BB00644: To Mulla Ahmad Mu’allim Hisari

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

Praised be God—He Who commandeth no one to attain unto the recognition of the Dawning-Place of His own Essence, nor to make mention of the Presence of His Being, nor to celebrate the beauty of His Selfhood, nor to describe His “I-ness.” From everlasting He hath never conjoined His reality with created essences, nor hath He been described by names and attributes; for the Manifestation of His “I am” confesseth the incapacity of material things to utter His praise, and the Presence of His Essence forbiddeth created substances from attaining unto His knowledge. The splendor of His Selfhood hath cut off all contingent beings from certitude, and the exaltation of His Being is sanctified above the sensible attribution of existent things.

Even as He is, He shall not be known by identity, nor described by oneness, nor indicated by self-subsistence, nor characterized by eternity; for the very essence of creation beareth witness to its severance from His description. How then can He, beside Whom in the beginning of beginnings there existed no peer, be said to be “He is He,” or “Thou art Thou”? Exalted and glorified is He beyond my power to reckon His praise, beyond my knowledge to comprehend His station; nor can any one affirm His oneness, nor attain unto His Presence. Even as He hath revealed in the Qur’an, in the station of exposition: “Vision perceiveth Him not, but He perceiveth all vision; and He is the Subtle, the All-Aware.”

And I invoke blessings upon Muhammad, the Messenger of God, and thereafter upon His Family—His honored servants—who precede Him not in speech and act by His command; through the verses of the Godhead, the signs of the Realm of Might, the evidences of the Kingdom and the Dominion, and the true stations manifested within the materials of the human realm; and through the breaths made luminous in fragments of ruby, according to that which God hath known and ordained for them. Verily He is the Most High, the All-Thankful.

And I offer greeting unto Ahmad, from the shore of the right-hand Valley, in the blessed Spot, above the Ark of Testimony, on the right of the Fire; and unto Kazim, from the Tree of Sinai upon the dome of time, from the Dawning-Place of Oneness made manifest through the Being of Light; and unto the Hidden Name, the concealed and veiled, the secret and inscribed symbol—the fearful yet awaited, the renowned—who removeth from inner sight the clouds of light, who speaketh among men with the same authority as Sinai, and who judgeth by the leave of God between the faithful zealot and him veiled from light amid those dusky darknesses. O my Lord! Pour upon me patience, for Thou art indeed the Forgiving, the All-Thankful. And peace be upon those who followed Him beneath the sombre shadows of the Garden of Beauty, and within the effulgences of the Germ of the Paradise of Majesty, according to God’s will at the beginning and at the end. Verily He is the Most High, the Exalted. We implore forgiveness through His Book, out of bounty; verily He is the Compassionate, the All-Forgiving.

And now—thy letter hath descended in the likeness of a lowly spirit; and by reason of that House, its decree is at this hour uplifted, as though it were a star that waneth not. That which once summoned utterance from the rising-places hath been eclipsed; that which dawned upon the lofty horizons hath withdrawn; and that which lay silent within the essences of beginnings hath spoken—crying aloud, humbled and imploring—calling: Where are the radiant lights upon the heights? Where is he who ascendeth unto the ladder of exaltations? Where is the shining one from the horizon of profit? Where is the one who uplifteth the useful from the depths of holiness and elevation?

O thou trustworthy and lowly seeker! God hath confirmed thee by that which He bestowed upon thee of His grace, and hath raised thee, His servant, unto His presence. Thy letter I read aforetime and answered thee with a prayer, declaring that the unseen belongeth unto God, and that I of myself know nothing in the heavens nor on the earth save as God willeth. Abide, then, within the House, and sorrow not.

Now have I read thy letter anew and discerned what thou didst intend in the path of religion concerning the knowledge of the Kaf. Know thou that the Kaf is the appearance of the effulgences of the Ha in the grades of the oneness of Essence, of attributes, of acts, and of worship. In every state it turneth upon itself and draweth sustenance from itself by itself—not from aught else—after the manner of itself; for God created the Will by itself, from nothing, without cause other than itself. It moveth upon itself with the motion of succession unto itself—not upon its Lord—from the beginning without beginning: first, the causalities of agency in the essences; then the material causalities in being; thereafter the formal causalities in selfhood; and finally the final causalities in identity—according to that which God’s knowledge hath encompassed. And with a motion other than succession, for the existence of the many from the infinite unto the finite, in both stations doth the Kaf—which is the rank of the Will—revolve upon itself, receiving in every moment its aid from God, not from aught else: by itself, for itself, from itself. God sustaineth it by itself, for itself, from nothing else—even as He created it on the first day without cause beyond itself, and without any mention equal to it.

If thou wouldst apply the revolution of the Kaf to the totalities of the eightfold chain, thou wouldst be right; and likewise in particulars thou wouldst be truthful—even unto the ink itself—for it, too, turneth like the Kaf upon itself and speaketh of the Greatest Depth whereunto God revealed Himself. Recognize, then, the truth of that elixir; quicken thereby whatsoever thou desirest; behold that interpretation in the creation of the heavens and the earth; and let thy heart be at rest in the existence of Being, without distinguishing the absent from the present. This allusion sufficeth thee upon the path of exposition by way of union in summary. And shouldst thou love the path of separation in detail, drawn from the splendors of majesty, then consider what We have revealed in the commentary on al-Kawthar; for it is indeed the Water of Life that issueth from the Fountain of Salsabil, drawing the signs unto the court of nearness and beauty—without mention and without proof.

Yet I counsel thee: rejoice not at the confirmation of any from among the people of perfection, nor be grieved at the denial of any from among the people of idle talk. We have known the way of all: whoso willeth, let him believe; and whoso willeth, let him disbelieve. God, thy Lord, is verily the Self-Sufficient, the Most Exalted. And as to what thou hast mentioned of fear of the people—leave them to their plunging; turn not toward them; sorrow not over the deeds of the disputers. Study the verses of the knowledge of Majesty; for today there is no escape for him whom God willeth—and for His loved ones—save to enter that House. Be not heedless of the fruits of the Tree of Justice, nor of the ordinances of the Household; deal kindly in their laws; forget not their command.

Convey from Me greetings unto them; and say to her who did well in her deed: I have known that which thou didst send, in the path of God, of the holy earth and the pure perfume; God willing, when it reacheth Us, We shall send thee of the purified clay whatsoever thou desirest. Fear God and be patient; verily God is the Truth, Possessor of the Glorious Throne. And as for that which thou desirest in the path of God—be patient, and depart not from that House until We command one of the leaders of that company to enter it by God’s leave.

It is incumbent upon thee and upon all who follow Me to visit the Imams of Justice—there is from Me a right—then the resting-place of Kazim, peace be upon him, so long as the Sun of creation riseth by creation and the sun of invention setteth by invention. Observe the ordinance of prudent dissimulation; write of that which the people do upon that land in matters of essential geometry and accidental affairs. Greet the community of the Shi’ah; and say unto ’Ali: We sent unto thee a Book before; and unto Ibrahim, in that which was revealed in the first Book; and greet him again in that which hath been revealed secondly from His presence. Greet the people of justice; preserve their names; greet the beneficent one in the Sanctuary of Moses, peace be upon him; then Bashir in the Sanctuary of ’Ali, peace be upon him; and greet those who followed Me. Verily God blesseth you, and the angels of the heavens and the Throne also, saying: Give thanks unto God, and say: Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.