BB00077: Ziyarat for Mulla ’Ali Bastami

Part 1: “The Ninth Treatise, in answer to spiritual questions…”

The Ninth Treatise, in answer to spiritual questions, arranged in fourteen chapters. Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.

Chapter One: Concerning the question about visiting Ali and the Imams, peace be upon them.

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

Praise be to God, Who has revealed Himself to the people of the celestial realm, and they stood firm upon the temple of Glory; and to the people of the exalted realm through the Point of Praise around the Point of the letter B; and to the people of Glory through the Crimson Point from this Golden Alif; and to the people of heaven through the Point separated from this White Tree, speaking from the Green Line. Verily, there is no God but Him, and glorified is He above what they describe.

O God! I bear witness to You regarding what I have known of the call of this believer’s secret, Ali al-Bistami, who has traversed his path upon the Greatest Bridge through Your bounty, closer than union through separation itself. He asks about the path of servitude in approaching the sanctuary of the Family of God, peace of God be upon them. I desired to answer him with Your Greatest Permission, striving for what I have known of his love for Your gate and his obedience to Your Self. Verily, You are witness over all things.

Therefore, O God, guide the people of the Gate to that path of return in the Point of Command from this Light veiled by the veil of the beloved ones, for Thou hast power over all things and Thou doth encompass all the worlds. O thou who respondest! Hearken to what God hath cast unto thee upon the paths of the Beloved. And if thou desirest the land of Najaf, then dry thyself in the fire of that hallowed land like unto a reed nurtured by the sun of heaven. When thou art purified from all allusions, then wash thy face with the water of Manifestation and thy body with the water of the sea. Then clothe thy inner self with the garments of the Gate upon the mystery of dust, and outwardly don the cleanest and purest raiment thou canst find.

Then use whatever pure perfume thou art able, for this is the sign of the pure ones. Take unto thyself such ring as God hath graciously bestowed upon thee. Then walk upon the earth in humility, without sandals, in the manner of a soul whom the All-Merciful shall call to account on the Day of Judgment—and thou hast indeed come to know this with true knowledge. And glorify God secretly in thy walk with the greatest tranquility. When thou reachest the gate of the city, pause and say:

“I bear witness unto God as He loveth and is pleased—there is no God but He, there is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Most High, the Most Great. O God! Through Thy grace Thou hast called me until I have reached the gate of the city of Thy power. Grant me, through Thy bounty, loving admission, for Thou art independent of my obedience. I testify before Thee that wert Thou to deal with me with justice, I would be as nothing on the day of my arrival at this city of presence. I beseech Thee, O God, my Lord, to bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as befitteth Thee and as Thou art worthy. Verily Thou art the Lord of bounty and glory, and Thou art powerful over all things.”

Then be assured that this city is the city of security—none shall enter it save those who have completely detached themselves from aught else, nor shall any soul enter it while pointing to aught else, for it is the city of Paradise and the mystery of the Holy One in a point of dust. Guard thyself lest thou become attached to anything besides thy Ancient Lord. Then enter through the gate, conscious of this Gate, and walk in the city toward the market quarter, humbly and submissively before thy Lord, with perfect love and ease, until thou reach the first gate of the holy courtyard. Pause there and praise God, thy Ancient Lord, as much as thou art able—and if thou praise Him a hundred and ten times, it would be better for thee than all good deeds and prayers. Then enter saying:

“In the Name of God, and praise be to God, and there is no God but God, and God is Most Great,”

and walk with measured steps like unto a soul drawn near by the fire of the Tree of Sinai. Recite to thyself secretly verses about God’s majesty and grandeur on thy way to the second gate. When thou reaches it, pause there and bear witness for thyself and for creation to servitude at that gate, and say:

“O God! Thou art Peace, and from Thee is peace, and unto Thee is peace, and Thou art worthy of peace. Here am I, beseeching Thee, O my Lord, in this Most Great Station and Most Exalted Stand, concerning what Thou lovest from me for Thyself and for the beloved ones among Thy creation, I beseech Thee to send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as befitteth Thee and as Thou art worthy. Glory be to God above what they describe! Be aware that at that Gate, the Balance hath been set before the All-Merciful and the Path hath been extended before Him, and verily the All-Merciful hath established Himself upon the Throne of Judgment over all. I bear witness with the eye of certainty to the truth of certainty for the people of obedience to the Gate on the right side of the Tomb, and these are they who stand in their holy place near the Tomb like humble servants before their Glorious Lord. And I bear witness on the left to the decree of excess at the Point of Fire, for verily Hell hath been kindled with servitude around it. Then I bear witness for all the people of creation and invention at the Gate as God hath willed for His creation.”

Then enter, by God’s leave and the leave of His chosen ones, with complete effacement from all else, and let the tongue be silent and the secret of utterance, and say within thyself without ignorance in speech:

“There is no God but Him, we are God’s and to Him we return.”

Then walk in utmost tranquility until thou reachest the Gate. Then magnify God, thy Lord, fourteen times, then bear witness unto God as He hath borne witness unto Himself and His chosen ones through His power, with what God causeth to flow upon thy tongue, for verily He hath power over all things. And pause not except briefly, and know that no soul hath drawn near through indicating to another except that it hath become distant from the Dawning-Place of the Divine Presence, and its remoteness is as the distance between the two Easts. Fear God and seek from thy Lord entry into the sanctuary of holiness, and efface from thyself the direction of holiness, for verily the observation of lights veileth thee from beholding the countenance of mysteries in the presence of the All-Merciful. And when thou seekest to enter, after permission, say:

“In the Name of God, and praise be to God, and there is no God but God, and God is Most Great.”

Then stand before the feet […] Know that the decree concerning any part of the body of the Imam, peace be upon him, is with God as the decree of the whole, and they have no direction apart from direction, as unity hath appeared in their form as in their essence. Then say fourteen times:

“I bear witness unto God as He hath borne witness unto Himself that He is the Most High, the Great.”

Then say:

“Peace from God be upon Muhammad, Ali, Fatimih, Hasan, Husayn, Ali, Muhammad, Ja’far, Musa, Ali, Muhammad, Ali, Hasan, and the Expected Proof—God’s blessings be upon them all.”

Here stand at the Tomb as thou standest in prayer and be conscious that thou art standing before God upon the Throne and He is speaking to thee, none other. Then say:

“Peace from the humble servant be upon thee, O Glorious Lord, and the mercy of God and His blessings. I bear witness that Thy description hath been with God from the eternity of eternities as Thyself, and none knoweth this save God, Thy Lord, and I take refuge in God from describing Thy countenance, for Thou canst not be described by aught but Thyself, nor known except through Thyself. I have become certain of my nothingness before Thy remembrance—how then could I remember Thee when my remembrance has no existence before Thee? Glorified be God, the Creator, the Ancient, Thy Lord, besides Whom there is no God, far above what those who liken Thee to creatures describe, and exalted be God far above what the wrongdoers say with great exaltation. O my Lord, when I desired to stand before Thee, I wished to manifest something of the revelation of Thy power through me, until my heart became tranquil and I returned to Thee acknowledging my powerlessness and shortcoming. Here I am, confessing what Thou lovest and art pleased with. Peace be upon Thee, O Thou for whom God has willed in Thy right the right of His Most Holy Essence—there is no God but He—and the mercy of God and His blessings. Peace be upon Thee, O Thou for whom God has desired in Thy self the grace of His Most Great Self—there is no God but He—and the mercy of God and His blessings. Peace be upon Thee, O Thou who, when God desires anything, art His intended purpose—there is no God but He—and the mercy of God and His blessings. O my Lord, O Commander of the Faithful!”

and when visiting any of the Imams say:

“O Proof of God, I testify that when Thou didst attribute to Thyself the comprehensive authority, the people became aware of the stations of divine decree. Therefore the unitarians described their Lord and the attributes were purified from describing anything besides them. So glory be to God, the Single, the One, besides Whom there is no God. I testify, O my Lord, that when Thou willest, the Will becomes manifest in its essence, and when Thou desirest, Desire finds its reality, and when Thou determinest, the choice of things is defined in its form, and when Thou decreest, the All-Merciful carries it out in origination with no repelling of its flow. I bear witness before God and His angels in Thy presence, as Thou bearest witness that there is no God but He, and to creation as Thy knowledge encompasses, and I bear witness to Thy essence as the All-Merciful and His beloved Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family, have testified, and none knows how this is except He.

“O my Lord, there is no established decree except it has descended from the clouds of Thy bounty, and no appointed book except it has trickled from the gate of Thy permission. May God’s blessings be upon Thee and upon the pure family of God with wondrous manifestations from the All-Merciful as He is worthy and deserving. O my Lord, I bear witness before Thee that those who turn to God arrive at Thy holy court, and those who seek God stand at the gate of Thy permission, and those who are detached unto God are connected through the cord of Thy bounty. So glory be to God, the Ancient Lord—none knows His power in Thee except He.

Part 2: “I bear witness that Thy efficacy—when…”

“I bear witness that Thy efficacy—when Thou dost speak, the descent of power—is verily from God, proceeding from the World of the Pens unto the white Tablets. And when Thy being is humbled before the Most Great Truth, bada’ is discovered in the mystery of execution [imda’]. For there is naught of anything but it hath filtered from the oceans of Thy bounty; and there is naught of the Cause but it hath been realized from the clouds of Thy power. O my Lord! I bear witness that Your Will in all things has been ordained by God through the essence of His Will, and Your decree in all things has been divinely ordained through His conclusive judgment. Glorified be God, the Creator, the One; there is no God but Him.

“In all my descriptions I have intended Your pure essence, that You are the servant of God and the successor of His Messenger—may God’s blessings be upon him and his family. You are sanctified from being associated with any description apart from Your essential reality, and You are too exalted to be known by anything other than Your essence. The ultimate expression of the mystics has been the point of non-existence, and the source of joy for the lovers has been the paths of detachment. How could it be otherwise when You are the One standing in the station of God and the station of Muhammad, the Messenger of God—peace be upon him and his family—in all the worlds of recognition, for ʿNo vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision; He is the Most Subtle, the All-Perceiving.’

“O my Master, I bear witness that through Your swift will, the realities of divine unity have become manifest in the essence of souls and horizons, and through the manifestation of Your deed, the mines of detachment have been realized in all regions through the letter of separation. Peace be upon You as You deserve, and none is worthy to enter Your sanctuary. Were You to act with pure justice, none could enter Your city nor approach Your sanctuary. Through Your inherent grace, the hearts of those who arrive have found peace, and through Your manifest power, the pillars of the obedient have trembled.

“You have filled the worlds of creation with the sprinklings from the waves of Your seas of power, such that nothing comes into being except that it is a sign of Your power and a manifestation of Your will, so that the mystics might recognize through this the manifestation of God’s power in all things, until nothing remains unknown to anything. O my Master, when You settled upon the earth, the mystics recognized the establishment of the All-Merciful upon the Throne.

“I bear witness that Your decree has been, in God’s sight, the manifestation of His justice, and thus have the unitarians described You through Him—Your self through His Self, Your eye through His Eye, Your hearing through His Hearing, Your tongue through His Tongue, Your hand through His Hand, Your love through His Love, Your deed through His Deed, Your attributes through His Attributes, Your names through His Names, and through all that is attributed to Him what has appeared of Your majesty.

“I bear witness before You to God’s unity, as God has testified to His Own Self and as have those endowed with knowledge among His creation—there is no God but Him. And I bear witness to the Most Great Master, Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, as God has testified to Himself, and that His grace has been God’s grace upon You in truth, and that God has made him His Own station in all the worlds of existence, for He is the Most Exalted above association and limitations—glorified and exalted is He above what they describe.

“And I bear witness to You as God has testified to You—none knows how You are except Him. And I bear witness to Al-Hassan, Al-Husayn, Ali, and Muhammad, and Ja’far, and Musa, and Ali, and Muhammad, and ʿAli, and Hasan, and the Expected Proof—peace of God be upon them all—as Thou hast testified unto Themselves. And may God’s blessings be upon them as they deserve.

“And I bear witness before Thee to Thy devoted followers who are the bearers of Thy mysteries, the interpreters of Thy verses, the treasuries of Thy knowledge, the mines of Thy grace, the repositories of Thy pardon, the pillars of Thy Will, and the seats of Thy recognition, as Thou hast testified unto themselves. And I bear witness before Thee as Thou hast testified concerning them. And I bear witness by Thy testimony regarding them that whosoever knoweth them hath known Thee, and whosoever obeyeth them hath obeyed Thee, and whosoever is ignorant of them is ignorant of Thee, and whosoever denieth them hath denied Thee, and whosoever rejecteth anything of their deeds is as one who hath warred against God and His chosen ones. I am innocent of the polytheists.

“O my Lord! By Thy might and majesty, Thy drawing power hath caused me to speak these words, and Thy essence hath moved me to make these allusions. Otherwise, I am nothing to stand before Thy sanctuary in these stations or to speak in Thy presence with these expressions. Alas! Alas for my boldness before the Most Great Proof of God! Therefore I beseech Thee, O my Lord, for Thy pardon, Thy pardon. I have fled from my claims unto Thyself and sought intercession from my transgressions through Thy grace. I beseech Thee to make me drink from Thy hands, from the cup of manifestation, the water of Thy mercy. Verily Thou art, by God’s leave, powerful over whatsoever Thou willest. And praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.

“Peace be upon Thee, O Thou through Whose power, when it willeth to remember a mention of Thy Remembrance among Thy creation, the hearts of all things are found and fall prostrate before Thy throne at Thy gate, all speaking together unto God [their Creator] that there is no God but God, the Self-Sufficient, the Most High. Peace be upon Thee, O Thou Whose grandeur, when it casteth a glance upon the horizons of blindness among the peoples of the heavens and earth, they writhe upon handfuls of dust and say unto God, having perceived the manifestation of Thy glance, ʿPraise be to God Who hath created in our realities a sign of His oneness, such that our souls have acknowledged before Him that there is no God but He, the Great, the Bestower.’

“O my Lord! By Thy might and majesty, my soul hath fallen short of tranquility in Thy knowledge, and my purposes have failed to describe Thee with attributes. I testify before God unto Thyself that none knoweth how Thou art except Thee, and I seek Thy forgiveness, O my Lord, for what my soul hath failed in Thy love and for how my innermost heart hath strayed from Thy obedience. By Thy might, Thou hast not withheld Thy drawing power for the twinkling of an eye, nor Thy inspiration for less than an atom from me. O my Lord! By the light of Thy drawing power have I ascended to Thy presence, and by Thy call have I stood before Thee. Glory be to God! What am I and what is that station! By Thy might and majesty, were it not for Thy love sustaining me, I would have been consumed on the day of standing in Thy presence. God knoweth that station, none other than He.

“O my God! This is the station of Thy settling upon the Throne, when from that body buried in that dust there shone forth a light—less than the eye of a needle—in the scene of the Beginning. Then did the realities of all things fancy a thing—namely that which God and His Messenger love. [At that point] thou didst witness that God is the Goal in every state, and thou didst command one of thy followers to unveil His beauty. When it was unveiled, he proclaimed that there is no God but God, glorified be God, and praise be to God, and there is no God but God, and God is Most Great. When the realities heard His decree, they returned to the point of their love for Thee.

“So glory be unto Thee, O my Lord! Exalted and magnificent is Thy truth, and I am Thy servant, within Thy grasp. I have come to Thee from Thy servant whom Thou knowest best, with these mighty writings and these supreme scrolls. Accept then, O my Lord God, through Thy bounty, from Thy servant the manifestation of Thy verses, and from myself their bearing. Reward him, O God, as befitteth Thee, and open, O my Lord, the hearts of Thy sincere servants to the recitation of Thy verses. Make manifest Thy wisdom upon the earth and all that is thereon, until Thou dost purify the earth and all upon it through Thy bounty, and make manifest Thy power that is revealed unto all the worlds, until the lands are subdued unto Thy days and nothing on earth worships God save through Thy love. And sovereignty remaineth unto God alone, and verily Thou art powerful over whatsoever Thou willest, and in answering, Thou art the Answerer. Glorified be God, the Lord of the Throne, above what they describe. I beseech Thee, O my Lord, to send Thy peace upon those who stand before Thee from the Concourse of Light unto the furthermost particles of the righteous, as befitteth Thee and as Thou art worthy. And praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.”

Then walk in tranquility to the back of the tomb and pray eight rak’ahs with the Surih of Unity, and it is permissible to pray two rak’ahs alone. Then turn from thy station toward the head of the tomb and remember the head of Husayn—peace be upon him—with what God hath caused to flow from thy tongue of originated speech. Then pray two rak’ahs with the Surih of the Spirit for that visitation.

Then take leave with the intention of return, and turn thy face to the tomb in tranquility, and do not turn to anything in the sanctuary, and do not speak with anything, not even thyself. For whosoever in the sanctuary pointeth to aught save his Lord hath been veiled from beholding His presence and from gazing upon His beauty. And be assured of forgiveness in thy arrival at that sanctuary, and hear with thy whole being from every direction the word of reply from thy Ancient Lord: “Verily we are God’s, and verily unto Him do we return,” and “Every soul shall taste of death,” according to the decree of the Book—it hath been ordained.