BB00022: Tafsir (huruf) al-basmala
Part 1: “God, glorified be He, hath appointed for His…”
In the name of God, the Wondrous, besides Whom there is no God
God, glorified be He, hath appointed for His Manifestation to His creation through His creation four stations, which are alluded to and symbolized in the words of the people of God, exalted be He, as “the Mystery”, “the Mystery of Mystery”, “the Hidden Mystery”, and “the Mystery veiled by Mystery”. They express the first as the Point, and the Point is the pivot of God’s Book in creation and composition, and around it revolve the millstones of all existing things in all the worlds without end unto that which hath no end, as is known to God, glorified be He.
Verily God, glorified be He, hath revealed Himself to this Point through this Point and cast into its essence His likeness, that is, the likeness of His revelation. Thus through it He manifested His deeds, and revelation is His creation ex nihilo. Glorified be the Essence Who was One, Eternal, begetteth not nor was begotten, and His existence is distinct from His creation. When He desired to create all contingent beings—and His will is His creation ex nihilo—He brought creation into being through invention, and there is no “how” to this, for “how” is itself a product of His will and doth not apply to it, and there is no connection between Him and His creation. He was ever the Truth and there was no creation, then He brought creation into being through creation, while He remaineth ever in one state, neither parallel to anything nor comparable—glorified and exalted is He above what the oppressors and heretics say regarding His names, with great exaltation.
The people of the Bayan have expressed this Point in their exposition as the Blessed Tree, and as the Fire from that Tree, and as the White Pearl, and as the First Remembrance, and as the Glory, and as the Eternal Sun, and as the Muhammadan Reality (peace be upon him). All signs and evidences point to this Point through symbolic indication, and around it revolve the millstones of all existing things in the depths of contingency and creation. It is the mystery of creation and the distinction of invention. It hath appeared from the manifestation of His glory in the worlds of divinity:
“I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known, so I created creation that I might be known.”
It hath two movements in the world of relation: an essential, intrinsic movement around itself, telling of its Source and indicating His unity and simplicity—its outer being identical with its inner, and its inner identical with its outer; the first without expression and the last without definition; its beginning identical with its end and its end identical with its beginning. Its pure essence manifest in contingency is the manifestation of God’s absolute independence and His pervading power, and the primordial Lordship wherein there is no mention of any subject before His might. This is the highest aspect of the Divine Will—the path thereto is cut off and the way thereto is forbidden.
And [there is] a derivative movement for the appearance of existing things and the bringing into being of contingent things. This is the station of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him), and in this station he is absolute, complete poverty—there exists in contingency no poverty like unto it. He said (peace be upon him): “Poverty is my pride and by it do I glory.” In that station he receives support from the All-Merciful, and He supports him ex nihilo like the beginning of his existence. He is the one who drinks from the cup of grace before all things, and all else is poor at his door, seeking refuge in his presence, in need of him in all conditions, telling of the manifestation of His power and majesty.
And this movement hath seven aspects—they can neither be decreased nor increased, for everything hath seven aspects: the aspect of matter, the aspect of form, and the aspect of composition. When these three descended they became seven. Imam Rida (peace be upon him) said: “The Will, the Purpose, and Creation are three names with one meaning.” Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: “Nothing exists in earth or heaven except through these seven characteristics: through will, purpose, destiny, decree, permission, term, and book.” And these seven are the completions of agent and patient within themselves; and God hath decreed that all things must operate through their causes, though He is All-Powerful. The All-Merciful has likened these seven to seven seas, and these are the words of God. Nothing can exist in the heaven of the acceptable or the earth of receptivity except through these seven, and none, whether righteous or wicked, can exceed them.
The Imam has said that whoever claims ability to diminish even one of them has indeed denied the Faith. These seven are the names of the Proofs: Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hassan, Hussein, Ja’far and Musa (peace be upon them). When repeated in the worlds of the unseen and the visible, they become fourteen, and these are the family of God, the Most High, with Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the foundation, which is the meaning of fourteen. The Imam has said:
“Our first is Muhammad, our last is Muhammad, our middle one is Muhammad, and all of us are Muhammad.”
Nothing exists except through them, and none can equal them. Every majestic thing is small beside their majesty, and every noble thing is insignificant compared to their nobility. Glory be to their mention above all mentions, for they are unique, without similarity or likeness among humankind. Muhammad (peace be upon him) revolves around himself while they revolve around him through His manifestation to them through them. He is the possessor of possible eternal oneness in the realm of contingency. His day is Sunday, his planet is the Sun, his color is white, and the number of his Great Name is ninety-two: eleven thereof indicating the manifest Identity within him, eighty indicating his circumambulation around the Glory of Greatness before Ali (peace be upon him), and one indicating Ali, for he is his self, inseparable even from his name. Glory be to God, his Creator, above what they describe.
The second station, which is the Secret of secrets, has been expressed as the tree that emerges from Mount Sinai, producing oil and sustenance for those who eat, and as the yellow pearl, and as the Will which is the determination upon what is desired, and as the imagined obliteration and the known sobriety, and as the Merciful Soul, and as the Divine Command, and as the absolute, universal, exalted Alawite authority. This is the station of the hidden Alif, concealed in pure veils and absolute obscurity, whose essence none but God, glorified be He, can comprehend. It is the Name established in His shadow, not departing from it to any other, and the shadow established therein in servitude to Muhammad (peace be upon him), as he declared: “I am but a servant among the servants of Muhammad.”
And these are the mirrors that bear witness—tokens pointing unto Muhammad (blessings be upon him), who himself pointeth unto God by the proof of inference, not by the unveiling of direct vision. He is a light from the Primal Light, as He—exalted be He—hath intimated in His word: “a radiant lamp.” He is the Alif realized by the Point in the realization of existence; and through him the Point attained the realization of manifestation. He is the first Name God chose for Himself—“the All-Glorious”—even as al-Rida—peace be upon him—hath said: the first He chose for Himself was “the Most High, the Most Great.” The meaning of “the Most High, the Most Great,” according to the hadith, is “God”; and the meaning of “God” is as He hath declared: “Say: He is God, One.” He likewise alluded, in hidden wise for the people of hearts, in His saying: “He is the Most High, the Most Great,” and, in another station: “Verily this is the straight path of ʿAli.”
Moreover, God—exalted be He—hath made His Name, in the realm of legislation, to conform with His Name in the realm of origination, together with the completives: in the legislative station it correspondeth to that in the creative station. Thus, the abjad value of the name ʿAli—peace be upon him—is one hundred and eleven: eleven thereof pointeth to the station of Ipseity (al-huwiyyah) manifested in him by the mediation of Muhammad—blessings be upon him—whose value is ninety-two; and eight is an allusion to his circumambulation about the majesty of Power after Muhammad for eighty eternal years.
And in the notations of generative geometry there are three Alifs. The first Alif is an allusion to the Ipseity; the second Alif is an allusion to Muhammad, peace be upon him, for he mirroreth the first Alif with perfect mirroring: no difference is there between them, save that the second Alif is His servant and His creature. The third Alif is a portrayal of his own noble Self, for it mirroreth the first Alif by means of the second Alif. This is the station of the “second pre-eternity” and of the true, real unity—the most exalted of stations and the loftiest of degrees—such that, within the realm of possibility, after the Point there is no unity save for the station of this Alif, and it is a divine mystery and an infinite symbol, its outward aspect being an incomparable Imamate and its inward aspect being an unfathomable mystery, and it is the One, the origin of all contingent and existential numbers, and unto it do all things return, for the beginning is the end, and it is that which changes not throughout ancient times nor in the events of ages, and it is the cause of every cause, having no aim or end beyond it.
And that station is the elaboration of the station of the Point, and it has two movements: an essential movement upon the axis, which is the root, and a derivative movement in manifestation, which is the branch. And regarding the first, it has no indication for it is the Greatest Sign of God and the Most Mighty Announcement, and He has indicated this station in His sermon, may my soul be sacrificed for Him: “I am the Meaning upon which no name or attribute falls.” And it is the station specifically belonging to His noble self and the Letter which is His alone, apart from the Imams (peace be upon them).
And this is the station of His leadership over the believers, meaning the Imams, and it is not befitting that any of them be called by His name, for it is specifically His through this greatest leadership and mightiest sovereignty. And to this the Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) pointed in the Sahifa where he said: “Silence has overcome me from praising Thee, and restraint has made me understand about glorifying Thee, and the utmost of acknowledgment of bounty, O my God, is not from desire for Thee but from inability.” And indeed the outward praise and glorification is His station, and the distinction is as the Proof (peace be upon him) indicated in the prayer: “There is no difference between Thee and them except that they are Thy servants and Thy creation.” And none among the people of knowledge distinguishes between the name and the meaning except that the meaning is above the name. There is no difference between the One and the Unique except as between movement and stillness, or between the Kaf and the Nun. And he (peace be upon him) has indicated this station: “Whoever knows separation from union has reached the foundation of unity.”
And whoever knows him (peace be upon him) as the servant of Muhammad (peace be upon Him) in every station has truly known him and reached the foundation of unity, for the letters of servant’ are three: the Ayn is his knowledge of God, the Ba is his separation from all else, and the Dal is his nearness to God without how or indication. Thus whoever knows the indications knows that He can only be known through the negation of indications, for indications are from the limits of quiddity, and He determines the limits but is not known through a limit, for He is beyond the knowledge of His emanation, glorified be He above the description of describers. And praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.
And regarding the second, it is the station of the manifestation of the realities of the Imams (peace be upon them), and in this station one circles around God and speaks from God and sees through God and hears through God and gives from God, and this is the station of the manifestation of the All-Merciful established upon the throne, giving every possessor of a right his right and conveying to every created thing its sustenance. And the Imam (peace be upon him) indicated this station in his interpretation of His words: “And among them is he who wrongs himself, and among them is the moderate, and among them is the foremost in good deeds by God’s permission.” He (peace be upon him) said: “The wrongdoer circles around himself, and the moderate circles around his heart, and the foremost in good deeds circles around his Lord,” and he (peace be upon him) is the foremost.
And [truly] the Imams are [God’s] good things, and in this station there is no aspect to him except the action of God and His command, where God the Glorified has explicitly stated regarding this station: “They are honored servants who precede Him not in speech and act by His command.” And Ali pointed to this station in his supplication on the day of Sha’ban: “My God! Grant me complete devotion to You and illuminate the eyes of our hearts with the light of their gaze upon You until the eyes of the hearts pierce the veils of light and reach the mine of grandeur, and our spirits become suspended by the might of Your holiness. Make me among those whom You called and they answered You, and whom You observed and they were thunderstruck by Your majesty, and whom You conversed with secretly and they acted for You openly.”
And he is the one who truly calls in his innermost secret, so God answered his prayer. He is the one who has reached the mine of grandeur, who conversed with God secretly through his tongue, and who acts for God openly. He has no aspect except to relate the grandeur and power of God. And in that noble station, the Proof has declared in his visitation to Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Amri: “Your striving in God’s cause embodies God’s Will, and your struggle in God’s path embodies God’s vengeance.” And in another place in this visitation: “The established decree is what your will has exclusive control over, and what is erased is what your way does not exclusively determine.”
And in the tradition: “When we will, God wills, and when we intend, God intends.” Indeed, God the Glorified pointed to this station [by stating] that they do not will except as God wills, as in His exalted words: “And you did not throw when you threw, but it was God who threw” and “You do not will except as God wills.” And they—upon them be peace—are the loci of His Will and the tongues of His Purpose.
And our employing in this station such expressions as “the locus of the Will” and the like—while, in the first station, we affirm [God’s] transcendence—doth not contravene the sound principles; for the doctrine of the people of the House resteth upon a universal, divine rule, by the knowledge whereof apparent contradictions are discerned and resolved, whether in the Book, the Sunnah, or the utterances of their followers.
That rule is this: every good that hath descended from God, and shall descend without end out of His infinite knowledge—the first of its descent was with God upon the heart of Muhammad (peace be upon him), then upon the heart of ʿAli, then [it passed] to al-hasan, then to al-husayn, then to al-Qa’im Muhammad son of al-hasan, then to the eight Imams, then to Fatimah, then to the Prophets, then to the Vicegerents, then to the believers among mankind, then to the believers among the jinn, then to the angels, then to the noble beasts, then to the goodly plants, and then to the pure inanimate things.
And every evil that descendeth—its beginning is the heart of “the father of calamities” (may the curse of God be upon him), and thereafter it proceedeth through the remaining degrees in the same manner that we have set forth concerning good. “Unto each do We extend—unto these and unto those—from the bounty of thy Lord; and the bounty of thy Lord is not withheld.”
And from this rule it becometh evident that every “good” within the realm of possibility may rightly be predicated in every station—yet its fruit appeareth in its own proper place. Thus the Will which is spoken of in the station of Ali—upon him be peace—is but servitude and manifestation when compared with the Will that is spoken of in the station of Muhammad—peace be upon him—as hath been intimated in the tradition from the Messenger of God, that the will of Ali, beside the will of Muhammad, is as a fly. (God forbid that one should set bounds by calling it “little”—I ask God’s forgiveness for such limitation.) Nay, all terms extend unto the furthest degrees.
In like manner is the word “evil” employed in every station; the difference is that the second station is but an accident and a ray in relation to the first. Nor is there, between these expressions, either mere homonymy or simple identity of meaning; for meaning within the word is as the soul within the body—the world of the named reality. Whoso knoweth the sign is freed from the phrase; and whoso discerneth the stations of the Attribute hath reached the abode of true knowledge.
Part 2: “Muhammad—peace be upon him—pointed…”
Muhammad—peace be upon him—pointed to his manifestation, plainly and without veiling, unto the people of hearts, when he addressed Ali—upon him be peace—saying: “Thou art the remover of my sorrow; thou art the dispeller of my distress; thou art the payer of my debt; thou art the fulfiller of my promise.” For the station of the Point is sheer compendium, pure simplicity, and absolute singleness; and its first manifestation is in the station of the Alif. The Alif is His Most Excellent Name and His supreme likeness; it exerciseth dominion over all letters, both in creation and in legislation. It is the inaccessible, unattainable Mystery: the hands of those possessed of insight and the people of hearts can never reach it; nor can it be known save by His describing His own Self.
And His Self-description is His Lord—peace be upon him—when he said, Glorified is He, “None hath known God save I and Ali; none hath known me save God and Ali; and none hath known Ali save God and I. The way unto the knowledge of Him is barred, the path is repelled, and the seeking after Him increaseth the seeker in naught but remoteness.” For God—glorified be He—hath indicated this in the verse, in His saying (exalted is He): “and of that which they know not.” And in the knowledge of God there is no [adequate] magnifying of Him, for He is exalted above the comprehension of those who comprehend.
Glory be unto Him! I cannot reckon His praise except by what God, glorified be He, hath described, and verily in the Mother Book with Us He is exalted, wise. He is the Tongue of God’s Will in all the worlds of creation and revelation, and nothing can be anything except by His leave. He is the Lower Right Pillar of the Throne, and His color is yellow, as appeared in His countenance at His martyrdom, and this indicated His beginning, for the beginning is the end, and He is the Perfect Balance, and the predominance of His temperament is yellow, and from Him is the yellowness in all things. Glorified be He above the description of those who describe and the attributes of those who attribute, and praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.
The Third Station is the Most Concealed Mystery, the rank of Hasan—peace be upon Him—and We express in this station the Goodly Tree, the Green Pearl, the Sea of Power, the Most Exalted Secret, the Supreme Symbol, and the Circle of Kaf returning upon itself—the Beauteous Reality of Hasan. He standeth in the station of pure unity; no light appeareth in creation save His light, and no sound is realized in the cycles save His sound. He is the Most Great Name and the Most Mighty Named One, indicating God in the three ranks in the station of attributes. But in the station of knowledge there is no indication save God, exalted be He, for that which appeareth in the mirrors, by the mirrors, for the mirrors is One, there is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Most High, the Great.
He is the Manifestation of tranquility from His Grandfather and of dignity from His Father. God hath veiled Him in the veils of the divine cloud as a friend to Himself in might, which none should discover save the Single One. Whoso claimeth that creation hath a way to know Him hath opposed God, Mighty and Glorious, in His grandeur and hath unveiled the secret of the manifest All-Merciful without His leave, opposeth in wrath from God, and his abode is hell, a woeful destination. That is the station of existential geometry for determining the bounds from infinity to finitude, and there is no suspension of God’s grace.
He said:
“Verily destiny is a secret of God’s secrets and a sanctuary of God’s sanctuaries, raised in God’s veil, concealed from God’s creation, sealed with God’s seal, precedent in God’s knowledge. God hath relieved the servants from knowledge of it and raised it above their testimonies and the reach of their minds, for they cannot attain it through divine reality, nor through eternal power, nor through luminous grandeur, nor through unitary might—a surging, billowing sea, purely for God, Mighty and Glorious, its breadth between heaven and earth what lieth between east and west, black as the darkest night, full of fish and serpents, rising at times and falling at others.”
In its depths shines a sun that none should gaze upon save the One, the Single. Whosoever attempts to gaze upon it has opposed God, the Mighty, the Glorious, in His decree, contended with Him in His sovereignty, unveiled His mystery and covering, and incurred the wrath of God, with hell as his abode—what an evil destination.
The description of its blackness refers to the multitude of serpents and fish in relation to creation, for God made its outward appearance a source of torment. Yet in relation to the sea itself, these are but manifestations and revelations from its Creator. God made its inward reality mercy, and this sea has neither beginning nor end. It has islands formed from water that melted and froze, and upon these islands are domes of diverse jewels, colored in endless varieties of hues.
God made the width of each dome, and the space between each dome, to extend from the orient of beginning to the occident of ending. The dwellers therein are the angels of pure abstraction who glorify Him night and day without cease—these are the people of the white dome. And therein are the exalted angels who praise God their Creator evening and morning—these are the people of the yellow dome. And therein are the angels of the veils who proclaim the unity of their Creator as the All-Praised, to Whom belongs all praise in the first and last—these are the people of the green dome. And therein are the cherubic angels who magnify God, declaring that nothing is like unto Him and He is the Most Great, the Most High—these are the dwellers in the red dome.
Verily God, glorified be He, has given to each their due right through these angels. He it is Who created you, then sustained you, then causes you to die, then brings you to life—creation from the people of the white dome, sustenance from the people of the yellow dome, life from the people of the green dome, and death from the people of the red dome. Such is the decree of the Mighty, the Wise.
In this sea there is naught but water, and it has no shore. When God, glorified be He, desired to bring forth all created things from their mother’s womb, He took from this sea a drop and made it the life of all things. God the Exalted says in His mighty Book:
“And We send down from the rain clouds water pouring forth abundantly, that We may bring forth thereby grain and vegetation, and from water have We made every living thing.”
This water, upon which was the Throne before the creation of the heavens and earth, is mentioned in the tradition from Ali. This sea has a pole around which it revolves, and it is the mystery concealed in the heart of Hasan ibn Ali, to whom God revealed from the light of His grandeur less than the eye of a needle—I seek God’s forgiveness for limiting it to “less.” It has two movements: a movement around itself which cannot be indicated, for it is the manifestation of exposition in that movement and the proof of the unity of attributes and deeds. None knows it save God Who created it as a sign of His Self, making its outward identical with its inward and its inward identical with its outward. Exalted is He above being known by the utmost thoughts, or being encompassed by the perceptions of sight, or being reached by the hands of those possessed of understanding. He is the Near that cannot be seen, and the Far that cannot be hidden. They encompass not aught of His knowledge save what He wills. His Throne embraces the heavens and the earth, and He willed naught save Muhammad and Ali. There is no way for creation to approach His presence, and glorified is He above what they describe.
And a movement through manifestation to all else through all else, and in this movement were brought into being the realities of all created things and their attributes in all regions and cycles, with manifest eternity and hidden infinity and limited finality. And there is no end to God’s bounty.
The fourth station is the mystery veiled by mystery, the temple of oneness. He said: “The mystery of the Basmala is in the letter B, and the mystery of the B is in the point, and I am the point beneath the B.” And in the traditions it is related that all existents came forth from the Ba’ of “In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Compassionate.”
And in the accounts that station hath been designated as the Tree of Tuba, the Crimson Reed, the Confirmed Decree, the Primal Dawn, and the All-Encompassing Station—the Station of Husayn. He stands at the station of witnessed unity after the concealment of trinity in the rank of quaternity. His Most Great Name and Most Noble Form were made manifest, while the majesty of His glory was hidden due to its intensity of manifestation, and the loftiness of His grandeur was concealed due to the magnitude of His light. There exists no unity in contingent being after the station of his grandfather, father and brother except his own, and all others are limited within the realm of their unity in his presence. He is the Mover in the station of abstraction and the Still One in the depths of uniqueness.
When He stirred in His realm of glory, might and jealousy appeared in creation, and destiny came into being through the attachment of invention. He is the possessor of those depths through the manifestation of the All-Merciful. Nothing reaches from Truth to creation through the depths of destiny except by His sanction, for He is the gateway of divine bounty to all things. God has promised, as a favor upon Him, that there shall be no alteration in creation after His sanction.
When He moved in religion to manifest the beginning of His station, none believed in Him save a few, and all conspired to deny and kill Him, even after they recognized that His station in the worlds of unity was like that of the pole to the millstone—no bird of fancy can reach it, nor can paths of understanding approach it. They denied Him though their souls were convinced, through tyranny and pride.
When Husayn saw the dominance of multiplicities and the concealment of unity—and He had given things what they deserved by God’s decree due to the inversion of their existence—He carried out the bestowal of power upon them and submitted to God through martyrdom at the hands of His servants. Thus was manifested through all contingent being the loftiness of His servitude, that He is the Giver and does not withhold His power from the unbelievers, in order to complete the proof after perfecting the bounty and to manifest independence after the will of existence and His penetrating power.
God is Most Great! What a mystery of the Cause—He sacrificed His mighty soul and seventy-two of His noble followers, and His family accepted [their fate] at the hands of the wicked, until the lands and all therein became certain that He was indeed the Wise One, the Manifest Truth. Had Adam not conceived in his heart to approach the Tree, none would have desired to kill Him or would have killed Him. When He accepted martyrdom in the eternal realm, [the realms of] abstraction were transformed. When the possibility of His killing became actual, through His killing were slain all glorification, sanctification, praise and magnification.
God is Most Great! Such was this supreme calamity that transformed the hearts of all worlds through the burning of His liver. This transformation continues endlessly unto infinity, for God’s Command has no end. Verily the people of Paradise—their hearts burn for His killing, and this is their highest station, ascending infinitely, for after their burning naught remains in them save mirrors reflecting Husayn, peace be upon Him. “All things perish save His noble face.”
God the Exalted has said: “Whomsoever I have caused to be killed, I Myself am his blood money.” And the blood money is the manifestation of God, Who is manifest to all things through all things. Glorified be the Essence Who is sanctified above the description of contingent beings. He is as He says: “Vision comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth all vision; and He is the Subtile, the All-Informed.”
The burning of the people of the Fire endures with the endurance of God, and this is the ultimate punishment of the people of the Fire. Indeed Paradise and all therein God created from the light of Husayn, peace be upon Him, while Hell and all therein God created from hatred of Him. “Each do We aid, these as well as those, from the bounty of thy Lord.” And Husayn deals with them according to their state through what they are upon. And he who hath known Him in the station of His servitude, and apprehended the mystery of His martyrdom, will not be a tyrant over the servants of God; neither will he be heedless of His afflictions. In every state he weepeth for Him with the lamentation of a bereaved mother, and from his eyes there flow seas of tears.
God is Most Great! How tremendous was his calamity, how great his affliction, and how intense his thirst! Whosoever mentions him and weeps for him, God the Exalted has decreed the reward of a hundred martyrs for his weeping, and this is so that the servants might bear His recompense, for God is his blood-money. And whosoever visits him, knowing his true station, is as one who has visited God upon His throne. The likened is identical with that which it is likened to, for the intention is not the Eternal, as there is never any path to the Eternal, nor is any other the intention, but rather the manifestation of His identity in the contingent world, which is his station.
Indeed, the people of Paradise visit the Lord, exalted be His glory, every Friday—that is to say, visit him, for to visit him is to visit the Lord, exalted be His glory. The first to visit him on Friday night is God the Exalted, as mentioned in the tradition. This is due to the limitation of the narrator, for his lack of firmness in knowledge.
The truth is that his visitor in all conditions is God, then Muhammad, then the Imams, then the Prophets, then the Successors, then the believers among the jinn, then the angels, then the animals, then the plants, then the minerals. Verily God, glorified and exalted be He, has more right than anything else to visit him, and He is his visitor and will ever be through His endurance, as befits Him and as He deserves.
When the visitor turns towards his Lord, the veils are rent until connection is achieved. When he connects with the countenance of his Lord, God the Exalted visits him upon the throne of His uniqueness and grandeur. This occurs in the arc of ascent, while in descent God the Glorified is his first visitor in all the worlds.
This concealed mystery is known only to the people of understanding. Whoever knows it, his Lord will give him to drink a pure draught, and whoever knows it not shall be truthful until his Lord gives him to drink a pure draught.
When one visits him, God forgives seven hundred souls among his fathers and mothers. Whoever looks upon this visitor, God forgives him as He does the visitor. Whoever looks upon one who has looked upon the visitor shall have the same as the visitor, and so on without end, even if he knows not that this person looked upon one who looked upon a visitor of Husayn, peace be upon him.
He has two stations: a movement upon the pole, which is the alif of softness—this station no indication can indicate, for with its complete remoteness it is near, above hearts infinitely, and it is the station of unity from which multiplicities are negated and of uniqueness from which indications are negated, its beginning is identical with its end, its outer with its inner, its secret with its public, near in its remoteness and remote in its nearness, the sign of God and His mirror, the path blocked and the seeking rejected, glory be to Him above what they describe—and a movement upon manifestation.
The first of his manifestation is in the upright alif without inclination, which is the Qa’im, then to the elevated letters who are the eight Imams, then to the Word who is Fatima, then to the significance of the Word which comprises the ranks of the Prophets and Successors, and the significance appeared from the essence of the Word just as the realities of the Prophets and Successors appeared from the light of Fatima’s form.
The manifestation descends until it reaches the station of the atom, which is the rank of minerals, and that is the last of what we intended in the interpretation of the Point. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.
The letter “alif” of “bism”
The first station is the alif of divine invisibility, and it is the First Name and the Most Exalted Symbol of God, the One, the Single, the Eternal, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, there is no god but He, the Great, the Transcendent. It is the first tree that emerged from Mount Sinai and tasted in the gardens of praise from the paradises of glory and was veiled in the clouds of the divine cloud and became established upon the Seat of Bounty unto all else, is He, the Muhammadan Reality—may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him—and He is the first determination of the Point, whereupon it revolved upon itself three times. And the Upright Alif in the beginning of division with God the Great is three points, and it is the Primary Uprightness, the Temple of Unity and the Phantom of Oneness, the Word of the All-Determining, the All-Praised: “Be thou upright as thou art commanded.” And this mystery was unveiled in His mighty words: “Verily those who say ʿOur Lord is God’ and then stand steadfast…”
The Second Station is the gentle divine Alif, and it is the station of Oneness, its Creator beneath the veil of Grandeur, speaking “Verily Thou art God, there is no God but Thee, glorified art Thou above what they describe.” And it is the first reed that grew in the thicket of the Divine Realm, and tasted in its heavenly kingdom from the first fruits of the gardens of the Realm of Might, the first of numbers in the pen of ink, the eternal divine effulgence established in the supreme station—may my spirit be sacrificed unto Him. And He is the Prince of Names and Attributes, and therefore it behooveth none of the Imams to be named by His noble name, and He is the first to believe in the Point before the Letters, thus becoming the cause of names and the first to be named, and He is the vast ocean of Oneness mentioned in the prayer, nothing equals Him in the depths of the sea of Names and Attributes.
The Third Station is the rank of the Moving Alif which moved in the earth of Attributes and Names. They claimed that the Almighty Himself had regarded them, so they uttered glorification, praise, exaltation and magnification. When they knew, they acknowledged that God, mighty and glorious, is more exalted and noble than that, and that He is the servant of God and the creature of earth, and He is the one moving from the earth of contingency with sanctification and glorification. And it is the word of the Generous One in the visitation prayer of his father:
“Through Thee moved the moving ones in the depths of the sea of possibility and the vast ocean of existence, and through Thee became still the still ones among those in the depths of the sea of Oneness from eternal endurance and divine souls, and from the vast ocean of Oneness from the phases of the Beauty of Lordship and the conditions of Holy Beauty.”
And He is every day in a new condition, bringing about a wondrous matter that had not existed before.
The Fourth Station is the station of the non-curved Alif, and it is the manifestation of God’s name “the Deadener” and the final descent of Names and Attributes in the rank of dust, and it is the well of decay for all Names and Attributes when attached to multiplicities, and it is the earthly red dye when distillation is taken from the red sulfur after dissolving the third in the cooking of the fourth’s bottom to correct its receptivity in the earthly rank for the station of reaching the elixir for the manifestation of phases and conditions. The Messenger of God—peace be upon Him—said: “Marry and procreate, for I will pride myself in your numbers among the nations on the Day of Resurrection, even with the miscarried.” And that is the most perfect and highest of ranks in the arc of descent, and it is the station of Imamate and the Greater Guardianship. The earthly rank became hidden and the intensity of the fiery appeared, and it is hot and dry, so the ordinances were lifted and the seal became the very beginning, and it is the white elixir, the possessor of generosity and glory.
The letter “sin” of “bism”
The First Station and the Sin in the rank of the Bayan is God’s praise of His own Self, and the describer is the very description, and it is His saying “I cannot reckon Thy praise, Thou art as Thou hast praised Thyself,” and His saying: “He manifested to it through it.” God’s description of Himself is by Himself, and to His creation by His creation. And the first description is God’s Essence manifest to the Prophet through Him—may my spirit be sacrificed unto Him—the depth of the sea of Oneness, and the pure manifestation of the Identity, and the pure cloud of Eternality, and the highest stations of Lordship, and the most excellent indications of Divinity—the First, the Last, the Outward, the Inward. God, mighty and glorious, said on the night of Ascension: “Raise thy head, O Muhammad.” When he raised his head—may my spirit be sacrificed unto him—God the Exalted said: “Thou art the Beloved and thou art the Beloved One”—may my spirit be sacrificed unto him. Unique in this station, beyond all likeness and comparison, He is the Everlasting Sovereign. In the kingdom the path to God is barred and the quest rejected. His proof is in His signs, and His existence is His demonstration. He is the Manifest Being of God in creation.
The second station: The letter Sin in the rank of meanings is the source of names and attributes. It is a letter from the letters of the name of ʿAli—may my spirit be sacrificed for him—the Supreme Essence of God, the Tree of Paradise, the Divine Lote-Tree, and the Garden of Refuge. He—may my spirit be sacrificed for him—is the Spirit of God and His Soul, the Heart of God and His Presence, the Eye of God and His Hearing, the Tongue of God and His Countenance, the Hand of God and His Command, His Will and His Wisdom, the Permission of God and His Secret Command and His Light. He—may my spirit be sacrificed for him—is the Manifestation of God among the servants, the Sign of God throughout the lands, the Month of God in the heart of ink, and the Sanctuary of God on the Day of Return. He—may my spirit be sacrificed for him—is the Intended City of God, the Praised Station of God, the Worshipped Face of God, and the Manifest Object of Worship. Thus have their sublime expressions spoken in their exalted words, and all this is an honorific attribution, like the Ka’bah being the House of God and similar designations.
The third station: The letter Sin in the rank of the Gates is a name among God’s names descending to the sea of life. It is the green ocean and the water of life—“And We made from water every living thing.” It is the manifestation of God’s name, the Life-Giver, and it is the water upon which was the Throne before the creation of the heavens and earth, from infinity to infinity. God made the substance of all things from this water and made it witness to creation itself and to all else that was created, as expressed in the meaning of the verse of the Book: “I made them not to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor their own creation; neither did I take those who lead astray for aiders.” Nothing reaches from creation to creation except through this name, nor ascends to God except through this water. The sovereign of this sea independently is ʿAli—peace be upon him—“Were it not for thee, I would not have created the celestial spheres.” Its temperament is cold and moist—water is the master of drinks.
The fourth station: The letter Sin in the rank of Imamate is the name of Muhammad’s grandfather. God the Exalted said: “Ya Sin. By the wise Qur’an.” When God commanded His name the Restrainer to retreat for the manifestation of the cycles, it descended to the sphere of air where His name the Living appeared. Then it descended to the sphere of water where His name the Life-Giver appeared. Then it descended to the sphere of earth where His name the Death-Giver appeared there. Thus the beginning of the matter connected to its end, and the circular Kaf returned to the pole of its zone. Then came the cycles and ages, and the realities of archetypes were breathed into the womb of possibility.
The parts of the elixir were completed in the well of decomposition, and God took the distillation. Thus whoever was in the vessel and alembic, God the Exalted called through the tongue of His beloved: “Come to Me, My beloved.” So he ascended from the earthly Far Temple to his true homeland or nearer. God the Exalted said: “O Muhammad, My favor upon you above the prophets is like My favor [above all], and the likeness is identical to that which it resembles, and I am the Lord of Might in all the worlds.” Glorified be thy Lord above what they describe.
The letter “mim” of “bism”
The first station: The letter Mim is the Glory of God. The Imam—peace be upon him—said: “The Mim is the Glory of God, and the first glorification is God’s glorification of Himself.” His word is the truth: “I am God, there is no god but I. I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known, so I created creation that I might be known.” That Word became the first remembrance in contingent existence. He—peace be upon him—said: “O Yunus, do you know what is the Will?” He said: “No.” He said: “It is the First Remembrance, and it is the Word by which the greatest depth was rebuked, and it is the Name residing in its shadow, not departing from it to another.” The Messenger of God said: “I was the first to answer in the realm of atoms.” Therefore God distinguished him from eternity above all other nations, unique and without resemblance among humankind. He established him in His own station in fulfillment, since “Eyes comprehend Him not, though He comprehends all eyes,” and thoughts cannot encompass Him, for He is the All-Subtle, the All-Informed.
The second station is the Mim—the Glory of God in the veil of might, through the tongue of His noble friend in the cloud of divinity, speaking: “Thou art God, our Lord, there is no God but Thee, the Sovereign, the Worshipped One.” This is the reality of transcendence. May my soul be sacrificed for him who circles round the majesty of power and is immersed in the cloud of effacement and life, saying within the veils of mystery: “O Lord, increase my wonderment in Thee!” He sees no light but Thy light, hears no voice but Thy voice. “I have seen nothing without seeing God before it and with it.” This is the saying of Ibn al-Zahir in his prayer on the Day of Arafah: “Who else but Thee, O Lord, has manifestation which Thou hast not, such that it could reveal Thee?
When wert Thou ever absent, to need proof of Thy presence? When wert Thou ever distant, that signs should lead to Thee? Blind be the eye that sees Thee not!” May my soul be sacrificed for him who speaks through God, hears through God, sees through God, dwells and moves through God, gives through God. He is the Manifestation of God’s Self in every station, glorified be He above what they describe. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.
The third station is the Mim—the dominion of God, which is His Command. By His Command were the heavens and earth established. His Command is creation and invention. It is the completion of the word “Be”, and its treasuries lie between the K and the N. It is the act of God, mighty and exalted. “And there is not a thing but with Us are its treasuries, and We send it not down except in known measure.” It is composed of the four elements from the elements of the realm of might: The K is composed of fire and air—the fire of existence and the air of its inclination. The N is from water and earth—the water of receptivity and the earth for preserving existence. When the Word is complete, its servitude is perfected. This is the saying of al-Sadiq: “Servitude is a substance whose essence is lordship.” Absolute true servitude exists only in Muhammad, His servant and His Messenger. God the Exalted said: “O son of Adam, obey Me and I shall make thee like unto Me.” This is the very obedience of our master ʿAli, who said (may my soul be sacrificed for him): “I am but one of Muhammad’s servants.” And God the Exalted said: “Whoso obeyeth the Messenger hath indeed obeyed God.”
The fourth station is the Mim—a letter from the letters of Muhammad’s name. God, mighty and exalted, said: “I derived for him a name from My name: I am the Praised One (Mahmud) and thou art Muhammad.” The numerical value of Mim is forty, which is the completion of his appointed time: thirty nights representing his capacity in the eternal realms, and ten the rank of his acceptance in the everlasting realms. Therefore his sojourn in the earthly realm was forty years before prophethood, which is His revelation to him of less than a needle’s eye at the beginning of the rising above Mount Sinai. He is the Sun of Manifestation and the Water of Purification. “And We have sent down from the heaven of the Manifest One the water of manifestation through the self of him who was manifested—a purifying water.” It was said regarding his station: “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of God and the Seal of the Prophets.” He is His Self, and God warns you of His Self, lest you consider him created, for if he were created, the Essence would be temporal and created, which is clear unbelief. “Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it.”
The letter “alif” of “Allah”
The first station: The Imam said: The Alif is God’s blessings upon His creation. Among the blessings, none is greater than knowledge of the Alif through our guardianship. It is the secret of the letters and the verifier of their realities. Through Him are essences manifested, for He is the Essence and the Essence of essences, and for Him alone is delight in all delights. He created the still that cannot be comprehended through stillness, and the moving that cannot be comprehended through motion. The opposites have come together and the “I-ness” has been lifted, for authority has appeared unto God, the Truth. The Truth is with Ali and Ali is with the Truth, circling wheresoever it circles. He is pure certainty through the negation of doubts, and He is the very majesty through the negation of veils. The signs to all contingent beings are through absolute subsistence at the time of pure annihilation, turning away from existence and turning toward discovering Him—may my spirit be sacrificed for Him. Through Him has appeared in the realm of divinity the oneness of the Essence for the Essence. There is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting.
The second station comprises the bounties of God for the people of the Paradise of Firdaws, through their recognition of the authority of Ali—peace be upon him. They are the people who pause at the absolute sanctuary before being bound to the restricted, except that within them is the capacity to look upon their own selves. When they contemplated the Prophets regarding the authority of Ali, the All-Merciful made them taste the burning of separation yet preserved them from the fire. They cried out in the darkness of multiplicity of their capacity:
“There is no God but Thee! Glory be unto Thee! I was indeed among the wrongdoers!”
When they repented and sought deliverance through him—may my spirit be sacrificed for him—he saved them from the grace of duality and admitted them into his house. Whoever entered it was safe, and thus does He save the believers.
They are men who dwell in the Essence of God, find solace in the remembrance of God, drink from the cup of God, receive from the hand of God, and give in the path of God. Their subsistence is through God and upon them through God. They move not nor rest save through God. Their hearts are colder than ice, their souls attached to the Supreme Concourse. Were it not for an appointed term from the Lord of creation, they would not remain in their bodies for a moment, such is their longing for the Supreme Companion. May God grant me their companionship in the gardens of Paradise. How excellent is their station, a seat of truth with an omnipotent King. O chosen Job—may my spirit be sacrificed for thee!
The third station comprises the bounties of God for the people of the verdant sea, and they are the exalted letters among all created things. Thy dominion is above every dominion, and Thy majesty above every majesty. They are the letters of “There is no God but God” in creation and composition, in the inscribed lines. They are the months of the year and the hours of the day in all the worlds of creation and legislation. Indeed, the number of months with God is twelve months in the Book of God from the day He created the heavens and the earth. They are the manifestation of God’s action and the hands of His power. And they are the friends of God in all the worlds of action.
They are those who bestow upon the people of the Sea of Fire through the Name of God, the Withholder; upon the people of the absolute Cloud (ama’) through the Name of God, the Living; upon the people of the surging abyss (qalzam) through the command between the two matters’; and upon the people of the land of the Ka’bah through the Name of God, the Giver of death. They are the guides unto God in the oneness of the Essence, the Attributes, the Acts, and in worship. Glorified are they above what is ascribed unto them.
The fourth station: the Alif of the favors of God (ala’ Allah), in the rank of the Imamate—outwardly manifest through walayah (guardianship), inwardly through mastery over all regions and cycles. This, at present, is the station of the Qa’im—may my soul be his ransom. It is an identity, a proof, a sign, and a station for the pre-eternal Essence—glorified be He. It is the very object of worship and His Face at the moment of devotion and turning toward Him. There is no distinction between them save that he is His servant and His creation, for this station is the loftiest of the stations of possibility; beyond it, nothing is possible within the realm of possibility. Instruments only delimit themselves, and tools only point to their like.
This is the meaning of the saying of Ali—upon him be peace—in the Sermon of Tutunjiyyah: If thou sayest, “Of what is He?” thou hast separated Him from all things—yet He is He. And if thou sayest, “He is He,” then the ha’ and the waw are but His speech: attributes that serve as indications toward Him, not attributes that disclose Him. If thou assignest Him a limit, then praise belongeth to other than Him; and if thou sayest, “His relation is air,” then air is but one of His attributes.’
Thus one passes from description to description, while the heart is blinded to their very souls; intellect is confounded, perception is diverted from inference. Sovereignty abideth within sovereignty; those of temperament incline toward their like; the ignorant seek their own semblance. Investigation rushes headlong into incapacity; exposition ends in loss; striving reaches despair; eloquence arrives at severance. The path is barred, the quest repelled. His proof is His signs; His existence is His affirmation. And he—may my soul be his ransom—is not veiled from his flock; rather, hopes veil them from him.
The letter “lam” of “Allah”
The First Station: The letter Lam is a luminous name, a divine letter, and a godly symbol, manifesting the Alif in unity and expressing Oneness in the beginning. From this the Christians derived the form of the cross and the descent of the divine into the human—exalted be God far above what the wrongdoers say, with great exaltation. It is an ocean without beginning or end, surging and wave-filled, the greatest and most exalted of seas—nay, there is no sea but it. It is the ocean of existence and pre-existence, manifest in contingent being through contingency, and it is the depth of the sea of Oneness mentioned in the words of ʿAli. The swimmer in this sea swims in God’s own glorification—no ship, no sailor, no island, no sail exists other than the sea itself as ship, sailor, passenger, sail, seeker, and sought, traveling toward his Lord on the path of God, the Exalted, the Mighty, the Praiseworthy.
There is no end, no exit, no arrival, no separation at the time of parting, no connection at the time of joining. One journeys from Truth to Truth with no decline. This sea has no waves, no motion, no stillness, no fish—utterly sanctified beyond the attributes of seas. It is pure, absolute manifestation, and the wayfarer in this sea sees no sea but it. Glory be to God above what they describe.
The Second Station: The Lam is the Most Great Name and the miniature symbol. It is the first that God chose for Himself, and He is the Most High, the Supreme. It is the word of God, mighty and glorious: “And this is indeed a straight path.” Thus did God make it the pivot of His noble name. No, may my spirit be sacrificed unto Him, it is the beginning of the Purpose wherein the Praised One manifested Himself as the very Essence of the Worshipped One. It is the educator of names and attributes, for none can swim in the vast ocean of attributes and names besides it. It surges with the surging of attributes, breaks with the breaking of signs, breathes with the breath of tokens, flows with the laws of stations, and rises in waves in the gulf of names.
It is the One flowing through names and attributes like water flowing through the veins of trees and plants. It is the first of numbers, master of eternity, sovereign of perpetuity through God’s bestowal of dominion, the One, the Eternal. It has no beginning and no end, and it is that which is mentioned in His words: “Lord, cause me to enter into the depth of the sea of Thy Oneness and the ocean of Thy Singleness.” The mentioned One is the mystery of Muhammad, and the sea of the One is the mystery of ʿAli, peace be upon him.
The Third Station: The Lam is the manifestation of God’s name, the Life-Giver. It is the ocean of the reconciliation of multiplicity, the sea of Power, a deep sea dark as the darkest night, full of serpents and fish. At times it rises high in consideration of its source, and at others sinks low in turning to itself. It is the encompassing sea and the belly of contingent existence. In its depths is a sun that shines—none should gaze upon it save the One, the Single. Whoever seeks to gaze upon it has opposed God in His dominion and contested His sovereignty. But whoever looks upon it through its own eye is illumined by the sun in its depths. The Messenger of God has said: “Verily, difference […]” In thee, O Ali—and this is the secret of His words “The fortunate is fortunate in his mother’s womb, and the wretched is wretched in his mother’s womb”—and it is His true utterance “I and Ali are the fathers of this community,” which is mentioned in the Encompassing Sea.
None dwells independently in the heights of this Sea save the Family of God, who are the letters of “There is no God but God” in all realms of creation. Therefore each of them is an independent cause in creation through God, glorified and exalted be He.
The Fourth Station: The letter Lam is the name of the Shi’a, and it is the divine subtlety deposited in the secret of Reality throughout all ranks of servitude, referred to in the words of al-Sadiq: “Servitude is a substance whose essence is divinity.” They are a people from among the followers of Ali dwelling on a mountain in a sea behind the Qaf of the Heart, glorifying God saying “Glory be to Him, the One possessed of conquest and overwhelming power, there is no God but He, His is the sovereignty and unto Him do all return.” The sea wherein lies the mountain is the water that floods their hearts, the water that is the source of their life—it is the Sea of Unity below and the Sea of Multiplicity above, a sea deep crimson with many serpents from the realms near their Lord, the Lord of Dust, ascending at times to the most perfect formation and descending at others in stillness to the clay.
Therefore God placed putrefaction in the well of clay due to its intense permanence and duration. In this sea the seas are mixed and the branches extend. When its elixir-like receptivity in the mineral rank was made sound, what was potential within it was completed and perfected into actuality. God, glorified be He, commanded the rising of God’s kindled fire upon the place of hearts. Then they spoke the word of truth in the seat of truth: “Verily we are God’s and unto Him do we return,” “All things perish save His Face.”
The letter “ha” of “Allah”
The First Station: The letter Ha is the Lord of Letters, as there is no lordship in mention, essence, encompassment or manifestation. The Ha in Allah—its first manifestation is the Ha in Huwa (He), and it is the Most Great Name and the Most Noble Indicator, highest and noblest of names. Among its pillars are Oneness and Identity, and it is the Spirit of God, and to it is the Spirit of the One, as God has said “The Eternally Besought,” “Say: He is God, the One.” The greatest station of Huwa in contingent existence without extending the Waw is the heart of the Muhammadan Reality, may my spirit be sacrificed for him. It is the rank of Primal Eternity manifest to contingency through contingency, and it is a station and evidence for the Pure Ancient Essence that “God was, and there was nothing with Him”—now as it was then, His manifestation is identical to His concealment and His concealment identical to His manifestation—the First, the Last, the Outward, the Inward, there is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting.
In His station there is no mention save the mention of God, the All-Mighty, the Most Noble, and that is in the rank of consciousness. But in existence and in the Mother of the Kingdom in the Kingdom, the way is blocked and the quest rejected. Glory be to Him! None knows how He is except Him, and He is sanctified above all else. Glory be to Him above what they describe, and exalted is God far above what the wrongdoers say with great exaltation.
The Second Station: The Ha in the rank of meanings is a pillar of Unity and the place of Will, and it is the first speaker in the sea of contingency with mention of the All-Merciful—there is no God but God, the Powerful, the Supreme. That is the station of Divine Love, True Guardianship, Secondary Eternity, and Universal Lordship manifest in the secret of the elevated Ali, peace be upon him. May my spirit be sacrificed for him—he is the source of names, attributes, meanings and elevated letters in all regions of the accepted heavens and cycles of receptive earths in the expanse of the Empyrean and cloud of Divinity, indicating through proof of establishment that God is the Living, there is no God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting.
There is no difference between him and Him except that he is a servant, created, sustained and made, poorest of the poor. In Him Who is the Worshipped, the All-Possessing! This is the meaning of the words of ʿAli: “We are the Heights between Paradise and Hell, through whom alone can God be known. Were it not for us, God would not be known; were it not for us, God would not be worshipped.” And the Truth hath unveiled this absolute mystery in His authenticated Book: “And on the Heights are men who know all by their marks.” True indeed is He, the Most High, the Most Great.
The third station is that of the letter Ha’ in the rank of the Gates—a letter from the letters of the name Fatimih. God, the Mighty and Glorious, hath said: “I derived for her a name from My Name—I am the Creator (Fatir) and she is Fatimih.” The derived name is her very essence, and from this appeared the letter of her name. She is the Originator of creation and the Fruit of invention. God hath said concerning her: “Lo! she is one of the greatest portents, a warning to mankind.” And mankind are men who stand firm in God’s Cause, and He is the One Who standeth over the Prophets and Successors and all others through His unity. This is the true Word of God: “Nay, I swear by the places where the stars descend.
And truly that is a mighty oath, did ye but know it—that this is indeed a noble Qur’an in a Book kept hidden”—and this is Muhammad, her father—“which none shall touch save the purified ones”—and this is ʿAli, for he is purified from the defilement of multiplicities and cleansed from the turbidities of attributes. When she manifested herself in her noble beauty, God created through her the realities of the Prophets, and they drew their essence only from the rays of her noble form. “And truly among his followers was Abraham.”
The fourth station: The letter Ha’ appeared in truth in the rank of the Guardianship through the fourteen Immaculate Ones, as it is said concerning them: “I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known, so I created creation that I might be known.” They are the Manifestation of Beginning, the Countenance, the Generous One, and the Bestower of God, the Truth, even as the Book hath truly spoken: “Whoso obeyeth the Apostle, obeyeth God”. Verily, “they that pledge fealty unto thee do but pledge fealty unto God; the hand of God is above their hands.” The Jews said, “God’s hand is fettered.” Fettered be their own hands, and accursed be they for that which they have said! Nay, rather, both His hands are outstretched; He bestoweth as He willeth.
“The whole earth on the Day of Resurrection shall be His handful, and the heavens, folded together, in His right hand.” Yea, both His hands are right, and all besides them—by whomsoever accounted—are, before them and before the majesty of their glory, sheer existence and sheer non-existence. They are but honored servants: “they outstrip Him not in speech, and by His command they act; He knoweth what is before them and what is behind them; and they intercede not save for him whom He is well-pleased with; and they, for fear of Him, are apprehensive.” And whoso among them should say, “I am its Manifestation apart from them, by primal originality,” him shall We recompense with hell—thus do We requite the wrongdoers. “So fight the leaders of unbelief, for they have no faith.”
The letter “ra” of “Rahman”
And this is the word of al-Sadiq, peace be upon him: the Ha’ is, for him who opposeth Our authority, the first station; and the Ra’, in the rank of exposition, is the sign of God and His proof. He is the first Mercy that gave tongue to the oneness of God in the realm of possibility; and the loftiest of His stations is the Muhammadan heart, for it is the first Tree that sprouted in the land of the Ahmadi heart, may my spirit be a sacrifice unto Him, “neither of the East nor of the West; its oil well-nigh would shine, though fire touched it not;” nay, the very fire is from that Tree. This is the true word of God: “We sent thee not but as a mercy unto all the worlds.”
And His own absolute word: “I am the first who answered in the pre-existent seed of possibility, ere conjunction; the question was the very answer, and the answer the very question.” Therefore did I outstrip all else by the divine unity—lahuti—possible for the contingent; for aught else is not possible for the contingent. Pre-eternity is itself itself, and now is as then: there is no pointing, no exposition, no orientation, no inference, no knowledge, no discernment—for He is exalted above the contingent and its description. Even as He saith: “Vision comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth all vision; He is the Subtle, the All-Informed.” And the Chieftain of creation declared: “We have not known Thee as Thou shouldst be known, nor worshiped Thee as Thou shouldst be worshiped.”
Exalted is His court—exaltation such that no hand of any servant attaineth thereto. “Glorified be thy Lord, the Lord of Might, far exalted above what they ascribe.” Peace be upon the Messengers, and praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.
The second station—the letter “R” in the station of meanings is the station of Ali, Commander of the Faithful. May my soul be his sacrifice. He is the meeting place of the two gulfs, the barrier between the two seas, and the boundary between the two worlds. He is the One in many and the many in One, the lacking in abundance and the abundant in lacking, the frozen fire and the burning water, the moving earth and the still in motion, the still in movement and the movement in stillness, the near in distance and the distant in nearness. He is the Doer of every cause and the Affected at the beginning of Will, the Gatherer of opposites for the seven mighty ones, the first of ink, the manifestation of existence, and the fruit of being.
His name is written on the tablet of the inner heart, proclaiming the unity that there is no god but God, alone with no partner; and on the tablet of the heart, bearing witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger; He is unique in the world of possibility, free from likeness and opposition. On the tablet of the soul, bearing witness that the successors of the Messenger of God are twelve, and Fatima is pure and infallible—none in existence equals them, all come to them as servants, and they are God’s friends in glory, for God has no friend in abasement. And on the tablet of the spirits, that the followers of God’s family are brothers in Paradise, reclining on facing thrones.
The third station—the letter “R” in the station of the gates is the gate of God from Truth to creation and from creation to Truth. The Messenger of God said: “I am the city of wisdom and Ali is its gate.” May my soul be his sacrifice. He is God’s blessing upon the righteous and His vengeance upon the wicked. He is the gate of which God said in truth: “A gate whose interior contains mercy and whose exterior faces toward punishment.” Ali said: “My outer aspect is leadership and my inner reality is an impenetrable mystery that cannot be grasped.” He is the beautiful ocean and the deep, abundant, surging, tumultuous sea, full of fear and humility, agitation and submissiveness, speaking with his true words: “My God, if Thou wert to promise Paradise to the disobedient and Hell to the obedient, by Thy might and majesty—there is no power nor strength except through Thee—the son of Abu Talib would still be Thy servant.”
And his true words: “I worship Thee neither from fear of Thy punishment nor desire for Thy reward, but I found Thee worthy of worship and so I worship Thee.” All this stems from the authority of God’s justice, for the servant in all conditions needs God, just as at the beginning of his existence—if He willed, he would be non-existent as he was before. God’s grace upon the servant in all conditions is like His grace at the beginning of his existence, and in every state the herald of the All-Merciful calls out: “As We originated you the first time, so shall you return.” Whoever has ears, let him hear God’s call: “The kingdom belongs to God, the One, the All-Compelling.”
The fourth station—the letter “R” in the rank of Imamate is a name from God’s names, a protection from God’s protection, and a fortress from God’s fortress. God, mighty and majestic, said: “There is no god but God is My fortress; whoever enters My fortress is safe from My punishment.” The Imam, may my soul be his sacrifice, said: “It is the peak of the matter and its apex, the gateway of things, and the Good Pleasure of the All-Merciful.” Obedience to the Imam after recognizing him—God the Exalted said: “The authority of Ali ibn Abi Talib is My fortress; whoever enters My fortress is safe from My punishment.” His authority comprises the letters of “There is no god but God,” and it is the first House established for mankind—whoever enters it is safe from annihilation and becomes eternal through the eternity of the All-Merciful.
None enters this House after the removal of veils, the erasure of illusions, the tearing of curtains and others, and enters the city while its people are unaware. Whoso entereth the City confesseth the Imamate unto the Imam; but and whosoever testifies from beyond the Gate is undoubtedly among the people of the divine precincts, and it behooveth not that the Sovereign, the Compeller, should enter. For the Imam is the gatherer of stations and proofs; they are the guides unto God, proclaiming: “There is none other God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting, the Most Exalted.”
(the letter “ha” of “Rahman”):
The first station: the Ha’ is a recurrence of the Dal, the Dal a recurrence of the Ya’, and the Ya’ a recurrence of the Alif—they are the very fullness of hamd (Praise). In that degree “there shall bear the Throne of thy Lord above them, on that Day, eight.” And the Ha’ is the inception of the Throne of God, and the highest of its stations in the realm of possibility: the Muhammadan heart—the perfection of power and might. God, exalted be He, hath said: “Neither My earth nor My heaven contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant containeth Me.” And al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: “Manifestation is the perfection of concealment, and concealment the perfection of silence; and power and might are the perfection of act. Whenever the universals of wisdom be not perfect in their inwardness and perfect in their outwardness, wisdom would be deficient in the All-Wise, albeit He be able.”
This is the Throne of Grandeur and Might, apt for attachment to the bringing-into-existence of existents and the becoming of beings. God, exalted be He, hath said: “Call upon God, or call upon the All-Merciful—by whatsoever name ye call upon Him, to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names,” and, “He is sovereign over the Throne.” By His bounty He giveth each possessor of a right his right, and conveyeth to every created thing its sustenance.
And the name “the All-Merciful” is “smaller” than the Name of Ipseity (al-Huwiyyah) by two years, even as ʿAli, peace be upon him, said: “I am two years younger than my Lord.” And the Lord (rabb) is the One Who nurtureth—He is Muhammad. The first year is the year of manifest unity, whose seat is universal prophethood; and the year that combineth is that which uniteth prophethood and guardianship (wilayah). None seeth one like him in comprehensiveness in contingent being ever, as befitteth him. The Ancient Essence is Lord when there is none lorded over, and God when there is none adored. Hallowed and exalted is He above what they ascribe!
The second station: the Ha’ is the perfection of hamd (Praise); and Praise is the attribute wherewith God hath described His own Self. Hence is that court His alone. It is the first, the most perfect, the most exalted of praises unto God—glorified be He. He is the Gatherer of the ranks of all possibles, from the beginning unto the seal, unto that which hath no end by that which hath no end. When God desired to praise His own Self, His Will brought forth that Word from no thing. That is the second creation and the first sprinkling, the Greatest Sign. He hath said—exalted be He: “But for thee I would not have created the heavens.” And ʿAli—peace be upon him—declared: “What sign of God is greater than I, and what tiding more momentous than I?”
May my spirit be a sacrifice unto him: he is the first of the cosmos in relation to possibility, and the first of possibility in relation to essences. The cause of that Volition is His very Self; to say that the Cause is God (in the sense of necessitating conjunction and linkage) is associationism—for God is exalted above such. His origination is ibda’, a bringing-forth unalloyed; He is free from His creation and His creation is free from Him, hallowed be He above that which they associate. Unto Him be praise in the heavens and on earth, and unto Him shall all return.
The third station—ha’ in the rank of the Gates. It is the first letter of the name of the two Hasans—upon them be a thousand salutations and praise. They make it to appear at the confluence of the two seas—the sea of Will and the sea of Decree—even as the true word of God: “He hath let loose the two seas that they meet.” They are the sea of ʿAlawiyyah and the sea of Fatimiyyah, and between them Muhammad is the isthmus of prophethood: “they overpass not.” From them there issues the pearl and the coral.
The pearl is al-Hasan—its color is white; he is the spirit of his Father’s Manifestation in unity, the Manifestation of the Name Allah al-Samad, by reason of the perfection of his simplicity and singleness; from his loins the Imams did not issue. The coral is al-Husayn—its color is red, for in him the modes of majesty and beauty disclose the aspects of multiplicity. May my spirit be his ransom—he is the father of the Most Pure Imams; the All-Merciful named him Abu ʿAbdillah. Absolute servitude is confined to his offspring, the Most Pure Imams, by the perpetual might of the All-Powerful, the All-Subduing.
The fourth station—ha’ in the rank of Imamate: the station of the manifestation of the sovereignty of al-Husayn, may my spirit be a sacrifice unto him. He is the servant of God and the manifestation of His Name the Causer of Death.’ Before him stands Izra’il as mirrors wherein his beauty, may my spirit be his sacrifice, is reflected. The believer, upon beholding him, dies, and from his majesty the spirit flees from the body of the unbeliever. His beauty is the beauty of God; all die by his leave and his deed. God takes the souls at the time of their death.
“The servant” [abd] comprises three letters: the Ayn represents his knowledge of God—as al-Sadiq said, “Knowledge is the perfection of what is known”; the Ba represents his separation from creation; and the Dal represents his nearness to the Creator without how or indication. The Name of God “the Causer of Death” is itself the Name of God “the Ever-Living,” and death is the essence of life. In the earth of dust, capacities ripen for ascension to the station of signs. Therefore, whosoever visits him, knowing his true station, is as one who has visited God upon His Throne. And whosoever weeps, or causes others to weep, or feigns weeping for his tragedy—he himself, may my spirit be his sacrifice, is their reward, for he is the Lord of Paradise.
Verily, the people of Paradise visit the Lord on Friday, which is visiting him, may my spirit be his sacrifice, for his self is the Self of the Lord, his resting place the Throne of the All-Merciful, and his visitor the essence of visitation through what is revealed therein. This is the true Word of God: “Whoso is slain, I Myself am his blood-money.” How excellent is the station of his visitor and of those who weep for him! Were the veil to be lifted, none would accept aught save visiting him and weeping for him. And the permanence is in remaining in his land.
The letter “mim” of “Rahman”
The first station is Water—the water of existence, the countenance of the Worshipped One, His praised Self. It is the pole of the vast encompassing sea, elevated above all regions in the depths of the sea of cycles and the ocean of ages. Its inhabitants are men of the very essence of water, their faces radiant with the effulgence of eternity, their souls sanctified by eternal holiness. Their remembrance is the remembrance of God, the Most Great. In the sea are infinite islands formed of the same water which melted, spread out, settled and became dusty earth. Upon the islands are domes of the same water, like white pearls raised and frozen in the midst of the air. It is a shoreless sea, without impurity, movement or change.
Upon it are ships of the same water, like moist red gold, their occupants of the water’s essence, traveling from God unto God. Their journey never ends, nor do they arrive save at their stations—at the time of union they are separated, and at the time of finding they are seekers. The ruling of a part of it is like the ruling of its whole, and the ruling of its whole is like the ruling of its part. It is purifying water, the letter of manifestation, and the purity of the self-disclosure of the Discloser by the very self of that to which disclosure is made. And it is the ocean of unity mentioned in the supplication from the words of our Master the Imam—peace be upon him—upon Ali—peace be upon him:
“O Lord, plunge me into the depth of the ocean of Your Oneness.”
The second station: the water is the Water of Life, and “from water We made every living thing.” This water is the manifestation of the Name the Living. When God desired to create this water, by His Will it became existent, connected with the color yellow, speaking that our Creator is the Merciful. It is the surging, billowing ocean, the origin of multiplicities in the realm of the world of Names and Attributes. Its outward aspect is the Imamate of Ali, who is in the heart of Sanctity and Splendor, and its inward aspect is a hidden mystery, immune and protected from attributes and names. In this ocean are ships, islands, domes, inhabitants, and men—all of that from the very water itself.
It has no beginning and has an end, no construction and no annihilation. The dwellers therein are the people of purity and radiance, glorifying their Creator in the pole of the region of Glory and Splendor. They are men about whose truthfulness God said: “Men whom neither commerce nor trade distracts”—the stages of affairs and manifestations in the realm of the Book from the true Unity, which is the very essence of remembrance. This ocean is the ocean of tranquility and dignity, the coolness of certitude, and the core of the heart. Whosoever drinketh a drop therefrom dwelleth in the Essence of God, showeth patience in adversity for His sake, and is content with His decree, saying in all conditions: “There is no power nor strength save in God. His is the creation and the command, and unto Him shall all return.”
The Third Station is the Water of Power. When God ordained its existence through the manifestation of His Name, the Life-Giver, He took a drop from the Water of Life, the manifestation of His Name, the Living, and it is His true utterance in His Book of Truth: “And We send down from the rain clouds water pouring forth abundantly,” surging, wave upon wave, moving like the manifestation of divine conditions. From it spring forth gardens of fruits and plants of divine attributes, until God’s words “Every day He is in a new state” become manifest. It is the emerald sea without beginning or end, wherein are trees of moist jewels, and upon it sail ships of fresh emerald, more vast than between the heaven of the accepted and earth of the receptive.
Those who sail therein are, in the first instance, Muhammad and His family, and their followers secondarily. These are men purified from the defilement of time and temporal things, sanctified from attachment to desires and multiplicities. They disobey not God in what He commandeth them and are fearful of the family of God. The Messenger of God said: “The similitude of my household is as the Ark of Noah—whoso embarks thereon is saved, and whoso turns away therefrom is drowned.” The likeness is identical to that which is likened.
The Fourth Station is the Water of Decree, which flows from the Sea of Life, ordained for every soul that dies, and the other for the place where God’s Will flows, for what is in the Decree is that which is executed, and God hath no new decision in what He hath executed. It is the deep, mighty, surging ocean, profound, waving with the waves of divine attributes like firmly-fixed mountains. From it emerge two gulfs—one the beginning of things and the other their end, and the very ending is the water of beginning. From it flow four rivers: the water that changeth not in taste—the sea of acceptance and recognition of Muhammad’s Prophethood; the purified honey—special to Muhammad’s family and followers, which is the sea of falling short in knowing the People of Infallibility; the wine that is a delight to those who drink—the sea of love, might, dominion, grandeur, authority and overwhelming power, without headache, hangover, intoxication or blindness. Its inhabitants glorify, saying:
“Glory be to the Possessor of Power and Conquest! There is no God but He, the One, the All-Compelling!”
The letter “nun” of “Rahman”
The First Station: The letter Nun in the rank of the Bayan is the very essence of the letter Kaf, and it is the perfection of contingency, and contingency itself in the world of possibility is the letters in the word “Be!” The Kaf is the rank of the Primal Will, and the Nun is the rank of Purpose, and the Primal Will is the father of all things and Purpose their mother. He (peace be upon him) said: “I and Ali are the two fathers of this community.” Through the Kaf God created the substance of things and the sign of His uniqueness and the temple of His oneness, indicating God alone, and it is the highest consciousness in contingency wherein God alone is known, and it is called the heart.
Through the Nun God created things from the beginning of inclination toward Himself to the uttermost multiplicity, from infinity unto infinity. The first certainty is the temple of Prophethood, the second the temple of Guardianship, and the third the temple of the followers, and these temples are the perfection of faith. God placed in everything a sign for recognition of Him, and it is the perfection of Light—“God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as a niche wherein is a lamp” to the end of the verse. God the Exalted said: “We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and in themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the Truth.” The Imam Sajjad said: “By God, these are Our signs and this is one of them”—meaning the Guardianship. Nothing was proclaimed in Islam as was proclaimed regarding the Guardianship.
The Second Station: The Nun is the throne of the Kaf, and by it did the All-Merciful establish Himself over all else, and it is the One realized in fourteen temples. The Messenger of God said: Above every good deed is another good deed until it reaches Our love. When it reaches Our love there is no good deed above it. This is confirmed by His true words when a Bedouin asked about religion and He (peace be upon Him) said: “Is religion anything but love for us?” This hidden mystery was revealed by His words (peace be upon Him): “Whoever loves you has loved God.” This love is the cause of existence of all contingent beings, as expressed in the divine tradition: “I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known, so I created creation that I might be known.”
Love is the very essence of the lover, and the lover is the beloved when the three people of love are united. The Christians said “the third of three,” but He is One God. Al-Sadiq said: “Love is a veil between the lover and the beloved.” The aforementioned love is not the Essence of God the Exalted, for His concealment is identical with knowing Him, and knowing Him is identical with His concealment. He is the Known, with no knower in existence now, just as He was. Glory be to Him—none knows how He is except Him, and He is the Most High, the Great.
The third station is the letter Nun in the station of the Gates: God’s Command, His Knowledge, His Preserved Book, and His Justice. When God commanded the Greatest Word to turn back for the manifestation of lights and multiplication of phases, it descended to the pillar of Names, revolving with the revolution of Names in the worlds of cycles, and in the world of lights with the revolution of mysteries through the movement of night for the rising of day, to the Pole of Attributes, rotating with the rotation of Attributes in the world of cycles, until it descended from the beginning of the particle to the end of the atom, with no end to its beginning just as there is no end to its completion.
This is God’s true word: “All things subsist by Thy Command.” The Command is the perfection of Justice, and by His Justice the heavens and earth were established. The manifestation of that Command are the people of infallibility, and the locus of that Justice is Muhammad and His family (peace be upon them). God the Exalted said: “Verily God commands justice and good-doing.” The Proof (may my soul be His sacrifice) said in the visitation of Ya-Sin: “The affirmed decree is what Your Will has chosen, and the effaced is what Your way has not chosen.” And it is the saying of his exalted grandfather al-Sadiq—peace be upon him—the Pure, the Guide, may my spirit be his ransom, in the well-known visitation: “Like the rising sun, manifesting the command and prohibition of God.”
The fourth station: the nun in the station of the Imamate of Wilayah. It speaks of the beginning by indication and of the end by that which has no end. God—mighty and exalted—said: “Nun. By the Pen and what they inscribe.” And here I mention a drop from it: The nun in the rank of exposition is a simple living essence by itself, and it is the Most High Essence of God. In the rank of meanings, it is the essence of the Messenger of God. In the rank of the Gates, it is the essence of Fatimah—peace be upon her. In the station of the Imamate, it is the letters of “La ilaha illa Allah”—twelve in the inscribed numerals.
In the station of the Pillars, it is universal drops from a subtle droplet from the sweat of Fatimah’s body. In the station of the Nuqaba, it is lights connected to the bodies of the Prophets. In the station of the Nujaba, it is divine shadows connected to the rank of the Nuqaba. In the station of the angels, it is human shadows. In the rank of the jinn, it is angelic shadows. In the rank of animals, it is jinn shadows—thus the ant claims that God has two guardians. In the rank of plants, it is animal shadows. In the station of minerals, it is plant shadows.
The letter “ya” of “Rahim”
The first station: the ya is the letter of ten. In the station of exposition, it is the verse of Divine Unity, the sign of abstraction, pure Identity, the Cloud of Oneness, pure manifestation—the First, the Exalted, the Last, the Impregnable, the Inward, the Near, the Outward, the Distant—a known ocean and an unknown secret, specifically belonging to Muhammad and his family—peace be upon them—in the primal reality. All others besides them are non-existent, having no share in anything of it. How could they not be nothing when the Prophets—the station of their abstraction and their subsistence in the Unity of God—are a shadow of the fa from the body of Muhammad? They reached what they reached, but they did not comprehend what the body of Muhammad did. The body of Muhammad among bodies is impossible and unattainable. How then with the surplus of a ray? All in the longitudinal chain of eight worlds—nay, in the horizontal chain—this secret is veiled. “Were Abu Dharr to know what was in Salman’s heart, he would declare him an unbeliever.” And in a tradition: “God have mercy on him who killed him.” This principle flows from the highest realm to the lowest beginning. The paths to God are as numerous as the breaths of creatures.
The second station: The letter Ya in the rank of meanings is the final letter of the name of Ali (may my spirit be his sacrifice). He is God’s mystery that cannot be described, and His Word that cannot be known. He is the Greatest Name by whose shadow all creation glorifies God. He is the possessor of the Greater Pre-existence and the Mighty Eternity. He (may my spirit be his sacrifice) said: “I am the possessor of Primary Pre-existence, and our Cause is the Truth and the Truth of Truth. He is the Outward and the inward of the inward, and He is the Mystery and the mystery of the Mystery, and the mystery of that which is hidden, and the mystery veiled by mystery, and a mystery that none can fathom save another mystery, and a mystery enshrouded by mystery.”
He is the manifestation of the fear of God and His majesty, and this is the saying of the Imam: “There is no knowledge but fear of Thee, and no wisdom but faith in Thee.” He who fears not His presence has no knowledge, and this is the station of the All-Merciful, and for him who fears his Lord’s station are two gardens, and he who believes not in His holy might has no wisdom, for He is God’s Manifestation—neither He Himself nor other than Him. All this concerns the perpetuity of sovereignty in the kingdom. The path to God’s Essence is barred and the quest rejected. His proof is in His signs and His existence in His confirmations.
“The third station: the ya’—in the rank of the gates within the Name al-Rahim—is a station among the stations of rahmaniyyah (the All-Mercifulness). It is that concerning which the Imam—upon him be peace, may my soul be his ransom—gave answer. And I recall the tradition: the Exilarch (Ra’s al-Jalut) was questioned regarding al-Rida—upon him be peace—and he said: ʿO my master, what is unbelief and faith, and what is unbelief…? [They are] the two”devils,” both of whom are marjuwan.’ And the All-Merciful hath spoken of it when He said in Surat al-Rahman: “The All-Merciful—He taught the Qur’an; He created man; He taught him articulate speech (bayan).”
Then al-Rida—upon him be peace—did not run on with an answer; rather he traced with his finger upon the earth and bowed his head for a while. When the questioner saw his silence, his own soul emboldened him to ask another question. He said: ʿO chief of the Muslims! What is the One that is made many, and what is the many that is made one? And what is the finder for the found? And what is the flowing for the congealed? And the deficient for the increased?’
So he—may my soul be his ransom—raised his head and said: ʿWhat is it that thou art saying? Of whom dost thou speak? For whom dost thou speak? Inasmuch as thou art thou—a letter—we are we. This is a concise answer to thy questions. As for the detailed answer, know—if thou be one who understandeth—praise be to God, the Creator—that unbelief is twofold: unbelief in God, and unbelief in the Satan. And they are two: one is Paradise and the other the Fire; they are the two differing outcomes, the one accepted and the other rejected. And the All-Merciful hath spoken of it when He said:
“He hath let loose the two seas that meet; between them is a barrier they overpass not; which, then, of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?”
He who is of the kind of man will understand our word; and from what we have said there will appear to thee the answer to what lieth within thy questions. Praise be to God, the All-Merciful, sent unto mankind and jinn; and the curse of God be upon the worst of the devils.’
When the Exilarch heard his words, he was struck dumb, bewildered, and gave a cry; then he said: ʿI bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God; and that thou art in truth the Vicegerent of the Messenger of God.’ And al-Rahim is a mercy written for whomsoever mercy hath preceded; and “the care” is the reality of Salman—may my soul be his ransom. Yes—so runneth the tradition.
Did not al-Hasan al-Askari say in his Tafsir: God hath a hundred mercies; He placed one mercy in all creation—by it do men show compassion to one another in this world, in every region. And when the Day of Resurrection cometh, He addeth that one mercy to ninety-nine mercies, and by them He hath mercy upon the community of Muhammad.’ And that mercy is the completion of the community: in this world, when they were in the womb, they dyed themselves away from receptivity; and in the Hereafter, when they are purified of accidents, their constitution is strengthened to bear [what is bestowed]. And God hath forbidden Paradise to the nations until the community of Muhammad enter before them; and the believer is more honored with God than ye suppose.
And I recount some of this by transmission in meaning; none beholdeth the secret of its degrees save the people of piety.
The fourth station: the ya’ in al-Rahim is the station of the Shi’ah; in this Name is the station of their dyeing (sibghah). God, exalted be He, hath said: “The dyeing of God—and who is better than God in dyeing?” He placed them in the “well of fermentation” within this dyeing; and when their constitution ripened and they reached maturity, He disciplined them with prayer, alms, fasting, striving, pilgrimage, and the other praiseworthy deeds, until their parts were mingled and they became one thing—according to the saying of Ali—may my soul be his ransom—until all my deeds and my litanies become one litany.’
Then He placed them in the alembic of distillation, to take from them the elixiral parts—this is the “death of the whole”: for some it is in this world; for some in the return (raj’ah); for some in the intermediate state; for some in the Resurrection; and for some in the Fire—so that the accidental parts be burned away and the elixiral parts be taken. When the elixir-parts are taken, the wind of love—love of God—stirreth in their hearts; and that is the meeting with their Creator. This is the saying of al-Sadiq: ʿWhen the wind of love stirreth in the heart, and it findeth intimacy in the shades of the Beloved, and preferreth the Beloved above all else…’
He said: ʿBehind thee is within thee, and thou seest it not; behind thee is from thee, and thou perceivest not. Thou art the manifest Book, by whose letters the Manifestation appeareth… Dost thou deem thyself a small body, while within thee the greater world is folded? And it is the point of knowledge: knowledge is a point—multiplied by the ignorant. And it is dirayah (understanding): one act of understanding is better than a thousand acts of mere narration. It is the scroll of the wise: every knowledge that is not in the scroll is lost. Knowledge is the perfection of action; knowledge without action is as a bow without a string.’
And the intimations are veils: when the veils are lifted from the disclosure of multiplicities, he entereth the House of Majesty—he hath known the stations of the matter and reached the places of the secret; and he is independent of all save God.”
Glory be to God above what they describe. Complete, complete, complete.