BB00344: Tafsir-i-Hadith-i-Nahnu Wajhu’llah

Know that an Arab Bedouin asked Ali about the “Face of God” mentioned in the divine verse “Whithersoever ye turn, there is the Face of God.” Ali said “Wait, I will show you through direct witness.” He ordered that fire and wood be brought and lit. When the fire was fully burning in the wood, Ali asked the Bedouin, “What is the face of the fire?” The Arab replied, “It is all face, from every direction.” Ali said, “We are like that—the Face of God.”

Now observe the tree and the fire—through their connection and relationship, the face of the fire appears. Similarly with the Face of God: when God created the Primal Tree and created fire from that tree and connected them, it ignited and the face of the fire appeared, which is His face.

Look at the Word of Unity [la ilaha illa Allah]—it has twelve letters, and its foundations are three letters: the Alif representing the station of the Tree, the Lam representing the connection, and the Ha representing the fire. Through these three, unity was made manifest, as indicated by the Proof in his prayer in the month of Rajab: “Through them You filled Your heaven and earth until it became manifest that there is no god but You.” The three are Muhammad, Ali and Fatima, may God’s blessings be upon them. Al-Rida indicated: “Whoever says ʿThere is no god but God,’ Paradise becomes obligatory for them, with its condition which is Unity, and its conditions which is Prophethood, and I am among its conditions which is the Guardianship.”

Understand this if you have understanding, otherwise submit and you will be safe. Know that the Pre-eternal is His own Face, and His manifestation is the same as His concealment—He is Himself, nothing else. The first thing He manifested through Himself was from the station of the Hidden Treasure to the station of “I loved to be known”—these are the stages of knowledge of His Face, and they are the stages of the Act in contingent existence. There is no path to the Ancient Pre-eternal whatsoever.

He indicated the three stations saying: “The Messenger of God said: ʿNone knew God except I and Ali, and none knew me except God and Ali, and none knew Ali except God and I.”’ Look with your reality at this tradition and extract from it the knowledge and establish your face toward it. Know that when the cycle repeats its cycles with the four in the station of ten, the first appointed time of Moses was completed—forty nights. The All-Merciful manifested less than the eye of a needle, causing the mountain to crumble and Moses to fall unconscious. When he came to the City of Possibility, he saw the servants had departed from religion and worshipped what the Samiri had made. Then he took his brother Aaron by the beard and pulled him—this is the Guardianship within the Guardian that the Prophet took. When he took it and the people went astray, he ordered them to turn toward Midian that they might be guided, and ordered them to prostrate to God when they reached the gate of the city in veneration of the form of Ali, for he is the gate of the city. They were to say “Remission” that their sins might be forgiven, and We shall increase the doers of good.

Indeed the Gate is Ali and the City is Muhammad, and the Gate is the outward face of the City. When you turn toward Midian and submit to His face, perhaps—which is a gift—you will be among the guided ones. But your entry to the City is conditional upon the heedlessness of its people, for when you become heedless of the glories, Majesty appears to you without indication of separation to the Gate, for it is the first part of the City, as God the Glorified indicated: “And sever what God has commanded to be joined”—this is what is intended by the Primary Reality.

Know the signs, for they are the key to the treasures of knowledge, and it is the Point of Knowledge—whoever knows it knows all things. It is what Muhammad gave to his servant Salman, saying regarding him “Salman is of us, the People of the House.” Through that Point he was given knowledge of the first and the last, for he entered the City while its people were heedless, and he is in a seat of truth with an All-Powerful Sovereign. May God’s blessings be upon him and his Master. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.