BB00186: Answer to Haji Mulla Mihdi-i-Rashti, on grammar

Answer to the Petition of a Questioner from Isfahan

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Compassionate

Glorified be He Who bringeth into being whatsoever He willeth by His command; and when He willeth a thing, ere He saith unto it “Be,” it is made existent. Praise be to God, Who hath revealed Himself unto the substances of being with the light of His pre-eternal Manifestation—without how in His Essence, without where in His attributes, and without rule of likeness in similitudes—that all things might tremble and be stirred in the stations of Command and of Creation as God hath willed and decreed. Verily, He is the All-Glorious, the Most Exalted.

And praise be to God, Who hath caused to descend from the somber firmaments of His Will whatsoever the existents require: the ordinances of Lahut, the signs of Jabarut, the indications of Mulk and Malakut, and the tokens of the chain of Nasut—that none should stand in need of any other in the decree of any matter; that each might behold what God hath willed for him in every land, and witness what God hath ordained in the worlds of detachment: His Self made manifest unto His Self, and His effulgences made manifest in His traces, inasmuch as God revealeth Himself unto each thing according to its rank. Verily, He is the All-Potent, the All-Bestowing.

I beseech God, in this hour, to send down His blessings and His benedictions upon Muhammad and His family, in the measure of what is their due and within His power to bestow; and to have mercy, through His grace, upon their Shi’ah at all times—before this and after this—unto an infinity without end. Verily, He is the All-Potent, the All-Bountiful.

And now: I have read thy letter, and tears filled mine eyes at thy importunity and agitation. Turn thou unto God with thy whole being; sever thyself unto Him through the love I bear for thee; recite His Book; and fear not, for thou art the most exalted. Know, then, that I have regarded my own self as of the least account, lowest in station, farthest in standing—less than the least atom divided without end to the end—yea, and by thy life, even less than that. I beg forgiveness of thy Lord and mine for setting bounds by the many.

And with this lowest station, this greatest abasement, pure destitution, sheer impotence, the most grievous sin, and the most dire mistake—by thy Lord, the Lord of the heavens and the earth—were I to possess the next world and all God hath therein vouchsafed, and this world and all God hath created with it, I would bestow upon the asker what he asketh of me—though with utmost shame and profound apology. I would say unto him, while the sweat of my brow floweth for the scantiness of my gift—and by my life, I dare not look upon the raimented Splendour of His Presence, out of shame for my own self—“Absolve me, for short of this I am powerless.” Sufficient is God as a witness to what I say. What, then, thinkest thou of thy Lord and His bounty? Far, far be such a thought from Him! By thy life, God is more exalted and greater than that His servant should be questioned concerning all He owneth—for He, He it is Who hath brought that dominion into being out of no thing.

And the knowledge of Himself—wherewith God hath manifested Himself to thee by thyself and honored thee thereby—is greater than all else; naught can be conjoined with it. Glorified, glorified is He! He hath said—and His word is truth: Concerning what do they question one another? Concerning the Great Announcement? Naught by this did God intend save the unconditioned verse which speaketh of the Guardianship of His own Self, as He saith—and His word is truth: Here is the guardianship of God, the True. He warned all against mentioning duality within Guardianship, in the station of indication, by His word—exalted be His remembrance—He warneth you of Himself.

Al-Sadiq—exalted and glorified be He in His utterance—expounded this, saying in the Hadith al-Mufaddal (and His word is truth): had God warned you lest ye deem Muhammad a thing made, the Essence would then be originated and made—and that were manifest unbelief. For God hath made Muhammad and His Trustees—peace be upon them—the receptacles of His likeness, the locus of His Will, the hiddenness of His decree, and the manifestation of His power. They are the appearances of all acts; for act—which is making—is the primal source of origination and the wellspring from which every name, act, and attribute is derived. And God—exalted and glorified be He—is too exalted and too august for His Essence to be conjoined with His handiwork; rather did He originate His handiwork with no handiwork before it, without how and without indication thereafter, and He made it the station of His own Self in all the worlds of His Command and His Creation; for eyes attain Him not, but He attaineth the eyes; He is the Subtle, the All-Informed.

Know, then, thy worth, and drink deep—for God hath given thee His love and His knowledge, a bestowal for which there is no equivalent in the heavens or on the earth. All things before Him are perishing, dissolving—nay, vain and non-existent. How great, then, is God’s right upon thee! He hath said—and His word is truth: They have not estimated God with the estimation due unto Him, etc.

As to what thou hast asked concerning solitude and monkery: the rule of seclusion and withdrawal—there is for thee no Lord in it; for in this Dispensation the root of monasticism is not beloved by God, nor hath He commanded it of His chosen ones. Choose, rather, the dawn of the devout; for the intended goal is not perfected save through conjunction with the four manifestations of His Ipseity in unity, the four pillars in abstraction, the four pillars in glorification, and the four Names within the Word of Magnification. Hence God decreed for man four wives by perpetual contract, and inscribed for him, in Paradise, … And if he choose it not in this world, God shall give it him from among the women of this world upon the manifestations of His Ipseity. God faileth not His promise.

Thou didst ask concerning grammar. By my life, in my youth I paid no heed to the schools’ canons. Rather, the rule is that which ʿAli—exalted be His remembrance—decreed in another place: every subject (fa’il) is in the nominative, by reason of the appearance therein of the Name of God, al-Qabid (the Withholder); every object (maf’ul) is in the accusative, by reason of the appearance therein of the Name of God, al-Muhyi (the Quickener); and every genitive (mudaf ilayh) is in the genitive case, by reason of the appearance therein of the Name of God, al-Hayy (the Living), which is the station of the air, by which things are bound together. The root of the verb is the manifestation of the Hidden Name: a created quiescent thing unknown by quiescence; therefore the ordinances of the three disclosures run not upon it. All rules of grammar branch from the decree of these theophanies, for him who knoweth God’s ordinance in the kingdom of the Names and Attributes.

Thou didst ask for a remembrance to be spoken at the time of requital. After the evening prayer, perform two rak’ahs; then prostrate thyself and say in thy prostration the supplication of al-Husayn:

“O Thou of dread power! O Thou of terrible might! O All-Mighty, Thou hast abased by Thy might all whom Thou hast created! Send Thy blessings upon Muhammad and His family, and suffice me for the burden of So-and-so as Thou wilt.”

God will, in that very hour, avenge thee by His omnipotence; verily, He is the All-Sufficing, the Subduer, the Compeller, the Strong.

And as to what thou didst ask concerning the use of numbers: know that from infinity down to one hundred the rule of masculine and feminine is alike—e.g., “a hundred women,” “a hundred carnelians,” unto infinity upon infinity. Beneath one hundred—from ninety-nine down to twenty-three—the first part taketh the masculine; the second part, the rule of gender is alike, and the sufficient term is twenty-two and its counterpart: in the first part it is masculine in the station of masculinity and feminine in the station of femininity, while in the second part the rule is equal. From nineteen down to thirteen: in the first part, in the station of the masculine, femininity is applied; and in the station of the feminine, masculinity is applied. In the second part: in the station of the masculine, masculinity; and in the station of the feminine, femininity. At twelve and its counterpart: it is reckoned among the masculines and among the feminines. Beneath this rank down to three, masculinity is applied in the place of femininity and femininity in the place of masculinity—these are the bounds of God in the station of words.

As for inflection: from three to ten, genitive; from ten to one hundred, accusative; and from one hundred unto infinity, genitive—these are the bounds of God therein; and there is none to alter the wont of God.

Thou asked, moreover, by what cause Dhu’l-Muqarrabin attained the station of sovereignty. There is no cause for him save the grace of God unto him; yet the apparent cause of the manifestation of God’s bounty unto him was his persistence in this Most Great glorification. Whoso persevereth in its recitation shall behold, of God’s grace, what never entered his heart; this is of the bounty of God: He bestoweth it upon whomsoever He willeth, and God is the Lord of mighty bounty:

Glorified be He Who abideth and never perisheth. Glorified be He Who knoweth and never forgetteth. Glorified be He Who guardeth and never letteth fall. Glorified be He Who seeth and never doubteth. Glorified be He Who standeth and never sleepeth. Glorified be He Who is mighty and never is wronged. Glorified be He Who is veiled and never is seen. Glorified be He Who is all-embracing … and never is burdened. Glorified be He Who is steadfast and never tottereth. Glorified be He Who is everlasting and never is heedless.

And glorified be thy Lord, the Lord of might, above that which they ascribe unto Him. And peace be upon the Messengers. And praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds.