from its beginning in the Name al-Raḥmān to its culmination, where we become a living reflection of its Majesty and Generous Nobility. Āmīn.