BB00088: Answer to Navvab-i-Hindi

Part 1: “Praise be to God Who hath made…”

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Praise be to God Who hath made the ornament of names, in their primary derivation, the ornament of the Alif, which assumed a cubic form through two letters and stood upright between two others, which shone forth from the tablet of creation and rose with the rising of the sun of invention, which was determined after it had been willed, ordained and decreed, before it was permitted, appointed and distinguished. Thus doth its revelation shine upon all forms, its light radiating from the first reed of the Divine Realm, from the blessed leaf of the Tree of Grandeur, and from the delicate fruits of the trees of sovereignty and dominion, until its light hath filled all that exists in the realities of souls and the depths of the horizons.

Praise be to God Who hath caused to speak what He hath caused to speak, hath caused to shine what He hath caused to shine, and hath caused to rise what He hath caused to rise. Glorified and exalted is He! His Essence is sanctified above any indication from the loftiest peaks of essential realities, and His Being is exalted above the ascent of the most sublime bird of hearts from the depths of quiddities. He is, as He hath ever been throughout all eternity, in His justice, greatness and majesty. None knoweth Him save Himself, and none can find Him except Him, for all else is severed from His creation by His creation, and prevented from His invention by His invention.

And verily, even as He is in His own right, He can in no wise be associated with the mention of any thing, nor with the name of any thing; for names are but the contrivance of His creation, and attributes are but tokens for His servants. Glorified be He! From everlasting He hath been, with none beside Him, and in His rank there hath been neither description belonging to any thing, nor any name; for names are the contrivance of His creation, and attributes are tokens for His servants. Glorified be He! From everlasting He hath been, with none beside Him—no description within His station, no name before the City of His might. And He shall ever remain—even as He hath ever been—the Ever-Being in the eternity of eternities, untouched by any change or transition.

Glorified, then, be He! Whoso hath presumed to describe Him by any name hath, in truth, made that name a token of His Essence and a path unto the knowledge of Him. Glorified and exalted is He! Sanctified is His inmost Reality above being known through aught else than Himself, or being described by any other than His own Self; for proof is but proof of him who of himself pointeth not unto himself, and a path is but a path for him whose path lieth apart from the majesty of his own being.

Exalted is His Being above the description of contingent things and the attributes of essential realities. Whosoever desireth to describe Him with an attribute hath made that attribute a mirror for His beauty and an existence before His existence. Glory be to Him and exalted is He! His Being is sanctified from anyone other than Him describing Him or anyone save Him knowing Him, for knowledge is a branch of association and description is a branch of separation.

Exalted be His station! He hath ever existed without being known through any mention by His creation or being described by any judgment of His servants. The essences are cut off from knowing Him, as His Essence transcendeth all expression and proof, and the realities are prevented from describing Him, as His Being is beyond all recognition and path.

Glory be to Him and exalted is He! All names are but marks of His Will, and all attributes are but qualities of His Power. He, as He is, none knoweth how He is except Him. I believe in what He is, though I neither know nor am capable of knowing it. This sufficeth as proof for those who remember, and this sufficeth as a path for those who believe in His unity.

O thou who gazeth upon the glories of the verses of majesty and dwelleth in the shadows of the dark regions of the paradise of beauty! Look with certainty and abandon the paths of investigation, for indications will veil thee from attaining unto certain knowledge. Today the paths of minute examination will profit thee not, for the dawn hath broken and its lights have shone upon all forms. On that Day, the workmanship of the Lord shall distinguish between the deeds of people. And among them are the people of the Covenant, when they awake to what God hath revealed unto them through the lights of His grandeur, they declare:

“Glory be unto Thee! We have no knowledge save that which Thou hast taught us through Thy Book, and we are but a people who bow down in worship.”

These are they who follow the signs of God, and these are they who are the triumphant ones.

And among them are the people of concord, who, when leg is wrapped around leg and the herald calleth with the destined decree, say:

“Our Lord! We have heard a herald calling to that which was revealed in the Qur’an, and we have followed Thy path. Forgive us for what our hands have wrought, for we are truly a repentant people.”

These are they whom God may forgive and absolve of their misdeeds, and admit them among His righteous servants. These are they who are rightly guided.

And among them are the people of discord, who, when it is said unto them: “Reflect upon the verses of this Servant who was struck down, then arose, bringing forth the pearls of creation and invention through what God hath placed in his hands of the wisdom of utterance,” they say: “We have not heard of this among our forebears of old,” and they fabricate against him as was fabricated against the Prophets of old. Say: Be patient, for God’s appointed time shall come, and verily God shall expose the wrongdoers and reveal their inner nature, that His Cause might be distinguished between the believers among the people of the Covenant and the idolaters among the people of discord and hypocrisy. God hath destroyed them for what their hands have earned, and evil is that which they do.

By thy Lord, the Lord of the heavens and earth! God will not accept any deed from anyone except after they follow God’s Cause and become among the believers. This is but a drop from the vast ocean of glory and majesty, that the sovereign of signs might draw thee to the court of sanctity and beauty.

As for what thou hast asked concerning the names of God and what all have concluded thereof, know that the Name hath infinite ranks within infinite ranks. The truth in all stations is as Ali, peace be upon him, hath said: “The name is the mark of a thing,” and it hath ranks. Among them is the name in realities, which in all its ranks is like a living being, such as man, indicating the named one. Among them are mirrors which indicate what is reflected in them through them. Among them are verbal names, inscribed names, angelic names, horizonal names, and names of the self, and among them is everything upon which the name of a name falls. All of this is in the station of creation and the portion of the servant.

The Essence, as indicated by all minds, brought by all Prophets, and declared by all verses and traditions, hath no name nor description, as Ali, peace be upon him, hath explicitly stated in his words: “The perfection of Divine Unity is the negation of attributes,” as testified by the fact that the attribute is other than the described, and everything described is other than its attribute. There is no doubt that in the school of the Family of God, peace be upon them, what is meant by description is the name, as explicitly stated in the tradition narrated in Al-Kafi from the Imam, peace be upon him. This is witnessed by whoever hath gazed with the inner vision upon the reality of existence. The existence of the name is itself the greatest proof that He hath no name indicating God as He is, and as the Imam, peace be upon him, hath said: “He is too exalted to be known through His creation; rather, creation is known through Him.” Thus have spoken the intimate prayers of the People of Infallibility, peace be upon them, as Ali, peace be upon him, hath said: “O Thou Who hast proven Thy Essence through Thy Essence!”

In his morning prayer, Ali ibn al-Husayn (peace be upon them both) said in his supplication to Abu Hamza al-Thumali: “Through Thee have I known Thee, Thou didst direct me unto Thyself, and called me unto Thee. Had it not been for Thee, I would not have known who Thou art.” And his martyred father (may my spirit and the spirits of all who dwell in the kingdom of command and creation be a sacrifice for him) said: “None other than Thee hath any manifestation that Thou hast not, such that it could be the revealer of Thee. When wert Thou ever hidden, that Thou shouldst need a proof to lead to Thee? When wert Thou ever distant, that traces should have to lead to Thee? Blind be the eye that seeth Thee not ever watchful over it, and lost be the transaction of a servant who hath not been granted a share of Thy love.”

Part 2: “This indeed is the ultimate station of creation…”

This indeed is the ultimate station of creation in the realm of possibility, for verily He cannot be known or described in His Essence. Rather, when He created creation for His knowledge, He revealed Himself to them through them, and described Himself to them through His names and attributes, that they might know Him thereby and worship Him, associating none with Him. In this matter have the feet of those possessed of insight slipped, and the minds of those endowed with vision been confounded. The Illuminationist philosophers have gone where the divine philosophers would not venture, speaking of that which they knew not regarding concept and referent, explaining the connection between creation and That which cannot be associated with creation in any state—neither in conjunction nor in separation. They spoke of that which hath no essential relationship between names, thus destroying themselves and those who followed them, while they thought themselves guided. They have indeed borne a grievous sin in discussing this matter. May God forgive them through His mercy, for He is the Generous, the Bountiful.

When the scholar-jurists did not take their religious knowledge from the traditions of God’s pure Family, but followed their own desires in matters from which none can be saved except whom God willeth, following the judgments of the Peripatetics and some of the Transcendent philosophers—they went astray, all speaking what they wrote in their books. Like the Illuminationists, they did not grasp the truth of the matter and were not illumined by the divine light that shone upon all forms through its traces. Some of them have died, and those who live shall die, then all shall return unto God.

Indeed, Kazim after Ahmad (may God sanctify their dust) had indicated a drop from the ocean of this matter, whose living waters flow from the spring of the sea of destiny. Through the whisperings of the devil of the breasts, we have not unveiled the concealed, and people were promised until this my day, the day of the light of manifestation. Today, when God hath placed in my hand a brilliant proof of truth like unto the sun in the midst of heaven—which none among the Muslims can deny unless they disbelieve in what they believed before—namely the matter of verses that have filled the east and west of the earth, and pages that have filled all horizons, whereby I can write whatsoever I wish with innate divine power, without reflection or pause of the pen, verses and intimate prayers that have never flowed from any pen before, nor can anyone today produce them, even if all on earth were to gather together, they could not produce the like of a single verse, nor write in one day a page like unto it. This indeed is God’s grace upon me, but most people are not thankful.

Alas, alas! What hath reached hath reached, what hath been cut off hath been cut off, what hath been prevented hath been prevented, and what hath occurred hath occurred. Unto God do I complain of my sorrow, and in God let the believers put their trust. By thy Lord, the people are as dead, for they know not and they fabricate falsehoods. Today, whoso addeth to or diminisheth from the law of Muhammad—upon Him be the blessing of God—by even a single letter, verily he hath disbelieved in that instant. God knoweth that I have desired naught save His love and act only according to His decree. I am possessed of clear proof from the Book of God. Some among the people deny out of ignorance, while others fabricate falsehoods after having attained certitude. God hath slain them for their misdeeds, and evil is that which they judge.

The mystery of this matter is that which I now indicate through the evidence of wisdom: No thing can be attributed to the Essence. And if thou sayest unto me that negation is derived from affirmation, I say yea—that upon which the name of Essence is bestowed is the Light which God hath made the station of His knowledge in expression. No vision can grasp Him, for He is the All-Subtle, the All-Informed.

Know thou, if thou gazest upon the depth of Oneness, that there the Named One hath created that depth in the thicket of the Divine Nature, that the believers might be immersed in the immersion of such knowledge of Him as is possible to the contingent, and that the unitarians might be illumined by the radiance of His manifestation deposited within the realities of creation. Verily that station is not concealed by veils, nor can proofs encompass it, nor can one immersed in the darkness of the deaf, dumb and blind know it. Glorified be God, thy Lord, the Lord of the Throne, above all that they describe.

And if thou gazest upon aught besides that depth, know thou that every name hath one who is named, which is its existence in its rank, and every named one hath a name in the rank of its manifestation. The named one hath never ceased to be unconnected with the name, nor is there any link between them. The One named by the name “God” is that Essence which all worship through the names wherewith He hath described His Self. Whoso associateth with Him a name or attribute hath indeed joined partners with Him, hath not worshipped Him, and is an unbeliever.

Recognize no essential relationship between them, for God hath created for everything the names of all things. Therefore hath God ordained that in the instant when there is no essential relationship between them, nor conceptual substantiality, nor existential reality—yet those who gaze upon the forms of limitation know not the stations of the All-Merciful’s manifestation of all through all.

Those who spoke of the relationship between the instance and the concept—if they gazed upon that Most Exalted Prospect, they spoke a word of truth. And those who say otherwise—if they gazed upon that Clear Horizon, they spoke a word of truth. And those who say “each acteth according to his own manner”—O thou who ascendeth to the sanctuary of holiness in the valley of grandeur! Deprive not thyself of thy portion of that which God hath ordained for the people of grace and perfection.

Recite thou that verse of the Qur’an: They said: “O Moses! In it are a people of exceeding strength; never shall we enter it until they leave it; if they leave it, then shall we enter.” Two men of those who feared God, on whom God had bestowed His grace, said: “Enter upon them through the gate, for when ye have entered, victory shall be yours.”

Verily that which We have caused to trickle down unto thee from the vast ocean of the decree of names and attributes is from the warbling of that Bird which rangeth in the atmosphere of the cloud of divine unknowingness. Then it penetrateth into the depths of those allusions which appeared and were made to appear, then revolved and were made to revolve, then stood and were made to stand, then assumed cubic form and were made cubic, then spoke and were made to speak, then stammered and were made to stammer, then gleamed and were made to gleam, then separated and were made to separate, then swooned and were made to swoon, then sobbed and were made to sob, then wept and were made to weep, and became confounded upon the dust like unto the fish—and he spoke only that which God permitted him to speak, from the utterance of his Lord.

O Lord! I complain to Thee of my condition. Set right my affairs and fulfill what Thou hast promised me. For verily Thou hast spoken, and Thy word is truth, and it was incumbent upon Us to help the believers. And lo, I read Thy Book and follow Thy commandments, and take refuge in Thy presence. I seek Thy intercession with Thyself, and I turn to Thee in repentance. By Thy mercy, accept my repentance through Thy grace. Verily Thou art the Ever-Forgiving, the All-Merciful. Glory be to Thee, O Lord of the Throne, above what they attribute. And peace be upon the Messengers, and praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.