BB00140: Answer to Mulla Rajab-’Ali

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

Praise be to God Who graciously bestoweth His remembrance upon whomsoever He willeth, and Who is grateful for the sweet melodies of His praise according to what He hath promised in His Book. His is the praise—praise that beareth witness unto that which He hath testified concerning Himself, that there is none other God but Him. Praise that ascendeth unto Him at the most exalted level of glorification and transcendeth all praise through His elevation above all created things. Praise through which the fragrances of His holiness descend upon the essences of the hearts of all contingent beings, and through which the most subtle praise from all existing things ascendeth unto Him. Praise which He deserveth and loveth, and with which He is well-pleased from whomsoever offereth it, and which becometh the cause of ascent unto the court of His nearness, the means of attaining unto the station of His good-pleasure, and the path leading unto the carpet of His nearness and glory.

Praise that filleth the heavens with bounty, paradise with light, the earth with equity, and the fire with justice. Praise whose nature, location and circumstances none knoweth save Him. Praise that indicateth His eternity, relateth His sanctity, proclaimeth His oneness, and transcendeth the description of aught else through its proximity to the station of His grandeur. Praise that inspireth all with His unity, attracteth souls unto the station of His uniqueness, and strengtheneth hearts through His remembrance and glorification. Verily hath He concealed and pardoned those who have repented through His grace and munificence. Praise that no praise can equal, nor can any praise compare with it, nor can anyone comprehend its knowledge, and none deserveth it save God. He is the Mighty, the All-Wise.

And blessings be upon Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family, His servant whom He fashioned for Himself, chose for His love, selected for His authority, approved for His obedience, and made the Guardian over all things great and small through the all-encompassing nature of His mercy. None can say concerning him “he is he,” for as he is, only He knoweth him, and none can testify to his station save Him, nor can any equal him except His Own Self, nor can any parallel him save His Own Essence, nor can any resemble him save His knowledge. Whosoever claimeth that anyone hath a share in knowing him hath indeed fabricated against him and taken unto himself a likeness beside him, and hath fallen from heaven unto the depths of darkness, having no refuge except to return unto his Lord and acknowledge his powerlessness and deficiency before His countenance. For then shall reward be granted unto him, and through God’s grace shall he emerge from the evil reckoning unto the court of nearness in the kingdom of names and attributes. Verily God created him for Himself, distinguished from any similarity among his kind through the manifestation of the sublimity of His power and grandeur. He is the Strong, the Magnificent.

And peace be upon the successors of the Messenger of God, peace be upon him and his family, through what God hath bestowed upon him of grace and divine fragrances, justice and manifestations, resurrection and revelations, attributes and conditions, sublime remembrance and exalted praise in all stations, and that which the knowledge of God hath encompassed in the depths of the ocean of verses and the vast sea of signs. He is the Powerful, the Bestower in all beginnings and endings.

And praise be upon him who testified to God’s unity in the midst of the eternity of His Essence before the existence of all things, and who believed in the prophethood of Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family, his grandfather, according to what God had ordained for him before the appearance of created things, and who acknowledged the authority of his infallible forebears, the trustees of the All-Merciful, according to what God had willed for them at a time when no praise or glory was mentioned for them, and before the manifestation of His Essence unto His Essence in such wise that Essence is not associated in the station of origination with invention, due to the transcendence of His Being, without any similarity in likenesses or example among things, through God’s manifestation and justice in the kingdom of names and attributes. He who is patient in God’s decree, steadfast in God’s Cause, victorious by God’s leave, and expectant of God’s days—O God, send blessings upon him and hasten his days, for the lands and those upon them have been altered through the evil thoughts of the doubtful and the observers.

O Lord! Bestow Thy grace upon those who have grasped His firm handle and have been guided by the radiance of His proof from among Thy servants who have turned wholly unto Him and have made their felicity and paradise their nearness to Him. Verily Thou art God, the Munificent, the All-Bountiful, the Possessor of grace and benevolence, generosity and favor. Nothing in the heavens or on earth is too great for Thee, and verily Thou art God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Furthermore, I have read thy letter and noted thy praise, and whoso giveth thanks, verily giveth thanks for his own sake, and God will surely fulfill His promise where He, exalted be His remembrance, hath said:

“Remember Me, I will remember you. Be grateful unto Me and be not ungrateful.”

As to what thou hast asked concerning the meaning of the tradition of Al-Mufaddal—God is my witness that I am unable to expound even a single letter thereof as it truly is, for it speaketh of thy Ancient Lord, and the Great Qur’an hath pronounced His excellence, saying “If the sea…” However, since God hath placed in all things the signs of all things, and hath placed what was in my pen as a trust in my words, I shall mention unto thee, for the exposition of a passage from the verses of thy Great Lord, whatsoever thy Lord willeth.

The complete tradition is not now before me, and the exposition of Al-Mufaddal descendeth not from the precincts near the heart, as I am in the prison-land amidst the mountains. But know thou that the wisdom of this tradition for the world of contingent being is of profound depth, and it hath a pivot around which it turneth, and it is this passage in the tradition: “Neither is She He, nor is He other than She.” For the form of abstraction which proclaimeth divinity and speaketh from the sanctuaries of might—it is the mystery of existence and the sovereign over the unseen and the seen, and it is the manifest nature of the Worshipped One, as he, peace be upon him, hath said in his sermon.

In this Day it is hidden from the eyes of them that witness, for the simple, pure Essence and the Eye of absolute, unalloyed camphor can neither be pointed to by any sign, nor expressed by any utterance; no path is there for any one unto Him, at all, in any wise. Wherefore do thou worship Him and acknowledge His oneness through that wherewith He hath described His own Self. No manifestation pertaineth to His Essence, nor any concealment to His inmost being. His mystery is the very essence of His openness; His beginning is identical with His end; His “He-ness” is the same as His “I-ness.” None can compass His description, for were the description His very Essence, naught besides Him could exist; and were it His creation, it could never lead unto His Essence. He hath ever been, and there was none with Him; and He will ever remain—He alone existeth, and at no time is there with Him any thing. Names and attributes have been cut off from the court of the nearness of His Presence, and similitudes have been barred from the station of the dawning-place of His appearance. To know Him is but the very negation of knowing Him.

He hath said in the Sermon of Yatimiyyih, glorified be His remembrance, when thou didst ask, “In what is He…?” If, then, thou hast become assured of that which hath been cast unto thee from the Elixir of the people of true knowledge, know that the pronoun “she” in His saying, may my soul be a ransom for Him, referreth unto his “Form” in the station of the Imamate; and that the pronoun “He” referreth unto the station of the dawning-place of his inner meanings in the garments of his exposition, provided thou dost not, in these degrees, regard the limits of distinction, and dost behold naught therein save the pre-eternal Countenance, manifest unto each by that which is proper to its rank. Whereof his words, may my soul be a ransom for Him, have borne witness: “He revealed Himself unto her through her, and through her He withheld Himself from her.” He cast, within her “He-ness,” a likeness of Himself, and from her He made manifest His acts.

For if, in the vesture of the human form, thou dost behold the Countenance of “He-ness,” this is that station of which al-Sadiq hath spoken: “We were with God in states: we are He and He is we.” And if, in that Countenance of “He-ness,” thou dost behold the Presence of Oneness, this is the station which, may my soul be a ransom for Him, hath mentioned in the tradition that hath now been read unto thee: “He is He.” And if, in the human form, thou dost observe the very limits of distinction, this pointeth to his saying, may my soul be a ransom for Him, “And we are we.” Such is the utmost bound of exposition in revealing that which God hath caused, within the very being, to emerge into outward vision.

Guard thou these things as thine own eyes; for they are dearer in my sight and with the people of Divine unity than red sulphur. And betray not that which God hath entrusted to us unto them that have not known the station of the Attribute, nor attained unto the abiding-place of true knowledge. Concerning such hath it been said:

Entrust not the secret save to one of nobility; The secret, amid the honored, is concealed. Yet the secret with me is in a house that hath a guardian—Its key is lost, and the house is sealed.

Indeed, you can recognize this wisdom through the evidence of wisdom itself. And if you seek the path of counsel, know that when the servant points to a station which his indication can reach, it is nearer in the station of knowledge, and to that station which cannot be perceived, known, or mentioned, the indication neither negates nor affirms it. There is no doubt that the mind cannot reach the station of comprehension, and that the indication of His words—may my spirit be sacrificed for Him—is neither He Himself nor other than Him. Were the mind to comprehend its station, due to its manifestation of the Divine Identity in the most exalted form, it would be closer to recognition and easier in expression. This is the wisdom of direct witnessing when you observe the decree of acceptance in consciousness and attribute the decree of conjunction in the depths of separation.

And if you wish to establish proof through disputation in the most excellent manner, know that a thing cannot comprehend the limit of its own thingness, nor can one who exists in the realm of created effects know the decree of Him by Whom he is known. If you wish to know the essence of a burning coal, you have no way except through itself, and if you try to know it through a rock, you will be veiled from it. Similarly, the most exalted form cannot be the locus of the manifestation of the Divine Identity in its rank, and this applies in the realm of contingency and nothing else, for this proof necessitates the servant’s acknowledgment that the Divine Identity in the pronoun “He” indicates the acceptance of the manifestation of the station of form in the pronoun “She,” otherwise the decree of unity between the two would be impossible and the establishment of the two pronouns in the most exalted form. None knows the wisdom of this proof except the people of this most exalted chain, for others do not know the melody of what they receive nor do they comprehend our allusions.

This is from God’s grace, which He bestows through His mercy upon whomsoever He willeth, and this indeed is the great attainment. This is the concise answer upon which detailed decrees are branched. Rely upon God, for God hath said:

“And whosoever relies upon God, He is sufficient for him. Indeed, God accomplishes His purpose. God has appointed a measure for all things.”

Glory be to thy Lord, the Lord of Might, above what they describe. And peace be upon the answer to Aqa Siyyid Ahmad Aqazadih. Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.