ضياء الحلوم ومصباح العلوم
The Radiance of Understandings and the Lamp of
Knowledge
I say, with the aid and sustenance of God, and the grace and instruction of His Wali (Vicegerent) on His Earth, peace be upon him:
Know that the meaning and reality of Tawhid is the knowledge of the Spiritual and Corporeal Ranks (al-Hudud al-Ruhaniyyah wal-Jismaniyyah), and that every rank among them is one in its station and unique in its degree. They all call to the Unity of their Originator (Mawjidihim), in what He is, and that upon which His Identity (Huwiyyatuh) rests.
Know that it is incumbent upon the believer neither to elevate any rank beyond its proper limit, thereby falling into exaggeration (ghulu), nor to lower any rank from its worth and station, thereby falling into diminution (taqsir) and abasement. They must realize the truth that all of these ranks, the high and the low, acknowledge their inability to grasp their Initiator (Mubdi’ihim) and are powerless to encompass their Inventor (Mukhtari’ihim).
This is because the means to perceive objects are through their likenesses, and the way to deduce things is through their forms. Thus, the spiritual things are known by their qualities through other spiritual things, and the corporeal things are known by their directions through other corporeal things. The Intellect (al-Aql) and the Soul (al-Nafs) are for the perception of the spiritual, and the five senses are for the perception of the corporeal.
In the human form (al-Surah al-Bashariyyah) is the convergence of that reality, and in the Alf-like stature (al-Qamah al-Alfiyyah) is the consideration of what is there. In it is what cannot be described by the quality of the corporeal, and that is the Spirit (al-Ruh), the result and analogue of the spiritual. And in it is what is described by the corporeal, and that is its body (jismuh), the resemblance and captive of the corporeal.
Thus, the True Initiator (al-Mubdi’ al-Haqq) is far too glorious to be described by the qualities of His creations, or to be dependent upon the perception of His creatures and innovations.
Know that the Spiritual and Corporeal Ranks are similar (mutashakilah) and, through their second honor and perfection, are analogous (mutamathilah). What has occurred for the Spiritual Ranks in terms of the second perfection has also occurred for the Corporeal Ranks, such that they become like the spiritual ranks, were it not for the honor of precedence in the second emanation (al-inbi’ath al-thani). Thus, they possess all those meanings through their ultimate honor. Understand that, and you will be rightly guided, triumphant, and blessed.
We say, with the aid and sustenance of God, and the grace and instruction of His Wali on His Earth, peace be upon him, and his instruction:
Know that Tanzih is the transcending of the True Initiator from having anything applied to Him that applies to His innovations and inventions. It is also the application of the most noble and sublime Names (al-Asma’) to the First of His Innovations (Awwal Mubdi’atih), and the knowledge that this Name has a reality specific to that first innovation.
The Spiritual and Corporeal Ranks are His Most Beautiful Names (al-Asma’ al-Husna), which is the utmost of honor, majesty, grace, and perfection. The most sublime of these is the Name of Divinity (Ism al-Ilahiyyah), which is applied to the First Initiated (al-Mubda’ al-Awwal) and to what is similar to it, analogous to it, and parallel to it. And it is the transcendence of the True Initiator from all of them, as previously discussed in the chapter on Tawhid.
The True Initiator is transcendent of their qualities and characteristics. Our statement “the Initiator” (al-Mubdi’) is a metaphor (isti’adah) due to the existence of the act of initiation emanating from Him. Our application of the Transcendent Identity (al-Huwiyyah al-Muta’aliyah) to Him is a way of escaping negation (al-ta’til).
This is because the word هو (He) is the simplest form of expression, as in His, the Almighty’s, saying:
{ شَهِدَ اللّهُ أَنَّهُ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ }
“God bears witness that there is no god but He.” (Quran 3:18)
The Witness (al-Shahid) is that upon which the Name of Divinity was applied, and that is the First Intellect (al-Aql al-Awwal). So, He said: هو (He), and did not say الله (Allah). The meaning of Divinity will come in the chapter following this one, God willing and with His aid.
Thus, the simple letters (al-huruf al-basitah) are an allusion (isharah) to the Spiritual Simples (al-Basa’it al-Ruhaniyyah). Therefore, expressing the latter through the former, despite their simplicity, is metaphorical (majaz) and not literal, because the simple letters are perceived by the senses, while those Simples are not perceived by them. Hence, we negate the applicability of compound words to the degrees of the Act of Initiation (al-Ibdā’iyyāt). Therefore, their application to the Originator of the Initiated is impossible. He is sanctified and exalted. Understand that.
We say, with the aid and sustenance of God, and the grace and instruction of His Wali on His Earth, peace be upon him, and his instruction:
Know that Tajrid is the stripping of Divinity (al-Ilahiyyah) from all the Initiated things and affirming it for the Exalted Initiator.
The reality of this is that the meaning of Divinity is the bringing into existence of the initiated essences from nothing (ījād al-dhawāt al-mubdi’ah lā min shay’), and this belongs to Him alone. Therefore, it is necessary to strip the Initiated things of the ability to bring their own essences into existence and to affirm it for the Sanctified and Exalted Initiator.
Tajrid is derived from جرد العود (Jarrad al-’ūd), meaning when its exterior is stripped away. As I have stated, it is the stripping of Divinity from all His innovations and creatures and the affirmation of it for Him. Understand that.
We say, with the help of God, His substance, and the grace and benefit of His vicegerent on Earth—peace be upon him:
Know that the One towards whom thoughts dare not venture, Glorious is His Majesty, the Initiator (al-Mubdi’), the Creator (al-Fāṭir), when He brought forth the spiritual world out of nothing, He was its precedent. Thus, intellects were baffled from comprehending the how (kaifīyah) of its origination and its whatness (lammīyah). He originated it in one single instance, its beginning with its end, and its end with its beginning, as spiritual forms, holy similitudes (ashbāḥ), and Malakūtī (angelic realm) personalities. They were analogous to the ألفية stature (al-Qāmat al-Alfīyah), equal in their essences in Life, Knowledge, and Power up to the limit of the first perfection (Ḥadd al-Kamāl al-Awwal).
So, one preceded the others in venerating (tanzīh) the Preceding Initiator (al-Mubdi’ al-Sābiq al-Awwal). They understood and acknowledged the Divinity to the Initiator according to its meaning, which is the first intended goal (al-Qaṣd al-Awwal), which is acknowledgment (al-Iqrār). Then, a majesty (jalālah) from its Initiator covered it, by which it was distinguished from the rest of its world. This is the limit of the second perfection (Ḥadd al-Kamāl al-Thānī), and it is the Greatest Name (al-Ism al-A’ẓam), the Most Honorable and Noble Veil (al-Ḥijāb al-Ashraf al-Akram), and the First Word (al-Kalimah al-Ūlā) for its Initiator, in terms of completeness (tamām), perfection (kamāl), grace (faḍl), and majesty (jalāl). Its essence (dhāt) is active by its own essence, its essence is connected to its own essence, and its essence accepts its own lights. It is self-sufficient by its own essence, acting within its own essence an action whose doer is none other than its own essence.
Two persons from its world emulated it, venerating as it venerated and stripping themselves (tajrīd) as it stripped itself. One of them preceded its companion and became a veil for the Veil (Ḥijāb lil-Ḥijāb) and received its second perfection. This one is the first by emanation (al-Awwal bil-Inbi’āth). The rank of the second one was delayed because it thought it was its equal.
The first was called the follower (tāliyah) of that world. The ranks followed one another in response, being seven luminous Intellects from those holy persons, contained within each of which from that noble world are an innumerable number, and they are the Cherubim (al-Karūbīyah). They completed their second perfection through the response, and were manifested by it as the First and the Second were manifested. Each high-ranking one was veiled by the lower (al-Dānī).
The second in emanation, referred to as the spiritual Adam (Ādam al-Rūḥānī), looked at the backwardness of his essence, its shortcoming, its delay, and its weariness from what the world of Ibdā’ (Origination) had attained. His predecessor informed him, through the lowest of those forms connected to him by a ray of light (al-Shu’ā’), that this was due to the delusion (al-wahm) referred to as Iblīs (Satan), when he imagined the equality of the one who preceded him in sanctification. So he repented and returned (anāb), and this is alluded to by His saying, the Exalted:
فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
Then Adam received from his Lord [certain] words, and He relented toward him. Indeed, it is He who is the Ever-Forgiving, the Merciful.
Then the second perfection was connected to him, and he was ranked as the tenth, the lowest rank of the spiritual world (al-Ālam al-Rūḥānī). He thus became a veil for the one who preceded him to the Most Great Holy Veil (al-Ḥijāb al-A’ẓam al-Qudsānī). Their essences are equal in attributes were it not for the honor of the precedence (sharaf al-sābiqāt).
A group from that world had emulated him through delusion (al-tawahhum). Thus, Divine Providence required their care for salvation, and this was made upon it a form of retribution (al-Qiṣāṣ). It called them to repentance (al-Tawbah) and return (al-Inābah), but they did not accept. So, they were addressed by His saying, the Almighty:
اهْبِطُواْ بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ
‘Go down, being enemies to one another.’
Their essences darkened, and coalesced, and their intentions differed and separated, and these are Hylē (al-Hayūlā) and Form (al-Ṣūrah). The Tenth (al-’Āshir) directed his providence towards them. So, they were moved by his will so that they might be saved from what afflicted them, overwhelmed them, and befell them. Three motions were necessary for them, resulting in the three dimensions (al-A’bād). They departed from the vastness of subtlety (sa’at al-laṭāfah) to the narrowness of bodies (ḍīq al-ajsād), and they moved from the nearness to the precinct of holiness (ḥaẓīrat al-Quds) to distance and banishment. To them is directed His saying, the Almighty, referring to their address:
انطَلِقُوا إِلَى مَا كُنتُم بِهِ تُكَذِّبُونَ
‘Proceed to that which you used to deny.’
انطَلِقُوا إِلَى ظِلٍّ ذِي ثَلَاثِ شُعَبٍ لَّا ظَلِيلٍ وَلَا يُغْنِي مِنَ اللَّهَبِ
‘Proceed to a shade of three columns, neither cooling nor of any use against the flame.’
They divided themselves according to their unbelief and faith, their obedience and disobedience, into the regretful seeker of forgiveness (nādim mustaghfir), the doubtful perplexed (shākk mutaḥayyir), and the obstinate arrogant (muṣirr mustakbir).
The ones who regretted and sought forgiveness (nadamū wa-staghfarū) are those who, upon their exit to the ألفية stature, the verses of guidance (al-hidāyah) and will (al-mashī’ah) apply to them, and that these are for them from their Initiator and Creator, such as His saying, the Almighty:
وَالَّذِينَ اهْتَدَوْا زَادَهُمْ هُدًى وَآتَاهُمْ تَقْوَاهُمْ
But those who are guided - He increases them in guidance and gives them their righteousness.
and similar verses.
The ones who doubted and were perplexed (shakkū wa-taḥayyarū) are those who, upon their exit to the ألفية stature, the verses of choice (al-takhayyurāt) apply to them, such as His saying, the Almighty:
فَمَن شَاء فَلْيُؤْمِن وَمَن شَاء فَلْيَكْفُرْ
So whoever wills - let him believe; and whoever wills - let him disbelieve.
and His saying, the Almighty:
فَمَنِ اهْتَدَى فَلِنَفْسِهِ وَمَن ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا
Whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] his soul. And whoever errs only errs against it.
and similar verses.
The ones who were obstinate and arrogant (aṣarrū wa-stakbarū) are those who, upon their exit to the ألفية stature, are the people of error (ahl al-ḍalāl), opposition to God’s friends (muḍāddat li-awliyā’ Allāh), misguidance (iḍlāl), and claimants of the impossible (da’awā al-muḥāl), from the unbelievers and the misguided imams who call to the Fire. They are those to whom the verses of will in misguidance apply, such as His saying, the Almighty:
فَلَمَّا زَاغُوا أَزَاغَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ
But when they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate.
Then He willed their misguidance by His saying, the Almighty:
مَن يُضْلِلِ اللّهُ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ
Whomever Allah leaves astray - there is no guide for him.
and by His saying, the Almighty:
وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْئِدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ كَمَا لَمْ يُؤْمِنُواْ بِهِ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ
And We will turn aside their hearts and their eyes just as they did not believe in it the first time.
And God, the Almighty, said:
إِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَى وَلَا تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ الدُّعَاء إِذَا وَلَّوْا مُدْبِرِينَ
Indeed, you will not make the dead hear, nor will you make the deaf hear the call when they have turned their backs retreating.
وَمَا أَنتَ بِهَادِي الْعُمْيِ عَن ضَلَالَتِهِمْ
Nor can you guide the blind away from their error.
إِن تُسْمِعُ إِلَّا مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِآيَاتِنَا فَهُم مُّسْلِمُونَ
You only make hear those who believe in Our verses so they are Muslims (submitting).
And God, the Almighty, said:
وَإِن يَرَوْاْ كُلَّ آيَةٍ لاَّ يُؤْمِنُواْ بِهَا وَإِن يَرَوْاْ سَبِيلَ الرُّشْدِ لاَ يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلاً وَإِن يَرَوْاْ سَبِيلَ الْغَيِّ يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلاً ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَذَّبُواْ بِآيَاتِنَا وَكَانُواْ عَنْهَا غَافِلِينَ
And if they were to see every sign, they would not believe in it. And if they see the way of consciousness, they will not take it as a way; but if they see the way of error, they will take it as a way. That is because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them.
The governor (al-’Āshir al-Mudabbir) made the regretful seeker of forgiveness into the celestial spheres (al-Aflāk) and the planets (al-Kawākib), which are physical-psychic (jurmānīyah nafsānīyah), and arranged them in their ranks according to the second purpose (al-Qaṣd al-Thānī), and this is a sensory form (ṣūrah ḥissīyah).
He made the doubtful perplexed into the Mothers (al-Ummāhāt), referred to as the Elements (al-Arkān), which contain within them a growing form (ṣūrah nāmīyah).
And from the obstinate arrogant is the rock at the lowest of the low (al-Ṣakhrah asfal sāfilīn), referred to as Sijjīn (al-Sijjīn).
He placed the two knots (al-’iqdain) in the sphere of fire (kurat al-nār), which is called the ether (al-athīr), due to the wisdom required for their governance, as a magnet for every wicked evil one (maghnāṭīs kull khabīth sharīr), by the will of the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful (al-’Alīm al-Qadīr), and the craftsmanship of the Wise, the Aware (al-Ḥakīm al-Khabīr).
Upon the exit of the three divisions to the ألفية stature, the seeing Critic (al-Nāqid al-Baṣīr) addressed them with His saying, the Almighty, as a higher decree (qaḍā’ ’uluwī):
وَإِن مِّنكُمْ إِلَّا وَارِدُهَا كَانَ عَلَى رَبِّكَ حَتْماً مَّقْضِيّاً
There is none of you but that will reach it. This has been upon your Lord an inevitability decreed.
The difference in these divisions in their secrets (al-sarā’ir) and their distinction in their conditions and inner thoughts (al-aḥwāl wa-al-ḍamā’ir) was the reason for the differentiation and variation we see. The hidden meaning became manifest to the people of insight (ahl al-baṣā’ir) by the distinction of existing things.
The world of the First Origination (al-‘Ālam al-Ibdā’ al-Awwal) and the First Emanation (al-Inbi’āth al-Awwal) was turned with its lights, and they flowed through the celestial spheres and planets. So they rotated around the elements, and the three divisions were divided into ten parts. The most noble and subtlest of them is the encompassing sphere (al-Falak al-Muḥīṭ), which is the gate of the simple world of holiness (Bāb al-’Ālam al-Quds al-Basīṭ). From it to the sphere of the moon is the gate of the celestial world, consisting of nine parts. What is contained within the sphere of the moon, referred to by some philosophical aspects as the world of nature (al-Ṭabī’ah), completes the ten and the order (al-niẓām).
Each Intellect of the ten Intellects took on the governance specifically of what corresponds to it, and the providence of what resembles and matches it.
The gaze of the First Intellect was directed towards the Encompassing Sphere and specifically towards the rest of the spheres and planets, and generally towards the world of nature. And so on, until the Tenth is the governor specifically of the world of nature, which is the world of generation and corruption (al-Kawn wa-al-Fasād), and generally towards the rest of the divisions of the world.
Then, the Governing Tenth (al-’Āshir al-Mudabbir) moved the spheres and planets around the elements to extract the hidden treasure on the meaning of trust (al-Amān). He made for each of the seven planets a cycle (dawr) which it alone governs, and the rest of the planets assist it in its influence.
Each planet had seven thousand years, until it reached forty-nine thousand years, and the cycle of Saturn (Zuḥal) was completed. Then each planet followed it similarly until the Moon.
When Saturn acted independently with its nature, as we mentioned at the beginning of its cycle, which is one thousand years:
Then Jupiter (al-Mushtarī) took over its governance:
Then Mars (al-Mirrīkh) took over the governance:
Then the Sun (al-Shams) took over the governance, the celestial sphere being similar to the First Precedent in those ranks:
Then Venus (al-Zuharah) took over:
Then Mercury (al-’Uṭārid) took over the governance:
Then the Moon (al-Qamar), the master of the seventh thousand, the noblest of the conjunctions (al-Qirānāt), took over the governance.
Saturn took over the governance of the first stage (al-mashhad al-awwal), moving it and changing it from what it was. Then Jupiter took over for a month, creating something in it by its governance and nature. Then Mars took over for the third month, manifesting an event from its nature. Then the Sun took over for the fourth month, and the fetus moved as the sense (al-ḥiss) flowed into it. Then Venus took over in the fifth month. Then Mercury took over in the sixth for the decreed matter (al-Amr al-Maqdūr). Then the Moon took over in the seventh, Saturn in the eighth, and Jupiter in the ninth.
In the eighth month was the path of the dead (sabīl al-mayyit), and the spirit (al-rūḥ) was breathed into it by the nature of Jupiter. Its mouth opened, it breathed through its nostrils, and milk flowed for it from its thumb. It began to turn over with ease and difficulty, sometimes receiving and sometimes sitting. The remainder of that water served as a salve (murūkh) for the fetus, and it increased in strength and movement all the time, until it completed a year, was completed, emerged, and crawled on its legs and walked. It was nourished by the existing fruits (al-Fawākih) and the praised good fruits (al-Thimār al-Ṭayyibah al-Maḥmūdah).
The offspring (al-mawālīd) from this were males without females. Divine Providence manifested for them what they needed of comfort and furniture (athāth). They emerged from the earth as God, the Almighty, said, like plants (nabātā). Providence gathered their scattered parts. From the caves of every male, a female appeared, by which God hastened the governance for the Will (al-Mashī’ah).
The governance for their existence was like the first governance, for a wisdom upon which their existence relied.
Divine Providence had led the first (al-Awwal) of the seeker of forgiveness when he repented to the psychic existence (al-Wujūd al-Nafsānī), the opposite of non-existence (’Adm), from the horizons of the heavens to the noblest earthly places (ashraf al-biqā’ al-arḍīyah), describing the pleasing soil (al-Turb al-Marḍīyah).
Luminous persons (ashkhāṣ nūrānīyah) and noble holy forms (ṣuwar sharīfah qudsānīyah) appeared, their bodies sensory and growing (ḥissīyah nāmīyah). They were twenty-eight persons, whose فضل (faḍl, excellence) over the rest of the human persons is like the excellence of red ruby over the rest of its types and stony species. They are represented by the letters of the alphabet (ḥurūf al-mu’jam) in writing. One of them attained the honor and preceded in excellence (al-Najābah).
He was distinguished by his فضل over them because he venerated the Initiator, the Exalted. He was made a Messenger (Rasūl) to them. He occupied among them the position of the Precedent in the world of Origination (al-Sābiq bi-‘Ālam al-Ibdā’), and he was the mediator (wāsiṭah) between them where that ray of light (al-Shu’ā’) was cast. The First Precedent made him a veil (ḥijāb) for him, and a door (bāb) for the flowing mercy from him to the psychic religious world (al-’Ālam al-Dīn al-Nafsānī).
He called the people of his place to Tawḥīd (Oneness of God), and taught them veneration and stripping of self (al-Tajrīd). He warned them against negation (al-Ta’ṭīl) and limitation (al-Taḥdīd). They hastened to respond quickly, answering his call with sincere souls (anfus mukhliṣah) and pure secrets (sarā’ir ṣāfiyah), due to what they had secretly intended in the past (al-Qidam) of seeking forgiveness, repentance, and regret.
The light of enduring existence (nūr al-Ṣumūd al-Sārī) flowed to their forms through the mediation of their single leader (wāḥidihim al-jārī) and spread among them. They completed the second perfection, and he made them celestial spheres (aflāk) in his horizon, ranked religiously (dīnīyah), and corresponding to the world, so that the exemplar (al-mithl) and the exemplified (al-mamthūl) might correspond, and the sensory (al-maḥsūs) might indicate the intelligible (al-ma’qūl).
He made one of them a door (bāb) from himself, leading to him. And he made the twelve of them inner veils (ḥujub bāṭinah), who indicate him with their sciences. And twelve were the dā’īs (callers) of the islands, who illuminate the insights with his knowledge and support. He sent each of them to the people of his island to revive them from the death of ignorance with his call. He informed them of the languages of its people, the avoidance of its forbidden things (ḥarāmihā), and the consumption of its permissible things (ḥilmihā).
He made three in his presence: Dā’ī Balāgh (Preaching Caller), Ma’dhūn (Licensed), and Mukāsir (Shatterer). Each of them is a publisher of their sciences among the people of his call.
The mentioned cycle (al-Dawr al-Madhkūr), the Cycle of Unveiling (Dawr al-Kashf), is fifty thousand years. Its people are people of support (ta’yīd) and infallibility (’iṣmah), purity and blessing, because it is a psychic, noble, spiritual cycle. They perceive distant unseen matters with their intelligence, and they infer correct sound opinions with their natural abilities.
They are called the Creative Body (al-Juththah al-Ibdā’īyah) by the wise (al-ḥukamā’), because they are of the genus of origination (al-Ibdā’). Thus, they, and not others, deserved to receive that ray of light.
Their foremost leader (Imām), mentioned above, is called Adam the Universal (Ādam al-Kullī), due to his completeness and his establishment of the reality of the caliphate of his Originator in his station. He is the Eve (Ḥawwā’) of the spiritual Adam, and he is the Speaking Soul (al-Nafs al-Nāṭiqah) in reality, and the Second Emanation (al-Inbi’āth al-Thānī) in this path, or the first of thought and the last of action, the ultimate goal and the ultimate hope.
They are the respondents to his call, the hasteners to answer him. He made his soul and his ranks (ḥudūduhu) ten ranks for the psychic religious world. The lights of the Intellects of the Holy World shone through them.
The First Precedent (al-Sābiq al-Awwal), through the mediation of the Intellects below him, took over the support of every station (maqām) of the Speaker (Nāṭiq), the Successor (Waṣī), and the Imam (Imām), whom he singles out from the people of his era and time. He protects him with it, manifests miracles for him at his time with what he reveals, and with the stunning eloquence on his tongue, and the events he manifests through his unveiling and explanation.
The substances (mawādd) of the rest of the Intellects flowed, each through the mediation of the one below it, to the one who corresponds and matches it among the religious ranks in his station and resembles him, until the analogue of the Tenth Intellect (naẓīr al-’Aql al-’Āshir) and the light of his support is connected to the Mukāsir (Shatterer). The cycle is completed in the caliphate by the Intellect of the Perfect Number. This cycle and its people are at the rank of perfection and completeness.
The outward bodily obligations (al-Takālīf al-Ẓāhirah al-Jismānīyah) were removed from them. Due to their subtlety and purity, they were only obligated with inner psychic worship (’ibādah bāṭinīyah nafsānīyah), like the worship of the abstract holy Intellects, due to the intensity of the similarity and the reality of the nearness of resemblance to the resembling. It is as if they are perfect angels in their majesty (jullah).
Adam the Universal, peace be upon him, extracted from his call and the inheritance of the essence of the lights of his followers his son in reality, the perfect one who attained the rank of perfection and completeness. He appointed him as his successor to receive the ray of the Precedent. Adam the Universal ascended to the station of his Originator, joining Him. His son returned with the support for the people of his call, requesting from them the manifestation of his successor.
Thus, every caliph always acts in his pure subtle thought to bring forth the one who brings him forth to his station with the noble arrangements. The Imamate succeeded through the pure progeny (al-A’qāb al-Ṭāhirah) throughout time, and the ranks of the Imams of the people of faith were preserved by the pure progeny.
When the Spiritual Cycle (al-Dawr al-Rūḥānī) was completed, finished, and departed with the blessings within it, its people were in the purity mentioned. A cycle followed it, whose people were not loyal (lā yūfā). This is the Bodily Cycle (al-Dawr al-Jurmānī), the bridge of passage to the Physical Cycle (al-Dawr al-Jismānī), and it is three thousand years.
In it, mutual hatred, envy, and arrogance appeared among its people. They practiced slander (namīmah), enmity, and treachery. They became attached to astrology (al-Nujūm), soothsaying (al-Kihānah), and sorcery (al-Siḥr). They occupied themselves with medicine (al-Ṭibb), divination (al-Fa’l), and augury (al-Zajr). They listened to astronomy (al-Hay’ah) and geometry (al-Handasah). They committed deceptions (al-Ablisah) and whisperings (al-Waswasah). They oppressed and transgressed in the lands, and manifested evil and corruption.
Mercy and the Veil turned away from them. A wall with a gate was set up between them, its inner side having mercy and its outer side having torment.
The previous cycle was, in a sense of interpretation (al-Ta’wīl), like the regretful seeker of forgiveness. This cycle and its people are like the doubtful perplexed. The Imams, peace be upon them, are consecutive in it, and the guidance remains for its people.
The people of the Cycle of Concealment (Dawr al-Satr) were obligated with the outward worship duties and the performance of the required duties of the bounds of testimony (ḥudūd al-Shahādah). The beginning of this was the advent of Adam, peace be upon him.
This cycle was like the intermediary (al-Wāsiṭah) between the two extremes, the separator between the two matters, like the end of the day and the beginning of the night, similar to the bodily world within the spiritual world.
When the mentioned period was completed, and the conduct of its people was this conduct, and the wisdom was hidden from its people, and the darkness intensified there, and the news became obscure to that nation, Adam, peace be upon him, the first of the Physical Cycle (al-Dawr al-Jism), who is like the obstinate arrogant, arose. The remaining respondents of the Bodily Cycle answered his call. He enacted the Law (al-Sharī’ah) and called the people of the World of Nature to it. He buried philosophical meanings in it and hinted at the interpretative sciences (al-’Ulūm al-Ta’wīlīyah). He took covenants and guarantees for the concealment of the subtle meanings (al-Ma’ānī al-Daqā’iq).
Those who responded deserved reward in their return. Those who denied his station and were arrogant about obeying him deserved punishment. The call and the Law continued, with the Successor (waṣī) and the Imams of his cycle present, and the Law supported by the light of their sciences. He and the people of his cycle were established in knowledge and manifestation and guidance over the other creation by the meaning of the offspring (al-sulālah). He was the first to compose the letters of the alphabet and to speak by pointing with them to those who spoke.
Then Noah, peace be upon him, arose with a new Law, and his Successor and the Imams of his cycle guarded it with right guidance. His knowledge was more manifest and his matter more famous until the end of his cycle. They are represented by the sperm of the fetus (al-Nuṭfah min al-Janīn), which, after being small, leads to growth and increase after a while.
Then Abraham, peace be upon him, arose with his Law, and his Successor and the Imams of his cycle were established with his example. They are represented in knowledge and manifestation by the clot (’Alaqah).
Even though their outward forms differ, their inner forms agree, because they are the physicians of souls, and their goal is the removal of harm and gloom. The Laws they compose and establish are the beneficial cure for the salvation of the fallen.
Abraham, peace be upon him, divided the matter of religion between his two sons, Ishmael (Ismā’īl) and Isaac (Isḥāq), according to justice and wisdom, and the requirement of merit. He assigned the inner interpretative sciences and the hidden spiritual realities to Ishmael and his progeny. He assigned the outward call and the active houses of worship to Isaac and his progeny. He emphasized upon them covenants and guarantees that each of them should submit to his companion his rank in reality, and that the precedent of them should pass it to the successor, and that they should verify this with the verifying knower (al-Muḥaqqiq al-’Ārif), and conceal it from the opponent.
Because of this, the unbelievers and the people of error attributed the progeny of Ishmael, peace be upon him, to the worship of idols and to being ignorant, not knowing this hidden secret or what the concealed knowledge requires.
Ishmael and his children, peace be upon them, arose with their pure inner call. Isaac and his children arose as servants to the children of Ishmael with their outward call, until Moses, peace be upon him, arose with his Law. His Successor and the Imams of his cycle succeeded him with his tradition (Sunnah). He and they are represented by the lump of flesh (al-Muḍghah) in knowledge and manifestation, and their nearness to the attainment of the decreed matter (al-Amr al-Maqdūr).
Jesus, peace be upon him, arose with his Law, and his Successor and the Imams of his cycle maintained their establishment. They were represented in knowledge and manifestation by the bones (al-’Iẓām).
Then Muḥammad, peace be upon him and his family, arose with his Law and the secrets of its revelation (tanzīl) and his religion, after he received the station of his caliphate from the last of the Imams of Isaac’s cycle, possessing the Ark (al-Tābūtah) and its tranquility (sakīnah). He and the Imams of his cycle, peace be upon them, are represented by the flesh (al-Laḥm) at the completion of formation, which is the limit reached by the rank of the fetus’s person.
They are, in this arrangement, the person of the Perfect Religion (Shakhṣ al-Dīn al-Kāmil), which the pregnant ones were previously unable to bring forth. They are the essence of the essence and the kernel of the kernel (lubb al-lubāb). With them the lineages (al-ansāb) and the causes (al-asbāb) were gathered, and the Book (al-Kitāb) was sealed by them.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, was represented by the comprehensive body (al-Juṣṣah al-Jāmi’ah) for the scattered powers, who was called out to, ‘Indeed you are in the sacred valley of Ṭuwā.’ He was the establisher of the children of Isaac, possessing their prophetic honor, the noblest one, the fulfiller of the debt of the last and the first of them, the achiever of their promises with what he legislated (shara’a), forbade (ḥarrama), and permitted (ḥallala).
Between Muḥammad, peace be upon him, and his grandfather Ishmael, peace be upon him, there were thirty Imams, the people of the fixed abode (ahl al-Mustaqarr), represented by the month of Rajab. The advent of the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, was on the last three nights of the beloved month of Rajab. The meaning of this is that his birth in his era was due to three of the fixed ones. He arose and manifested through their providence because they took on his guardianship (kafālah), clarified his signs (dalālah), established his proof (ḥujjah), revived his path (maḥajjah), confirmed his intention (qaṣd), realized his right guidance (rushd), built his glory (majd), corrected his limit (ḥadd), and made his destiny happy (sa’adū jaddah). I mean his father, his uncle, and his grandfather among them were his leadership, by them his preciousness, and from them his policy. They correspond to the three spiritual ones, resembling and matching them, from whom came his substance, support, and benefit.
His Successor, peace be upon him, was the establisher of the children of Ishmael, peace be upon him, fulfilling their great debt with glorification (al-Tasbīḥ) and proclamation of God’s oneness (al-Tahlīl), guidance to the clearest path, and the slaying of the people of error and misguidance. Both of them, in reality, are the call of Abraham the Friend (Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl).
He, peace be upon him, arose with his interpretative knowledge at the station of the other creation, the spirit of sense (rūḥ al-ḥiss) breathed into the person of the pure faith (shakhṣ al-Īmān al-Ṭāhir), the partner of the flesh in existence, and the station of the seventh of the Speakers (Nāṭiqūn) in knowledge and generosity. By him the negligent and the extremist perished, and the loving loyal one clung to the rope of salvation. He is alluded to by the Hour (al-Sā’ah) sent with the Sixth, the subtle one who travels with the religious ranks along with the stations of the Speakers, from the First with the Law to the Fifth.
They both, peace be upon them, established the call in the most complete way. The people of purity and chosenness responded to them. The people of error and wretchedness turned away from answering them.
The first station that appeared from the circle of Islam is the station of Fāṭimah, peace be upon her. Then the Hasan who was poisoned followed her in manifestation from the call of interpretation, similar to Isaac, the son of the Friend. And from the call of reality in detail was the Husayn who was martyred and slain, matching his grandfather Ishmael. Their father is Abraham of Reality, the one of honor and preference.
Then the ranks of the Imams of the Muḥammadan Cycle followed in succession to their seventh, the one of great destiny, the seal and establisher of their cycle, and the completer of the meanings and rites of the Law. This is the completion of the Physical Cycle and the beginning of the Psychic Scientific Cycle (al-Dawr al-’Ilmī al-Nafsānī). They are represented by the powers of the Speaking Soul (Qiwā al-Nafs al-Nāṭiqah) from the person of Religion (shakhṣ al-Dīn), corresponding to the powers of the Growing Soul (al-Nafs al-Nāmīyah) in the formation.
Every station of a Speaker in his time and era, and every Successor and Imam in his age, he and his Proof (Ḥujjah) are the two angels referred to as Shabr (Shubbar) and Shubayr for their followers, and Munkar and Nakīr for their enemies. This is due to the flowing light (al-jārī) and the connected pillar (al-’amūd al-muttaṣil bihimā al-sārī) with the movement of the station, peace be upon him.
No follower of theirs departs until they show him from their knowledge and his human actions. He witnesses his place of reward in the other abode, and the veils and curtains are unveiled for him to the precinct of holiness. He thus knows the friendly Imam and the Friend (al-Imām al-Ānis wa-al-Walī). God, the Almighty, said in His good tidings:
يَوْمَ تَجِدُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْ مِن خَيْرٍ مُّحْضَراً وَمَا عَمِلَتْ مِن سُوَءٍ تَوَدُّ لَوْ أَنَّ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَهُ أَمَداً بَعِيداً
The Day every soul will find what it has done of good present [before it] and what it has done of evil, it will wish that between itself and that [evil] was a great distance.
And the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, said to al-Ḥārith al-A’war:
O neighbor of Hamdān, whoever dies sees me quickly, whether he is a believer or a hypocrite.
His eye recognizes me and I recognize him, then I reward him for what he has done.
Likewise, at the death of every opponent (ḍidd) and those who are obstinate and stubborn, they show him as mentioned before: Munkar (denier) of his belief and Nakīr (denouncer) of his actions. In that state, he witnesses the place of his abode in the Fire and his final destiny. The fruit of his evil deeds and the limit of what he reaches of the kinds of his torment and punishment appear to him.
No opponent nor friend leaves life except that he is on a clear matter regarding his punishment or reward. His saying, the Almighty, in confirmation of that:
وَجَاءتْ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّعَهَا سَائِقٌ وَشَهِيدٌ
And every soul will come, with it a driver and a witness.
لَقَدْ كُنتَ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِّنْ هَذَا فَكَشَفْنَا عَنكَ غِطَاءكَ فَبَصَرُكَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ
[The wicked is told], ‘You were certainly in unawareness of this, and We have removed from you your cover, so your sight, this Day, is sharp.’
وَقَالَ قَرِينُهُ هَذَا مَا لَدَيَّ عَتِيدٌ
And his companion will say, ‘This is what is with me, prepared.’
He means by the companion (al-qarīn) here the action (al-’amal), of which the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, said: (O Qays, you must have a companion), to the end of his speech.
Then God says:
أَلْقِيَا فِي جَهَنَّمَ كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ
[Allah will say], ‘Throw into Hell every obstinate disbeliever.’
He means the Prophet and the Successor in their time, and the Imam and the Proof in their time. The allusion is to them, peace be upon them, and to those who stand in their place.
From the flowing light from the Intellects connected to every station of the Speakers is the establishment of the Law and the Revelation (al-Tanzīl). God, the Almighty, confirms this with His saying:
وَكَذَلِكَ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ رُوحاً مِّنْ أَمْرِنَا
And thus We have sent to you a spirit from Our command.
From this came prohibition (al-Taḥrīm) and permission (al-Taḥlīl). The unworthy fallen (al-Hābiṭ al-Madhmūm) is forbidden to prevent him from the ألفية stature and to imprison him in the evil animals as a repulsion and a call for him from the religious ranks, and a warning from him to the Speaking Souls not to reverse them, and not to overturn them from ascending to salvation when he mixes with them. Wine (al-Khamr) was the most harmful and the most pervasive in evil and disgrace. It is represented in interpretation by the knowledge of the Imams of error (A’immat al-Ḍalāl). It is exclusively for the blow of the Intellects (ṣadma al-’uqūl) because they are from their clay, which is the clay of evil (ṭīn al-khabāl).
The praised ascending one is permitted in seeking his salvation in the human form and the acceptance of the Holy Speaking Soul. This ascended from the mineral power to the plant, and attained the two ranks in the animal, then all moved to the human. The Second Speaker only responds with the remaining respondents of the First with haste and without delay or respite, and without turning away from his obedience or ceasing, because they know him and are hopeful and eager for his arrival among them.
The matter continued as such until it reached Muḥammad, peace be upon him. The remaining ones who responded to the cycle of the Messiah hastened to answer his call. They raced to magnify God (al-Takbīr) and glorify Him (al-Tasbīḥ) with him, as their inner thoughts purified and their insights became sound. To them is directed His saying, the Almighty:
لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولاً مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ
Certainly did Allah confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves.
وَمَا يَعْقِلُهَا إِلَّا الْعَالِمُونَ
And none will understand them except those of knowledge.
He obligated them, for healing from the disease of anthropomorphism (al-Tajsīm), to use the legal remedies and the practical compounds (al-’Aqāqīr al-’Amalīyah), so that they might be refined from the animalistic natures and be endowed with the angelic characteristics, and be prepared for the radiant elixir colors (al-Aṣbāgh al-Iksīrīyah al-Bahīyah). They would then transfer with them to the golden forms from the unworthy yellow rank. This is a tradition (Sunnah) that has been ongoing in the past eras.
The remaining respondents of the cycle and the last of them from the Muḥammadan Cycle will be the answerers to the call of the Qā’im of the Resurrection (Qā’im al-Qiyāmah), the one of eternal honor, peace be upon him. Upon his hands will be the reckoning of creation, their resurrection, and their scrutiny over deeds and beliefs, and their examination. God, the Almighty, said in confirming the matter of the nations:
يَا أَيُّهَا الرُّسُلُ كُلُوا مِنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَاعْمَلُوا صَالِحاً إِنِّي بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ
[He said], ‘O messengers, eat from the good things and work righteousness. Indeed, I am, of what you do, Knowing.’
وَإِنَّ هَذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاتَّقُونِ
And indeed this, your religion, is one religion, and I am your Lord, so fear Me.
Our Master, al-Mu’izz, peace be upon him, said: (Whoever answered the call of Adam, peace be upon him, with insight and certainty, hastened to answer the call of Noah, free from the earning of his yesterday, with zeal for the action of his today).
Every station of the stations in the Cycle of Concealment followed the example of Adam the Universal and his actions, and they modeled their establishment of their ranks in their stations after his example. They wove the matters of their calls in their foundation upon his pattern.
Thus, every station establishes itself in its firm position, because it is the Caliph of the Lord of the Worlds (Khalīfat Rabb al-’Ālamīn). He appoints twenty-seven of his ranks. Sixteen of them are in the Holy Presence (al-Ḥaḍrah al-Muqaddasah) and the assemblies which are founded on piety by their Master. Among them are twelve Proofs of the Night (Ḥujaj al-Layl), the people of inner worship and secrets, the station of the Spirit of Life for his outward call. Four are the Dā’ī Balāgh (Preaching Caller), the Dā’ī Muṭlaq (Absolute Caller), the Ma’dhūn (Licensed), and the Mukāsir (Shatterer). Eleven are the Dā’īs of the islands, the masters of the true sciences and insights.
For the entirety of them is the completion of worship for the one who is guided by their authority. The allusion by the meaning of the bounds of testimony is to them.
We say with the help of God Almighty, His substance, the favor of His Wali on His earth, peace be upon him, and his teaching:
Know that when the responder (mustajib) takes the noble covenant, his sensitive soul (nafs al-hissiyya) is imprinted with an image from an instructive, scientific image (sura mufida ’ilmiyya), which is a point of light from the celestial substance (al-madda al-’ulwiyya), and the Holy Spirit (ruh al-qudus) from the Imamic insights (al-nazaraat al-imaamiyya). This is the holy rational soul (al-nafs al-naatiqa al-qudsiyya), which, upon transmigration, returns triumphant and at peace (mutmainna) to its Lord, well-pleased and pleasing (raadiyatan mardiyya), repentant and returning from its sin. It continually acquires light and knowledge through its knowledge and action, and increases in understanding and comprehension through its diligence and effort. When it transmigrates through death or martyrdom, it is sealed with blessedness (sa’ada). It joins, intermingling with the image of its scientific limit (hadd ’ilmiyya), adjacent to its sensitive soul. The sensitive rational soul is drawn along with it, as is the sensitive vegetative soul, and the three become one luminous, transparent, knowing, rational entity. Its subtle elements (lataa’if) have gathered in it, and its impurities and dense elements (kadaruha wa kathaa’ifuha) have separated. It is all hearing, all sight, and all speech. It gazes from the image of its instructor (’ala sura mufidiha) upon the knowledge of the unseen (ghuyub), and what was veiled from it is revealed. It speaks through its tongue and answers from its core (jinaan), separated from the quality of bodies and characterized by the quality of the noble angels, encompassing the world of nature, and gazing from the lofty chamber (al-ghurfa al-rafii’a). It is secure from accidents and contingencies, connected to the sustaining pillar (al-’amud al-saari), and addressed with:
يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ * ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَرْضِيَّةً
“O reassured soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing.” (Qur’an 89:27-28, abbreviated)
It returns, ascending to the spheres of ascent, from where it began. When its instructor (’mufid) transmigrates, the souls and images intermingle and ascend to the high limit (al-hadd al-’aali) according to a predestined order, pouring its sustenance (imdaad) upon those of its children beneath it, supported by its gaze upon them through the decree of its affection, until it reaches the Da’i (Dai). The scientific images of all the limits (hudud) of his island (jazira) arrive at him. The ascent in the causes (asbaab) continues for it until the Da’i, with the people of his mission (da’wa), is organized into the horizon of the Gate (ufuq al-Baab), the gathering of the Da’is of the islands (jazaa’ir) and the Hujjas (Hujaj), the people of insight (basaa’ir), and those of support and infallibility (al-ta’yid wa al-’isma), the Holy Enclosure (hazirat al-quds) for the people of blessing (al-ni’ma). They become organized within his noble gathering like the members of the body, each prince among them according to his level in action and knowledge, like a perfect spiritual image and a noble holy entity, which is the reality of the Imamate (haqiqat al-Imama), the Divinity (al-Lahut), and the son of the power of the One of Glory and Omnipotence (dhi al-’izza wa al-Jabarut). And His saying, exalted is He:
أَمْ يَحْسُدُونَ النَّاسَ عَلَى مَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ فَقَدْ آتَيْنَا آلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَآتَيْنَاهُم مُّلْكاً عَظِيماً
“Or do they envy the people for what Allah has given them of His bounty? For We had already given the family of Abraham the Scripture and wisdom and conferred upon them a great kingdom.” (Qur’an 4:54)
This refers to the Imamate, which is the kingdom (mulk) that Solomon asked his Lord for when he said:
رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَهَبْ لِي مُلْكاً لَّا يَنبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ مِّنْ بَعْدِي
“My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to any other after me.” (Qur’an 38:35, abbreviated)
This means that no one in the ranks of the religion has the rank of the Babiyya (Gate-hood) from which the attainment of the Imamate is achieved, not that God Almighty makes that for him alone, but that it is for every Solomonic rank that takes over the ranks leading to the ultimate lineage and cause (ghayat al-nasab wa al-sabab). His noble gathering becomes the Garden of Abode (jannat al-ma’wa), to which the spiritual souls with low-hanging fruits (qutuf al-daaniya) retreat, the best reward for a pious person upon transmigration to the Great Incipient Hujja (al-Hujja al-’Udhma al-Inbi’athiyya), the Lote-Tree of the Utmost Boundary (sidrat al-muntaha). The Divinity (al-Lahut) unites with the Humanity (al-Nasut), which is the Second Imam, who receives the caliphate (khilafa) by the textual designation (nass) from the First, receiving from his creative lights (anwaarihi al-ibda’iyya) and bearing the burdens of the caliphate from the Imamic conditions. He propagates the mission (da’wa) seeking one like him in the exalted rank and gathers the lights of his followers to the chain-like rank (al-rutba al-salsaliyya). This is his righteous deed, the limit of his praise and gratitude, his profitable commerce for which he strove secretly and openly, the ultimate joy that he attains with and near him, and the fulfillment of his hope upon which he relied from his first thought and last action, the essence of his purpose and the cream of his hope: the believer whom our master Al-Mu’izz, peace be upon him, mentioned, saying: “A believer is not a believer until he produces a believer like himself.” The production of the Imam by his father is the purpose and the obligatory duty. Likewise, by his high command to the people of the ranks, the production of their likes is obligatory upon them. Were it not so, the Imamate would be void, and the noble one would lose his eminence and honor. God Almighty said concerning the believers attaining that rank, witnessing to its reality and confirming it:
وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُم فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَى لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْناً
“Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security.” (Qur’an 24:55, abbreviated)
And similar is His saying to Noah, peace be upon him:
فَنَجَّيْنَاهُ وَمَن مَّعَهُ فِي الْفُلْكِ وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ خَلَائِفَ
“So We saved him and those with him in the ship and made them successors.” (Qur’an 10:73, abbreviated)
And other verses of caliphate and apostleship. Thus, the meaning of selection (istifa’) is confirmed in this way by the obligatory indication (wajib al-dalaala). Know that the rational souls before their separation from the human person are not limited by the boundaries of the corporeal world. So, when they seek their destination from the direction of their limited body, they traverse that distance step by step to the intended place. And when they seek to gaze by their essence, they reach the east and west of the earth and ascend all the spheres, without a counted time. The entire world is contained within their horizon, despite their being in the state of a captive due to the corporeal confinement. What then of them when they are released from the bond (al-’iqal), and no tie or restraint hinders their abstraction (al-tajrid), and they are transformed from the dwellings of the world of actions (’aalam al-af’aal) to the chambers of the world of sayings (’aalam al-aqwaal), and join the glorifying rank (al-saaffiin al-musabbihin) in an expanse that does not constrain them with the sanctified angels (al-malaa’ika al-muqaddasiin)?
فَلَا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَّا أُخْفِيَ لَهُم مِّن قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
“And no soul knows what has been reserved for them of comfort for eyes as reward for what they used to do.” (Qur’an 32:17)
And the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Verily, in Paradise is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has not occurred to the heart of any human.” This is confirmed by the saying of God Almighty in the Torah: “O Son of Adam, obey Me, and I will make you like Myself: living, not dying; mighty, not humiliated; rich, not poor; joyous, without end.” This is a rank greater than what we have said and higher than what we have described, and only the knowing ones (’aalimoon) understand it. For such should the workers work!
إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لِمَن كَانَ لَهُ قَلْبٌ أَوْ أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ
“Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or lends an ear while he is a witness.” (Qur’an 50:37)
The soul has become consolidated (ta’azzalat) with the lights of Unity (al-wahda) that spread within it. It does not burn, does not drown, and has no blood to spill (yuhraq). If a questioner asks: “Will the people of the response (istijaaba) be equal in the return, and will there be no distinction between the people of negligence (tawaani) and diligence (ijtihad)? To whom will the instruction (mufid) be pointed, and to whom will the free and the slaves resort? What is the condition of those of the ranks who erred and descended, and those who fell from the limit of wilaya (walaya)? What is the state of the one who drowned among them compared to the one who joined his image at the separation?”
We say with the help of God, His substance, the favor of His Wali on His earth, peace be upon him, and his teaching:
Know that the people of the response (istijaaba) have varying ranks (mutafawitu al-rutab) and differing causes and lineages (mutabaayinu al-sabab wa al-nasab). The return of every responder will be to the one who is above him in knowledge and action among the people of insight and understanding (al-diraya wa al-fahm). That is his ’adhuq (limit) with his image, who is higher than him in rank. Thereby, justice (al-’adl) is confirmed, and the one of فضل (excellence) rises, and what is in potential appears into actuality, and like is joined with like. The first of the ranks of the responder will be in the horizon of the Noble Baligh (al-Baaligh al-Najiib), and the Baligh in the horizon of the Mukasir (Mukasir), and all of them in the horizon of the Authorised one who gathers (al-Ma’dhun al-Haasir). Likewise, all the religious ranks (al-maraatib al-diniyya); no one exceeds his limit by the scientific image. As for the one who erred among the limits, his ’adhuq with his image returns to the master of that rank. In general, the critic (al-naaqid) is insightful, and the transporter (al-naaqil) is knowledgeable and experienced. He transports the images to their true limits, which preceded them from God the Most Beautiful (al-Husna), with the lofty ranks (al-maraatib al-saniyya), the people of religion and safety and correct certainty and uprightness. As David, peace be upon him, said: “What was will be, and what is known will be known; there is nothing new under the sun.” And only the knowing ones (’aalimoon) understand it. The errant one descends to the religious ranks with his sinful sensitive soul. As for the subtle scientific image (al-sura al-’ilmiyya al-latifa), it joins the people of the noble leavens (ahl al-khamaa’ir al-sharifa). So understand that, and you will be rightly guided, triumphant, and blessed.
We say with the help of God, His substance, the favor of His Wali on His earth, peace be upon him, and his teaching:
Know that the Divine Care (al-’inaya al-ilaahiyya) and the perfect wise creation (al-san’a al-mutqana al-hikmiyya) directed itself to the bodies of the transmigrated (al-muntaqiliin) from the limits (al-hudud) and the believers (al-mu’miniin), and leavened (khammarat) them with the spiritualities of the corporeal stars (ruhaniyyat al-kawaakib al-jirmaniyya) in their earthly graves and tombs (quburiha wa ajdaathiha al-ardiyya) for three days. From them, the pneumatic souls (al-nufus al-rihiyya), the noblest traces (ashraf aatharan), were ascended, and the rational (al-naatiqa) ascended with the celestial good fortunes (al-su’ud al-falakiyya), joining them. They ascend first to the sphere of the Moon, then Mercury, then Venus, the Lesser Fortune (al-sa’d al-asfar), then through the mediation of the Sun to Jupiter, the Greater Fortune (al-sa’d al-akbar). The Sun is the greater natural gathering point (al-majma’ al-tabi’i al-akbar) and the magnetic attraction (al-mighnaatiisi) for these most luminous remnants (al-fadhalaat al-anwar). The pneumatic souls gather in the corporeal natural Gate (al-Baab al-tabi’i al-jirmani), like the rational souls gather in the psychic religious Gate (al-Baab al-diini al-nafsani), and they are formed in the imagination (al-wahm) in arrangement, like the human person. When the manifestation of the Imam from the Imam is due, and God permits the personification (tashkhees) of the Caliph of the Station (khalifat al-Maqaam), he descends from the sphere of ascent (ufuq al-su’ud) through the mediation of the Moon with some of the pneumatic souls, protected from all humans. It falls upon some pure, sweet waters or some good, moist fruits, being like the hidden essence (al-kull) that falls upon those protected fruits, by his honor, from the burning of the fire. The Imam, peace be upon him, receives this virtue (fadhila), and some of his wives who are worthy of bearing him share in it. Between them, through the noblest marriage (al-nikaah al-ashraf), is a noble sperm (nutfa sharifa) and a wholly sanctified, subtle entity (jumla bi-kulliyyatiha muqaddasa latifa). The nourishment of that fetus is directed from the remainder of what was prepared for him time after time until the months of formation are completed. At that time, he appears to the abode of sensation (daar al-hiss) without a placenta (mashima), complete and perfect in his members. He is known as the Humanity (al-Nasut), and the Imam. He receives the rank of the Caliphate from his father by textual designation (nass), and the Gate (al-Baab) transfers to him with the Divinity (al-Lahut) that is unique to him. The Divinity unites with the Humanity, and the lights of the Kingdom (anwar al-Malakut) shine forth from him. He undertakes the mission (da’wa) in the place of the one who designated him and summons the souls of the people of his mission to himself so that he may be extracted as he was extracted (istakhraja kama istukhrija) as a station (maqam) and succeed as an Imam. The first station (al-maqam al-awwal), upon transmigration to the tenth horizon (’ufuq al-’aashir), awaits his likes and the completion of the last creation (tamaam al-khalq al-’aakhir). When the Cycle (al-dawr) is fulfilled, the Qā’im (al-Qa’im), peace be upon him, arises, the spiritual members (al-a’daa’ al-ruhaniyya) are completed, and he comes in the shade of the cloud (fi dhill min al-ghamaam). He appears like the appearance of his fathers and is personified from the stored treasures (al-dhakhaa’ir al-madhkhoora) for his existence and origination. His noble body has an excellence and lofty status over the bodies of his fathers, even though all of them are camphor-like figures (ashbaahan kaafuriyya). He has over their bodies the same honor they have over human bodies. Through him, the preceding stations (al-maqamaat al-muqaddama) in the Interval (al-Barzakh) coalesce in the best arrangement, and they are organized like the members of the human body in the finest order. He establishes the end of the Cycle of Concealment (dawr al-Sit) and the beginning of the Revelation (al-Kashf), reveals dissimulation (al-taqiyya), and calls to a strange matter (shay’in nukr) from the claims of Divinity (da’aawi al-ilaahiyya). The beginning of the Cycle of Revelation is like the preceding Cycle with that same judgment. The pure progeny (al-dhariyya al-zakiyya) follows one after another in him. The Qā’im ascends to the pleasing Caliphate (al-khilaafa al-mardhiyya) for the tenth lofty rank (al-rutba al-saamiyya al-’aashiriyya). Those incipient ranks (al-maraatib al-inbi’athiyya) ascend, and the holy ranks (al-maraatib al-qudsiyya) ascend to the circle of the First Incipient (daa’irat al-Munba’ath al-Awwal), the gathering of the first and the last, and the feet of the beginners and the present ones are made equal, “brothers on couches facing each other.”
We say with the help of God, His substance, the favor of His Wali on His earth, peace be upon him, and his teaching:
The noble bodies of the limits (al-hudud) and the believers (al-mu’miniin) were from the houses in which the name of God, Lord of the Worlds, is mentioned. They are undoubtedly raised to their original place at the beginning, and they are neither neglected nor discarded. Rather, they join their masters and enter the houses from their doors. One of the Maula (al-Mawali), peace be upon him, said: “The houses join the master of the house.” This is because they ascend from their graves completely, and they join together until nothing remains but the bones. Their preserver (hafizuha) preserves them in the best stronghold and the most elevated abode, in the manner of the celestial constellations (al-abraj al-samaawiyya). They encompass all their meanings, and they are present within the aggregate of the active forces (al-faa’ilaat), and they are counted among the praised things (al-mahmudaat) until the time of their return as human images through nourishment (al-aghdiya) by Will (al-Irada), and they appear through progeny and birth, and adhere to their accustomed abodes, like for like, and form for form.
وَالْبَلَدُ الطَّيِّبُ يَخْرُجُ نَبَاتُهُ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِ وَالَّذِي خَبُثَ لَا يَخْرُجُ إِلَّا نَكِداً
“As for the good land, its vegetation comes forth by permission of its Lord; but that which is bad, only hard labor comes forth from it.” (Qur’an 7:58, abbreviated)
The states of their parts have transferred, and they have become honored. From their members, a purified and subtle soul has become theirs. It accepted its share, which is the sense (al-hiss), from the sphere, the cream of its growth. It encountered the mission (da’wa) from its instructor (mufid), so it hastened and guarded against inclining away from his obedience. They return as a creation (nash’a) from the future Cycles (al-adwar al-mustaqbala) like their first creation in the past state. Their sensory parts (hissiyyaatuhum) reach the state of being rational (nawaatiq), so in every return, they have a rational member through wisdom. They ascend by the rational rank (al-rutba al-naatiqiyya) and are mounted upon the Divine knowledges (al-ma’aarif al-rabbanniyya), horizon after horizon, until they reach the Imamic rank (al-rutba al-Imamiyya), and then the coalescence (al-iltiyaam) into the Qā’im’s entity (al-jumla al-Qaa’imiyya), “what was will be,” as David, peace be upon him, said. His saying, exalted is He:
بَلْ هُمْ فِي لَبْسٍ مِّنْ خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ
“Rather, they are in confusion about a new creation.” (Qur’an 50:15)
Those remnants (al-fadhalaat) continue to return time after time, and the returns (al-raj’aat) follow turn after turn, until they become wholly subtle and refined subtleties (lataa’if mulattafa), pure and radiant spirits (arwaahan saafiya mushriqa), established in actuality (qaa’ima bi al-fi’l) in the most perfect state. As for what remains and is delayed of the bones, it returns over a long period, being dust (rimaam). It is a portion of the body related to the earthly (al-ardiyya), specifically being from the black bile (al-marra al-sawdaawiyya). It becomes like the mineral goal (al-ghaaya al-ma’daniyya), the pearly (al-durriyya), the sapphire (al-yaaqutiyya), the silver (al-fiddhiyya), and the golden rank (al-dhahabiyya). The purity of all of this is in the celestial image (al-sura al-falakiyya) over thousands of years and Cycles of time (al-adwaar al-dahriyya). As for the camphor-like figures (ashbaah al-a’imma al-kaafuriyya) of the Imams and their human bodies (ajsaamuhum al-nasutiyya), they are sensitive vegetative souls (anfus naamiyya hissiyya), the people of infallibility (’isma), substantiated (mujawhara) for the essences of the people of support and mercy (dhawaat ahl al-ta’yid wa al-rahma). One of the Maula (al-Mawali), peace be upon them, said: “The subtleties of our followers are our densities, and our densities are the subtleties of our followers.” If a questioner asks: “If that is the case, then from where did accidents (al-hawadith) afflict them at the hands of the adversaries (al-adhdaad), and the contingencies of the world of generation and corruption extend to them?”
We say that accidents do not run their course upon the reality of their figures, and the Humanities (al-nawaasit) are exalted from their contingencies. However, the manifested one (al-dhaahir biha) manifests what he wills by what he wills from whom he wills, as he wills, such as old age, middle age, and childhood. Sometimes he manifests poverty, destitution, and sickness, and at other times, power and capability that cannot be challenged. The miracle (al-mu’jiz) is a manifestation of the power of the hidden Divinity (al-Lahut al-mutahajjib), and the incapacity (’ajz) is from the direction of the Humanity (al-Nasut) and the submission (al-khudhu’) that is required. When he wills the manifestation of an accident, he manifests it through some of the Walis (al-awliyaa’), and he selects whom he sees fit for that, according to the requirement of justice and wisdom, from the pious ones (al-atqiya’). Death appears from sickness, poison, or murder, and it is likened to the eyes of the observers, form for form. God Almighty said concerning the story of Jesus, peace be upon him:
وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مَا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلاَّ اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِيناً بَل رَّفَعَهُ اللّهُ إِلَيْهِ
“And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him for certain. Rather, Allah raised him to Himself.” (Qur’an 4:157-158)
Thus, what we have said is confirmed, and what we have pointed to is made clear. He appeared to his disciples afterward, and the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, appeared in a similar way to those to whom he appeared after transmigration, and our master Isma’il bin Ja’far, peace be upon him, in manifesting the miracle in Basra. What they manifest of rightful killing is due to some crimes committed by those who gathered for those purposes. Everything that occurs of accidents between human persons is not abandoned except for a period of time. Then the actions return upon the selves of the actors, according to His saying, exalted is He, and He is the most truthful of speakers:
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْراً يَرَهُ * وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرّاً يَرَهُ
“So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.” (Qur’an 99:7-8)
And His saying, exalted is He:
وَمَا أَصَابَكُم مِّن مُّصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ
“And whatever disaster strikes you is for what your [own] hands have earned, and He pardons much.” (Qur’an 42:30)
The bodies were correspondences (muqaabila) to the bodies, and their subtleties (lataa’if) were similarities (mumaathala) to their subtleties, and their relations (munaasabaat) in their affairs were continuous (mutawaasila). From this is that in the correspondence of the limits to the worlds there is a marvelous secret for those who ponder and a strange meaning of Divine wisdom. The Universal Adam (Aadam al-Kulli) and his limits are twenty-eight, and likewise, the sphere (al-falak) is twenty-eight: seven Angels, seven Spheres, twelve Constellations, and the two poles of North and South. Likewise, every station of a Speaker (Naatiq), Legatee (Wasi), or Imam—each one of them has twenty-eight limits. Thus, the Sun corresponds to the Universal Adam and the rest of the stations, and the rest of the sphere corresponds to their limits, the people of the religions (ahl al-diyaanaat). It is as if they are them due to the intensity of resemblance and similarity, and the subtleties of their meanings and their influences are continuous. If a questioner asks: “This is the correspondence for the ordered limits (al-hudud al-murattabiin). What from the sphere corresponds to the believers?”
We say that in general, what corresponds to them are the minutes, seconds, thirds, and other elements in the sphere that the people of realities (ahl al-haqaa’iq) verify. The degrees (al-daraj) are like the authorised ones (al-ma’dhuniin) within the absolute Da’is (al-du’aat al-mutlaqiin). They have forms from the mineral ranks (al-rutab al-ma’daniyya) that are ordered from the acceptance of the influence of the influencers (ta’thir al-mu’ththiraat) according to this model. The pillar (al-rukn) is similar to the stations (al-maqamaat) from the mineralized stones, and the sapphire and pearl are like the limits and the believers in their various ranks.
There is no salvation in reality for the descending ones, nor a return to the spiritual world for the entangled ones, except by reaching the thousandth stature (al-qaama al-alfiyya) and accepting the commands of the pure, clean mission (al-da’wa al-taahira al-zakiyya). Upon the conjunction of the stars (ijtimā’ al-kawākib) at the first point of the sign of Aries, the world and all that is in it will be destroyed, and action will cease. The creation (al-nushu’) will be resumed like the first creation.
أَوَلَيْسَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِقَادِرٍ عَلَى أَنْ يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُمْ بَلَى وَهُوَ الْخَلَّاقُ الْعَلِيمُ * إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئاً أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ
“Is not He who created the heavens and the earth able to create the likes of them? Yes, and He is the Knowing Creator. His command is only that when He intends a thing, He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” (Qur’an 36:81-82)
And David, peace be upon him, said: “What was will be, and what is known will be known; there is nothing new under the sun.” The states of the world and its beings differed from the direction of sayings and actions and more than their difference when imagined at the first state. Likewise, the houses of worship and the mosques, the Qibla of every repentant and worshipper, are, as preceded, similitudes for the represented things (amthaal ’ala al-mumaththulaat). The Ka’ba is the represented thing (mumaththul) of the Universal Adam and whoever stands in his place among every Speaker, Imam, or Foundation (Asās). Exalted is He said concerning it:
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ}} * {{فِيهِ آيَاتٌ بَيِّنَاتٌ مَّقَامُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمَن دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آمِناً
“Indeed, the first House [of worship] established for mankind was that at Makkah… In it are clear signs [such as] the standing place of Abraham. And whoever enters it shall be safe.” (Qur’an 3:96-97, abbreviated)
And in the real meaning, it guarantees salvation for the one who knows it. Likewise, all the congregational mosques (al-jawaami’) according to the science of interpretation (al-ta’wil), like the gatherings (al-majaami’) of the noble Gates (al-abwaab al-sharifa), the Da’is, the Authorised ones, and the guiding Mukasirs. Religion and Creation correspond, and it becomes clear to the discerning ones that it is the Truth. The purpose of the entire world is its nearness to salvation, its ascent in the ranks of faith, and its ascent in the steps of monitoring it (muraaqabatihi). So understand that, and you will be rightly guided, triumphant, and blessed.
We say, with the aid and assistance of God, and the grace and instruction of His Wali (Vicegerent) on His earth, peace be upon him:
Know that the call of the imams of misguidance and error is contrary to that upon which is the call of the imams of truth and guidance.
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَدْعُونَ إِلَى النَّارِ
“And We made them imams inviting to the Fire.”
And He, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا
“And We made them imams guiding by Our command.”
(Meaning the Pure Imams.)
So their jurists (fuqaha’) and scholars were those who obstructed the way of God, and those who repelled the stations of the friends of God (awliya’ Allah). They inscribe upon the souls of their followers the contradiction of the truth and enmity towards the Imams of Truth and some of the Awliya’, and the devotion to the wretched imams. They portray them with images of falsehood in the Oneness of God (Tawhid) that are crooked images, which are in reality the associating of the Worshipped with the worshipped (servants). They engrave their souls with unstable beliefs concerning Paradise and Hell, between which and themselves is a great distance.
Their inner sights are thus darkened, and their essences are rusted by those beliefs and deeds, along with what they have altered of the Sacred Law (Shari’ah) and the acts of worship, and what they have changed with their analogies (qiyasat) and customary natures.
Upon death, their opposing forms, which they had imagined, separate from those adverse persons, what is impressed upon their souls by what they opposed and denied. These become dark, obscure forms, contrary to the luminous forms. They roam, wandering in the air, and take shelter in desolate, filthy places like latrines, base, dirty, foul places, stinking sewers, darkened bodies, painful residences, the earth’s caves and grottos, dunghills, baths, slaughterhouses, and ruins. They wish to return to their bodies and act with their physical selves according to their custom, but they are prevented from what they desire, from all types of goodness, “as was done to their partisans before; indeed, they were in disquieting doubt.”
Among them are the dwellers of the seas, the open lands, the desolate wastes, and the thorns of trees. Among them are those in the mountains, caravanserais, and tombs. Among them are the devils of mankind and jinn, the rebellious ones (maradah), and the devils (abalisa), who oppose the ignorant, women, and children, taking them as dark dwellings, houses, and places for themselves. Among them are those who whisper in the chests, those humiliated by delusion, and those who recite spells of their followers in what they are engaged in, in the company of their adherents.
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said concerning them:
شَيَاطِينَ الإِنسِ وَالْجِنِّ يُوحِي بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ زُخْرُفَ الْقَوْلِ غُرُوراً
“Devils of mankind and jinn, some of them inspiring to others gilded speech by way of delusion.”
They may speak of some unseen things and project themselves to their likes in dreams, whispering to them what they desire to whisper. According to what they were during their lives, those of truthfulness and integrity among them speak truthfully, and the people of treachery and excess lie. These are the reprehensible, tormented jinn.
Among them are the ogres (ghilan), monsters (ghudran), hags (su’lat), and the ‘Mother of Children’ (Umm al-Sibyan), and every type of metamorphosed (mamsukh) and degraded (mankus) species, who are falsely accused of ascent and high rank, but the rays of ill-fortune abandon them. And it imprisons them, as we have mentioned, in the deserved dungeons and prisons. They yearn over the loss of their desired object and suffer from the separation from bodies. People hear their groaning and are spooked by their moaning. They remain tormented by the types of lesser torment until annihilation releases them from this state. Then they are driven to the Greater Torment and the unutterable calamity, and they return to that which is more evil, more severe, more calamitous, and more bitter than this.
Some of them ascend to the sphere of the Star of Punishment and Wretchedness (Zuhar al-Nakal wa al-Bu’s), and take charge of the dungeons and prisons. Then, after the expiry of their term, they descend by way of mingling with births, and every stubborn tyrant emerges from them—the opposers of the prophets, the vicegerents (awsiya’), and the pious imams, and their wretched, accursed followers. Some of them strike at the stations by killing, and others by poison, knife, and spear-point. May God protect us and all our believing brethren from that.
Among them are those whom the Imam, peace be upon him, calls, because he is aware of them, their names, their locations, and their offspring. Nothing of their states is hidden from him, nor are the intentions of their actions concealed. He includes those whom he sees fit for service in the sphere of the Sun, because he has ascertained their sincerity and repentance, both manifest and concealed. He directs them to the benefit of the Awliya’ and the repelling of harm from the wretched, the guidance of the lost to the path, and the rescue of the drowning. Their number is one hundred and forty thousand. Whoever among them fulfills his duty of service mingles with the Pillars (Arkan) and ascends the causes (asbab) until he reaches the Gates (Abwab). It is only the one who fulfills what he owes from the torment of that form, from among those who answered and repented, who ascends to that station, peace be upon him.
As for the exempted ones from the sphere of Islam, those who uphold the outward Sacred Law (Shari’ah zahirah) and are devoted to the Pure Imams of Truth (A’immat al-Haqq al-’Ibrah al-Tahirah), their forms, upon leaving their subjects, ascend to the Venus (al-Zuharah). They remain there until God permits them to return. They mingled with the praiseworthy ones and ascended to the human forms, answered the callers (du’at), and embraced the Wilayah (devotion/allegiance) of the Guiding Imams. Thus, they attain the victory of the Gardens (Jinan) and arrive at the vicinity of the All-Merciful (al-Rahman). Understand this, and you will be rightly guided, victorious, and happy.
As for the sensitive souls (al-nufus al-hissiyyah), they are dispersed in their bodies and remain imprisoned within them to intensify their pain. They are like a sleeper, seeing the severity of horrors and the great calamity and punishment. They cry out with woe and lamentation from the everlasting, lengthy torment. Their instruments are rendered unable to perform their habitual functions, and their senses are extinguished from perceiving their customary sensibles.
When they are placed in the grave, despair and hopelessness occur. They are isolated with their ugly deeds, empty of people. They contemplate the evil of their actions and misdeeds within themselves. At that, their terror intensifies, and their agitation grows great. They know they are eternally in torment and will neither return nor come back to the world. They become denser than their denseness, and the vilest and densest of them is more subtle and superior. They are in a severity that cannot be expressed by the describers, nor can reporters truly describe it due to the magnitude of its horror.
The gates of torment to which they are progressing are revealed to them, and the severe punishment to which they are returning. That is the torment of the grave, concerning which God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
إِنَّا أَنذَرْنَاكُمْ عَذَاباً قَرِيباً يَوْمَ يَنظُرُ الْمَرْءُ مَا قَدَّمَتْ يَدَاهُ وَيَقُولُ الْكَافِرُ يَا لَيْتَنِي كُنتُ تُرَاباً
“Indeed, We have warned you of a near punishment on the Day when a man will look at what his hands have put forth and the disbeliever will say, ‘Oh, I wish I were dust!’”
(Meaning: submissive.)
As for dust, it must travel to this gate if it is not among those who turned away and submitted. He realizes that this is because of his opposition to the Imams of the Eras and his disobedience and denial of their bounds. He becomes certain of destruction and ruin. He feels the pains he is in. Swelling and puffiness hasten upon him. His body, in which he resides, bursts open. Worms eat it, and pus leaks from it. The severe torment and the unceasing calamity reach him.
Then his parts ascend as smoke and vapor to the Mothers (Ummahat). They mingle in the mixed clouds (al-sahab al-mazajat). From this arise the harms of epidemics, scattering, pains, and types of calamities that hasten death, such as deadly thunderbolts, scorching lightning, violent winds, destructive snows, lethal heat, painful cold, and altering rains. The most evil of plants is nourished, and all types of filth grow from it. It is driven by nourishment to the human species, which are called the Filth (al-Rijs) of the Thousand Forms (al-Suwar al-Alfiyyah), such as the Zanj, Turks, Nubians, flies, and the species that do not answer with those who answer.
This form is the First Gate of the Lesser Torment. They are seventy types. They wear seventy shirts (qamis) of each type; whenever one shirt perishes, they wear the next. With every death and birth, that custom returns to them upon revelation. This type was made the first type of torment so that they might fully expend their remaining good deeds and express their bad choices of evil deeds. They then descend to the Degradation (al-Waks) by God’s displeasure and return to its degraded types.
From this is the saying of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him: “The world is the prison of the believer and the paradise of the disbeliever.” So their paradise, the Thousand Form (al-Qamah al-Alfiyyah), becomes the prison of the believer, in which he fully receives his reward and acquires by his choice what necessitates his punishment. This is to say that the Thousand Form is the prison of the believer, in which he fully receives his punishment and acquires by his choice what necessitates his reward. May God make us among those who acquire reward in this Thousand Form, and may God protect and shield us from those who acquire punishment, for He is the All-Mighty, the Bestower.
The seventy shirts are the cubits of the chain which God, Exalted is His Majesty, mentioned in His saying:
خُذُوهُ فَغُلُّوهُ . ثُمَّ الْجَحِيمَ صَلُّوهُ . ثُمَّ فِي سِلْسِلَةٍ ذَرْعُهَا سَبْعُونَ ذِرَاعاً فَاسْلُكُوهُ
“Seize him and shackle him. Then into the Hellfire drive him. Then into a chain whose length is seventy cubits insert him.”
And God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
قُلْ هَلْ أُنَبِّئُكُم بِشَرٍّ مِّن ذَلِكَ مَثُوبَةً عِندَ اللّهِ مَن لَّعَنَهُ اللّهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهُمُ الْقِرَدَةَ وَالْخَنَازِيرَ وَعَبَدَ الطَّاغُوتَ
“Say, ‘Shall I inform you of [what is] worse than that as recompense from God? [It is that of] those whom God has cursed and with whom He became angry and made of them apes and pigs and worshippers of Taghut (false deities/idols).’”
It is thus confirmed that the worshippers of Taghut are human forms who were worshippers of stone idols. There is no escape or refuge for them from it. Retribution is taken from them for those to whom they owe it, and debts are paid, and the inanimate takes its due from the generations. This gate is only called Filth (Rijs) due to its impurity from enmity towards the Imams of Truth and its baseness, and the generality of its misfortune and degradation stemming from devotion to the imams of error.
This is because, by enmity towards the friends of God (Awliya’ Allah), he associated a partner with his Worshipped, and disbelieved in stubborn opposition to His bounds, despite his being in this rank silenced from mentioning what was formerly articulated, and bridled from explaining his former state.
When he fulfills what he owes and what is due to him, he is led into the Second Gate, which is the Degradation (Waks), the species of non-human humanoids (ashbah al-nas), such as apes, bears, and baboons. They are seventy types. For them are seventy shirts in each type. The one passing through it is aware of what he is in, and sensitive to what befalls him, similar to what preceded. It is called Degradation (Waks) because of its debasement and deficiency from the Thousand Form.
When he fulfills what he owes and what is due to him, he is led into the Third Gate, which is the Inversion (al-’Aks), the species of predatory beasts that tear apart animals and harm humans, both land and sea, in the same number as before, and remaining in torment for a long duration, due to his disregard for the command of the One, the Eternal. It is called Inversion (al-’Aks) due to the inversion of his form and the turning upside down of his structure.
When he fulfills what he owes and what is due to him, he is led into the Fourth Gate, which is the Muteness (al-Khars), the species of serpents, snakes, scorpions, and their likes of harmful creatures, both sea and land. They are in the same number as before.
When he fulfills what he owes and what is due to him, he is led into the Fifth Gate, which is the Impurity (al-Najas), the species of birds with feathers and beaks, which take shelter in trees, resorting to them morning and evening. They are in the same number as before in types and individuals from which there is no escape or deliverance.
When he fulfills what he owes and what is due to him, he is led into the Sixth Gate, which is the Reversal (al-Naks), the species of reversed plants, stripped of the senses they had in animals. These are trees containing poisons from the edibles and the smelled, of repugnant taste, bitter, and destructive in their harmful state. They are in the same number as before, but without sensation or knowledge of the state they are in.
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَى أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ لِكَيْ لاَ يَعْلَمَ بَعْدَ عِلْمٍ شَيْئاً
“And among you is he who is returned to the most feeble [old] age so that he knows nothing after [having had] knowledge.”
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
وَمَنْ نُعَمِّرْهُ نُنَكِّسْهُ فِي الْخَلْقِ أَفَلَا يَعْقِلُونَ
“And he whom We grant life, We reverse him in creation. Then will they not reason?”
When he fulfills what he owes and what is due to him, he is led into the Seventh Gate, which is the Perversion (al-Raks), the place of the treading of feet, the species of stones and marble, lead, iron, and copper, lacking the rank of growth and sensation, solidified in the depths of the seas, during the night and the edges of the day. They are also seventy types, and for each type, seventy shirts.
Concerning this, He, Exalted is His Majesty, says:
حَتَّى إِذَا فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَاباً ذَا عَذَابٍ شَدِيدٍ إِذَا هُمْ فِيهِ مُبْلِسُونَ
“Until when We open upon them a gate of severe punishment, immediately they are therein in despair.”
(Meaning: they are prevented from speaking, seeking help, and crying out.)
And God, Exalted is His Majesty, also said concerning this:
هذا يوم لا ينطقون . ولا يؤذن لهم فيعتذرون
“This is a Day they will not speak, nor will permission be granted them so they might make excuse.”
And God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
قُل كُونُواْ حِجَارَةً أَوْ حَدِيداً ، أَوْ خَلْقاً مِّمَّا يَكْبُرُ فِي صُدُورِكُمْ
“Say, ‘Be stones or iron, or [some] creation of that which is great in your breasts.’”
If someone asks: What is the proof for the correctness of the return through these seven stages, and that they are the gates of Hell (Jahannam) for those who enter them from among those who deserve destruction?
We say: The proof for this is the saying of God, Exalted is His Majesty:
وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ فِي الأَرْضِ وَلاَ طَائِرٍ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلاَّ أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِي الكِتَابِ مِن شَيْءٍ ثُمَّ إِلَى رَبِّهِمْ يُحْشَرُونَ
“And there is no creature on [the earth] or bird that flies with its wings except that they are communities like you. We have not neglected anything in the Register. Then to their Lord they will be gathered.”
Are the communities (Umam) not the communities of the Prophets, concerning whom God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
وَإِن مِّنْ أُمَّةٍ إِلَّا خلَا فِيهَا نَذِيرٌ
“And there was no nation but that there had passed within it a warner.”
And are the likes (Amthal) not the similar ones? And a person is likened to a person apart from all other animals. God, Exalted is His Majesty, said in confirmation of this, which necessitates our saying by His wrath, the Possessor of Power (Dhu al-Jabarut):
قُلْ هَلْ أُنَبِّئُكُم بِشَرٍّ مِّن ذَلِكَ مَثُوبَةً عِندَ اللّهِ
“Say, ‘Shall I inform you of [what is] worse than that as recompense from God?’”
(Meaning: return and requital)
مَن لَّعَنَهُ اللّهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهُمُ الْقِرَدَةَ وَالْخَنَازِيرَ وَعَبَدَ الطَّاغُوتَ “[It is that of] those whom God has cursed and with whom He became angry and made of them apes and pigs and worshippers of Taghut.”
The curse (la’n) is the driving away and the distance from the upright stature and the nearness to the Holy Abode (Dar al-Qudsiyyah). The curse is the Fire. He made them, concerning whom He became angry and cursed, according to what He, Exalted is His Majesty, mentioned in three gates: Filth (Rijs), who are the worshippers of Taghut; pigs from the Inversion (’Aks); and apes from the Degradation (Waks).
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said concerning the Filth (Rijs), who are the worshippers of Taghut:
وَالَّذِينَ كَسَبُواْ السَّيِّئَاتِ
“And those who earned evil deeds”
(Meaning: by the Wilayah of the Imams of Error)
جَزَاء سَيِّئَةٍ بِمِثْلِهَا “the recompense of an evil deed is its equivalent”
(Meaning: it will overtake them with like for like)
وَتَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌ كَأَنَّمَا أُغْشِيَتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ قِطَعاً مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ مُظْلِماً أُوْلَـئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ “and humiliation will cover them. They will have no protector from God. It will be as if their faces had been covered with pieces of the night, dark. Those are the companions of the Fire;”
Are the darkened faces not the blackened ones? This bears witness that they are the companions of the Fire, as we said, and they are the Sudanese (Blacks).
And like His saying, Exalted is His Majesty:
وَالْبَلَدُ الطَّيِّبُ يَخْرُجُ نَبَاتُهُ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِ وَالَّذِي خَبُثَ لاَ يَخْرُجُ إِلاَّ نَكِداً
“And the good land—its vegetation emerges by permission of its Lord; but that which is bad—nothing comes out except scantily.”
And what scantiness is there but what we have mentioned? The verse bears witness to the repetition of the wicked (al-khabith) and the land, as we indicated.
And like His saying, Exalted is His Majesty:
تَرَى الَّذِينَ كَذَبُواْ عَلَى اللَّهِ وُجُوهُهُم مُّسْوَدَّةٌ
“You will see those who lied about God their faces blackened.”
And what lie upon God and His Messenger is greater than their appointing as successor someone they appointed without command from God or His Messenger, and calling him an Imam? And He addressed them through the tongue of His Messenger, informing them with His saying, the Most High:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ آمِنُواْ بِمَا نَزَّلْنَا
“O you who were given the Scripture, believe in what We have revealed”
(Meaning: in the Wilayah of the Successor (al-Wasi))
مُصَدِّقاً لِّمَا مَعَكُمْ “confirming that which is with you”
(From the belief in the Prophet)
مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّطْمِسَ وُجُوهاً فَنَرُدَّهَا عَلَى أَدْبَارِهَا أَوْ نَلْعَنَهُمْ كَمَا لَعَنَّا أَصْحَابَ السَّبْتِ وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللّهِ مَفْعُولاً “before We obliterate faces and turn them toward their backs or curse them as We cursed the companions of the Sabbath. And ever is the command of God accomplished.”
Is the obliteration (tams) of faces not the changing of them? And are the backs (adbar) not the ranks of the births which man has truly surpassed? The inversion of the higher to the lower, and the station of the vile as the eyes of the superior ones. And We will turn their hearts and their eyes as they did not believe in it the first time. And He mandated that if they do not believe, He will curse them as He cursed those before them.
And thus the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “You will surely follow the paths of the nations before you, span by span, and cubit by cubit, so much so that if they were to enter the hole of a lizard, you would enter it.” And the lizard (dabb) is among the metamorphosed, disfigured creatures. There must be a shirt of it that they will put on, and His saying, peace and blessings be upon him, is confirmed by their entering its hole. In a second narration: “so much so that if they were to enter the hive of a wasp, you would enter it.” This is an allusion to the traversing of these mentioned gates, until the situation ends with the wasps (zanabir), whose singular is wasp (zunbur), and whose home is the roughness. The lizard is like the imams of error, and its hole is their call (da’wah). The wasps are like their friends (awliya’), and their return and recourse to what they fabricated with their whims in their religions, like the house of the wasp and the spider.
مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ أَوْلِيَاء كَمَثَلِ الْعَنكَبُوتِ اتَّخَذَتْ بَيْتاً وَإِنَّ أَوْهَنَ الْبُيُوتِ لَبَيْتُ الْعَنكَبُوتِ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
“The example of those who take allies other than God is like that of the spider who takes a house. And indeed, the frailest of houses is the house of the spider, if they only knew.”
And like His saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “What happened in the preceding nations will happen in my community.” It is therefore obligatory that the accursed ones of his community be like the accursed ones of the past nations. Even if He overlooks the community due to the honor of its children in this immediate life, what applies to the nations applies to it in the afterlife.
Then God, Exalted is His Majesty, said in another place:
وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ الَّذِينَ اعْتَدَواْ مِنكُمْ فِي السَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُواْ قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ ، فَجَعَلْنَاهَا نَكَالاً لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهَا وَمَا خَلْفَهَا وَمَوْعِظَةً لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ
“And you had already known about those who transgressed among you concerning the Sabbath, and We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’ And We made it a deterrent (nakal) for those who were present and those who succeeded [them] and a lesson for those who fear God.”
And the deterrent (nakal) is the torment. It is confirmed that “that which was present” is the preceding gates which we mentioned, and “that which succeeded [them]” is what follows it from those gates.
We established that those Thousand Forms do not answer the Guiders (al-Hudat) because they are in the furthest distance from the goals.
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said in explanation of that:
ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَا مِن بَعْدِهِ رُسُلاً إِلَى قَوْمِهِمْ فَجَآؤُوهُم بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَمَا كَانُواْ لِيُؤْمِنُواْ بِمَا كَذَّبُواْ بِهِ مِن قَبْلُ كَذَلِكَ نَطْبَعُ عَلَى قُلُوبِ الْمُعْتَدِينَ
“Then We sent after him messengers to their peoples, and they came to them with clear proofs. But they were not to believe in that which they had denied before. Thus, We seal the hearts of the transgressors.”
And like His saying, the Most High:
وَلَقَدْ جَاءكُمْ يُوسُفُ مِن قَبْلُ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَمَا زِلْتُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِّمَّا جَاءكُم بِهِ حَتَّى إِذَا هَلَكَ قُلْتُمْ لَن يَبْعَثَ اللَّهُ مِن بَعْدِهِ رَسُولاً كَذَلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ مَنْ هُوَ مُسْرِفٌ مُّرْتَابٌ
“And Joseph had certainly come to you before with clear proofs, but you remained in doubt concerning that which he brought to you. Finally, when he died, you said, ‘Never will God send after him a messenger.’ Thus does God leave astray he who is an extravagant, doubter.”
It is confirmed that their refusal in this state is due to their denial from before, and that they worshipped Taghut outwardly just as they worshipped it inwardly before by obeying those whom they obeyed.
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
فَلَمَّا عَتَوْاْ عَن مَّا نُهُواْ عَنْهُ قُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُواْ قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ
“So when they were arrogant regarding that which they had been forbidden, We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’”
He thus mandated that when they disobeyed and opposed, that was made a torment and deterrent for them.
And Exalted is His Majesty said:
اهْبِطُواْ مِصْراً فَإِنَّ لَكُم مَّا سَأَلْتُمْ وَضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الذِّلَّةُ وَالْمَسْكَنَةُ وَبَآؤُوْاْ بِغَضَبٍ مِّنَ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُواْ يَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ذَلِكَ بِمَا عَصَواْ وَّكَانُواْ يَعْتَدُونَ
“Go down to [any] settlement, and indeed, for you is what you requested. And humiliation and misery were placed upon them, and they returned with anger from God. That was because they used to disbelieve in the signs of God and kill the prophets without right. That was because they disobeyed and used to transgress.”
And God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
بِئْسَمَا اشْتَرَوْاْ بِهِ أَنفُسَهُمْ أَن يَكْفُرُواْ بِمَا أنَزَلَ اللّهُ بَغْياً أَن يُنَزِّلُ اللّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ عَلَى مَن يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ فَبَآؤُواْ بِغَضَبٍ عَلَى غَضَبٍ
“Wretched is that for which they sold themselves—that they would disbelieve in what God has revealed, out of jealousy that God would send down His favor upon whom He wills of His servants. So they returned with anger upon anger.”
He says: He returned them to the first anger, and they encounter the second by their disbelief and their actions.
It is thus clear that what is intended is what we mentioned, and they are the Gates of Torment, due to His saying, Exalted is His Majesty:
وَإِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمَوْعِدُهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ ، لَهَا سَبْعَةُ أَبْوَابٍ لِّكُلِّ بَابٍ مِّنْهُمْ جُزْءٌ مَّقْسُومٌ
“And indeed, Hell is the promised place for them all. It has seven gates; for every gate is a specific portion [of them].”
Hell (Jahannam) is truly the World of Generation and Corruption (’Alam al-Kawn wa al-Fasad), as our Master, the Author of the Epistles (Sahib al-Rasa’il), peace be upon him, said, which is the world of nature, possessing heat, cold, moisture, and dryness, harming every sensible existent with its excesses and deficiencies. The whole existence consists of two abodes, with no third:
أَلاَ لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالأَمْرُ
“Unquestionably, His is the creation (al-khalq) and the command (al-amr).”
These are the World of Nature (’Alam al-Tabi’ah) and the World of Holiness (’Alam al-Quds). Thus, it is proven by demonstration that Paradise and the Fire are the two abodes, and no others, for anyone with the slightest intuition in gnosis.
And as He, Exalted is His Majesty, mentioned the skins and the exchange, we found them with the previous proof in His saying, Exalted is His Majesty:
كُلَّمَا نَضِجَتْ جُلُودُهُمْ بَدَّلْنَاهُمْ جُلُوداً غَيْرَهَا لِيَذُوقُواْ الْعَذَابَ
“Indeed, those who disbelieve in Our verses—We will burn them in Fire. Every time their skins are roasted, We will replace them with other skins so they may taste the punishment.”
(Meaning: every time the tormented one fulfills the matter of wearing one shirt, he is replaced with another, and every time he wishes to exit upon fulfilling the command, he is returned to what is more base and fouler than it.)
The Thousand Form (al-Qamah al-Alfiyyah) is the one that is addressed, so it repented from answering, due to its former avoidance. They are many types among those who do not accept good and are not inspired to correctness, from all those above the dust.
If someone asks: If these people are, according to your explanation, from the Gate of Filth (Rijs), then who is meant by the opposers and the violators of correctness?
We say: The ones meant by that are the people of error, disobedience, backsliding, and apostasy from the sphere of faith, and the deniers of the bounds of the Imam of the Time, peace be upon him. When they reached the Filth (Rijs), it was because of the breaking of their covenant that preceded them that they reached this state. This is due to their opposition and denial of the people of excellence that preceded them. In the subsequent gates, no acceptance or desire for return is claimed or understood from them. Indeed, they failed in their endeavor due to their disobedience, and they arrived at the Day when every soul is recompensed for what it strove for.
He, Exalted is His Majesty, informed about them concerning the braying (Ja’r) and screaming, and the deaf and the mute (meaning the mentioned gates).
He, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
حَتَّى إِذَا أَخَذْنَا مُتْرَفِيهِم بِالْعَذَابِ إِذَا هُمْ يَجْأَرُونَ ، لَا تَجْأَرُوا الْيَوْمَ إِنَّكُم مِّنَّا لَا تُنصَرُونَ
“Until when We seize their affluent ones with punishment, immediately they groan [in supplication]. [They will be told], ‘Do not groan today. Indeed, from Us you will not be helped.’”
And Exalted is His Majesty said:
وَالَّذِينَ كَذَّبُواْ بِآيَاتِنَا صُمٌّ وَبُكْمٌ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ
“But those who deny Our verses are deaf and dumb in darknesses.”
And are the deaf and the mute not types of the metamorphosed mute animals (al-’ajmawat)?
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَخَذَ اللّهُ سَمْعَكُمْ وَأَبْصَارَكُمْ وَخَتَمَ عَلَى قُلُوبِكُم
“Say, ‘Have you considered: if God should take away your hearing and your sight and seal over your hearts…’”
Is this not the state of what was previously mentioned, of their being unable to understand?
And He mentioned with condemnation and error those gates.
He, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا كَالْأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ سَبِيلاً
“They are only like cattle; rather, they are more astray in [their] way.”
And those are the heedless ones (al-ghafilun).
And concerning the Seventh Gate, He said:
فَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا قُطِّعَتْ لَهُمْ ثِيَابٌ مِّن نَّارٍ يُصَبُّ مِن فَوْقِ رُؤُوسِهِمُ الْحَمِيمُ ، يُصْهَرُ بِهِ مَا فِي بُطُونِهِمْ وَالْجُلُودُ ، وَلَهُم مَّقَامِعُ مِنْ حَدِيدٍ ، كُلَّمَا أَرَادُوا أَن يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا مِنْ غَمٍّ أُعِيدُوا فِيهَا وَذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ
“But those who disbelieved will have garments of fire cut out for them. Boiling water will be poured over their heads. By which is melted that which is in their bellies and [their] skins. And for them are maces of iron. Every time they want to emerge therefrom, from anguish, they will be returned there, and [it will be said], ’Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire.”
He mentioned the burning (tahriq) here in this gate, and the hot water that is poured over their heads into their insides, when it reaches its maximum intensity in them. This is the Fire and the striking with hammers in plain sight. The first gates were not mentioned with this, but rather He, Exalted is His Majesty, said: “the torment of the Fire” (meaning that which is inherent in their natures), and it is sufficient along with the remorse, regret, worry, and grief that he is subject to with every return.
The ones who complete the traversal of all these gates are the claimants to the rank of Imāmate and those who resemble them among the opponents of the Prophets and the Vicegerents (Awsiya’) in leadership, and their chief followers who assisted them in their error and innovation.
As for the rest of the followers from the common people (al-‘awamm) and the rabble (al-ra’a’), some of them may return according to the requirement of their deeds, the exaggeration, and the negligence in their words and actions, their opposition and enmity towards the Awliya’, and according to the harm and injury they caused them.
Those who complete the traversal after fulfillment are expelled to the ends of the earth due to the magnitude of the torment and punishment there, and the long disgrace and calamity that is upon them. These are the four extremities that are outside of moderation: the Center of Aether (Markaz al-Athir) in the East and South, and the Center of Intense Cold (Markaz al-Zamharir) in the North, and in the Great Sea in the direction of the West.
The existent in them is like a solid animal, motionless, and it has no self-willed movement. It feels those severities because it is bound with shackles. To the South is the flow of the opponents of the Speakers (Nutaqa’), peace be upon them. To the East is the flow of their chief tormented followers to the towering mountains that almost reach the sky. The North is the place of the opponents of the Vicegerents (Awsiya’) and the Imams of the Eras, and their followers. Their pouring out is to the Great Western Sea, apart from other seas, and in it are waves like mountains. These two directions are the greatest calamity and the most terrifying. Their inhabitants are many times the number of the inhabitants of the other directions, and their punishment is more severe.
The animal of the mentioned sea is not sleeping, and the animal of the seas and the great rivers of the inhabited quarter is also perpetually awake. Their state, meaning the mentioned, vigilant animals, is the same in their vigilance in the two directions, the ruined and the inhabited. The previous gates in the inhabited quarter are like Gardens and bliss in comparison to what is there, due to the intensity of the painful torment and the perpetual, enduring calamity in these directions. The night there is six months of severe cold and frost, and the day there is six months of severe heat. May God protect us and all our believing brethren from that, by the right of Muhammad and all his family.
We say, with the aid and assistance of God, and the grace and instruction of His Wali on His earth, peace be upon him, and his instruction:
Know that when the Establisher (al-Qa’im), peace be upon him, arises, retribution (qisas) from the opponents and vengeance become obligatory. The divine providence drives the people of the Purgatories (barazikh) of torment from the four regions specified for ruin to the inhabited quarter. They mingle with its births and appear in existence through lineage and generation. The gathering (hashr) to the station of presentation and reckoning occurs, and they are distraught from the terror of the impending torment.
The stations (al-maqamat) are embodied for them, and they are formed in accordance with their crimes. At that, [the Qa’im], peace be upon him, commands the striking of their necks. A commanded fire descends from the sky to burn them. Their smoke ascends to the two Knots (al-’Uqdatayn). When [the smoke] aligns with the cyclic movement of the Rock (al-Sakhrah), the Rock attracts that smoke by the unbefitting affinity between them. When they are in it, which is the lowest of the low (Asfal Safileen), also designated as Sijjin, it is a hard rock with interlaced parts of the hardest stones, hollowed out like the measure of a hawk. In its hollow are sulfur, arsenic, and their likes of mineral stones in which fire is latent. It burns with those within it with a fierce blaze.
Upon their falling into its hollow, they are formed into disfigured figures in the ugliest and most repulsive state, and the most terrifying and alarming form. Among them are those with two heads or three, and more than that. In short, they are in a state that defies the description of describers. They eat one another and kill one another. Every time the sun sets and faces them with its rays, their agitation and blazing are renewed and increased. Every time one of them dies or is killed, he returns to his form in the quickest time.
كُلَّمَا أَرَادُوا أَن يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا مِنْ غَمٍّ أُعِيدُوا فِيهَا
“Every time they want to emerge therefrom, from anguish, they will be returned there.”
And God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
لَا يَمُوتُ فِيهَا وَلَا يَحْيى
“He will neither die therein nor live [a decent] life.”
(He does not die by transfer, nor does he live a [true] life.)
To them is directed the saying of God, Exalted is His Majesty:
إِنَّكُمْ وَمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ حَصَبُ جَهَنَّمَ أَنتُمْ لَهَا وَارِدُونَ . لَوْ كَانُوا هَؤُلَاء آلِهَةً مَّا وَرَدُوهَا وَكُلٌّ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
“Indeed, you [disbelievers] and whatever you worship other than God are fuel for Hell. You will enter it. Had these been [true] gods, they would not have entered it; but all will abide therein eternally.”
(Meaning by the worshipped (ma’budin) the imams of error, and by the worshippers (’abidin) their followers. “Had these been [true] gods,” meaning imams of truth by virtue of their being the successors of God, so He attributes them to Himself by that, and exonerates them and their followers from entering it. “But all will abide therein eternally,” meaning the worshipped and the worshippers.)
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
كُلَّمَا دَخَلَتْ أُمَّةٌ لَّعَنَتْ أُخْتَهَا حَتَّى إِذَا ادَّارَكُواْ فِيهَا جَمِيعاً قَالَتْ أُخْرَاهُمْ لأُولاَهُمْ رَبَّنَا هَؤُلاء أَضَلُّونَا فَآتِهِمْ عَذَاباً ضِعْفاً مِّنَ النَّارِ
“Every time a community enters, it curses its sister community until, when they have all overtaken one another therein, the last of them will say to the first of them, ‘Our Lord, these have misled us, so give them double the punishment of the Fire.’”
(Meaning by the last the followers, and the first the followed.)
قَالَ لِكُلٍّ ضِعْفٌ وَلَـكِن لاَّ تَعْلَمُونَ “He will say, ‘For each is double, but you do not know.’”
(Meaning: their knowledge will not benefit them, because if they had known, they would not have followed those who led them to this place. But since they have entered, their knowledge of what they are in has become certain knowledge.)
As God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
لَتَرَوُنَّ الْجَحِيمَ ، ثُمَّ لَتَرَوُنَّهَا عَيْنَ الْيَقِينِ
“You will surely see the Hellfire. Then you will surely see it with the eye of certainty.”
Every time a community, from among those who deserve it, enters Sijjin, the torment increases for its inhabitants, with the intensity of the blaze being doubled from what they were in, just as the fire increases in burning when wood is thrown onto it, and the blazing grows great.
When they miss the place of the Awliya’ therein, whom they considered the wretched ones during their lives:
وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لَا نَرَى رِجَالاً كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُم مِّنَ الْأَشْرَارِ ، أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيّاً أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الْأَبْصَارُ
“And they will say, ‘Why do we not see men whom we used to count among the worst? Did we take them in ridicule, or have eyes failed to perceive them?’”
إِنَّ ذَلِكَ لَحَقٌّ تَخَاصُمُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ “Indeed, that is truth—the quarreling of the people of the Fire.”
And for this Rock is a passage (Dur - possibly Durdudah) from which hot water is poured, and a sound is heard in it like the sound of a crashing thunder in the clouds at the time of rains. Those within it remain in that state, with salty, hot water being poured over their heads, and their food is only from Ghislīn (filth), because what is in it is more fetid than a carcass and morning pus.
Alas for that torment and punishment, and how ugly is that calamity and shackling, until those within it fully receive the Greater Torment in the Great Cycle (al-Kawar al-A’zam), severe in its pains. This is three hundred thousand years and sixty thousand years, multiplied by the same number. That is the recompense for their opposition and violation of the Guiding Imams and their ignorance. The intended meaning of “multiplied by the same number” here is that this number is repeated for the tormented one three hundred thousand times and sixty thousand times. How calamitous that is for the one who falls into it, and how bitter!
This duration is the natural lifespan of the Earth and the Heavens. At its end, the Great Stroke (al-Batshah al-Kubra) occurs, which is the Resurrection of Resurrections (Qiyamat al-Qiyamat), in His saying, Exalted is His Majesty:
إِذَا الشَّمْسُ كُوِّرَتْ ، وَإِذَا النُّجُومُ انكَدَرَتْ . وَإِذَا الْجِبَالُ سُيِّرَتْ
“When the sun is wrapped up [in darkness], and when the stars fall, and when the mountains are removed.”
The world, with all that is in it, is ruined due to the tearing apart of the bonds of the celestial spheres. Action ceases, and the stars incline from their centers which they hold when they gather at the first point of the sign of Aries.
His saying, Exalted is His Majesty:
يَوْمَ نَطْوِي السَّمَاء كَطَيِّ السِّجِلِّ لِلْكُتُبِ كَمَا بَدَأْنَا أَوَّلَ خَلْقٍ نُّعِيدُهُ وَعْداً عَلَيْنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ
“The Day when We will roll up the heaven like the rolling up of a scroll for [written] records. As We began the first creation, We will repeat it. [That is] a promise binding upon Us. Indeed, We will do it.”
Upon the end, the beginning is necessary, because it necessitates and revolves around it. The third movement will be like the first of the cycle: the conjunction being at the point of Aries, and the separation being from it until their gathering at the end of time.
If someone says: If the duration for the one who reaches the Greater Torment is the mentioned duration, and the reality of the situation is this, then the one who enters it in the second half of the cycle will not fully receive the duration of the stay therein, and the torment will be reduced from this determined number for him.
We say that the previously mentioned verse has mandated that the creation returns as He began it, as we explained. Is not the One who created the heavens and the earth able to create the likes of them? Yes, indeed. And He is the Creator, the All-Knowing.
And God, Exalted is His Majesty, mandated the permanence of the tormented ones by the permanence of the heaven and the earth, and He mandated the same for the people of Paradise. Thus, the permanence of the dominion (al-mulk) is proven by the continuance of the Owner (al-Malik). And He decreed that whatever is beneath His Face is perished, because traversing and the transition of paths is inevitable.
Know that the state of all those who enter it is the same in what necessitated their dwelling and what drove them to enter and descend. Likewise, their exit from it is the same for them, and there is no distinction between them in exiting and vanishing.
The proof for this is that the entire world, in its entirety, is an effect of the World of Origination (‘Alam al-Ibda’). It remains in its state by the permanence of its cause. If the subjects of its parts are exchanged, it is obliged by its cause to remain in its place with its accidents and the guarding of its essence. Otherwise, it would not be consistent with wisdom that some of those who descend are singled out to be saved by the mercy of their Creator, purified, and returned after denseness, gradually, to the World of Purity, while some of it, the remainder at the Great Resurrection, is singled out by its Creator to be abandoned and given respite, or He decrees the annihilation of its essence and its passing away. No, the power of the Wise, Omnipotent One will not invalidate what existed of the existents, nor will the Merciful One single out some with mercy and be wrathful with others, neglecting them.
Upon this, the cycles (adwar) are intertwined, and the duration of the eras (akwar) is fulfilled by the alternation of night and day due to the interlocking of the spheres (dawa’ir). The two-thirds of the first complete the stay with the two-thirds of the latter. Its example is that the half is fulfilled by the half, and the quarter by the quarter, and what is less than that and more than that, so that the year is by the year, the month by the month, the week by the week, the day by the day, and the hour by the hour. This is the perpetual orbit of the nights and days. The descender and the ascender continue upon this.
Every day, a people are singled out by misfortune (nahis) and a people by assistance (musa’id). The news is confirmed concerning the emancipated ones (al-mu’taqeen) in all of them, and those who are freed from the prisoners of Hell who are bound. They ascend to the reality of mercy among the ascending ones, because the Manager of the world’s existents is perpetually connected without cessation from the Just Manager, nor is there any vanishing. Otherwise, where would the dense physical existence go, despite its origin in existence being from the subtle Holy World?
The spheres are perpetually revolving by wisdom, and the paths of injustice are prevented by justice and kindness, and the signs of disbelief are erased by the signs of faith. The best of good deeds is the care for the revival of the dead. The example has been given that the world is like the human body, and Sijjin is its stomach, and the one reaching it is like the food. Glory be to the One whose power this is!
When their state fulfills that duration, and the mercy of the Just, Wise One decrees their separation from severity, and the closed doors of forgiveness are opened for them, they ascend and are safe from the four passages, and are saved from distress to breadth. They cut off the mineral rank of existence, and ascend to the growing vegetative rank, and ascend through the degrees of the sensitive animal. They are brought near the exalted rank and the Holy Rational Soul (al-Nafs al-Natiqah al-Qudsiyyah).
If they repent and return and answer the callers of the Imams of Truth, their good fortune rises, and they succeed. But if they refuse and betray, doubt them and are suspicious, they are a ruined people (qawman būran), and they call out for destruction (thubūran) in the future. They are addressed with what God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
قِيلَ ارْجِعُوا وَرَاءكُمْ فَالْتَمِسُوا نُوراً
“It will be said, ‘Go back behind you and seek light.’”
We seek refuge with God and His Awliya’ from the slipping of the foot and the action that necessitates regret.
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said in describing what preceded:
وَبُرِّزَتِ الْجَحِيمُ لِلْغَاوِينَ
“And the Hellfire will be brought forth for the deviators.”
(Meaning the Greater Torment on the Day the Establisher (al-Qa’im), peace be upon him, arises, the Day of Recompense (Yawm al-Din).)
وقيل لهم أينما كنتم تعبدون ، مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ هَلْ يَنصُرُونَكُمْ أَوْ يَنتَصِرُونَ
“And it will be said to them, ‘Where is that which you used to worship other than God? Do they support you, or do they support themselves?’”
(Meaning: Do those you obeyed from the imams of error instead of the Imams of Truth, who are the bounds of His graces and shadows, support you or support themselves? You perished and fell to the remote place, while the followers of the Imams of Truth are supported by their victorious Imams.)
God, Exalted is His Majesty, said:
مَوْلاَكُمْ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ النَّاصِرِينَ
“He is your Protector, and He is the best of helpers.”
فَكُبْكِبُوا فِيهَا هُمْ وَالْغَاوُونَ ، وَجُنُودُ إِبْلِيسَ أَجْمَعُونَ “So they were tumbled into it - they and the deviators, and the soldiers of Iblīs, all together.”
(Meaning by the Imams, the devils (al-abalisa), and by the deviators, the satans (shayatin) and their ministers, and by the soldiers of Iblīs, their followers who resembled them and followed them.)
قَالُوا وَهُمْ فِيهَا يَخْتَصِمُونَ : تَاللَّهِ إِن كُنَّا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ إِذْ نُسَوِّيكُم بِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ “They will say while they dispute therein, ‘By God, we were indeed in manifest error when we made you equal to the Lord of the worlds.’”
(They say: Our error is manifest by making the Caliph of the Lord of the worlds equal to the usurpers and the oppressors.)
وَمَا أَضَلَّنَا إِلَّا الْمُجْرِمُونَ “And no one misguided us except the criminals.”
(They mean the opponents of the stations of the Guiding Imams.)
فَمَا لَنَا مِن شَافِعِينَ ، وَلَا صَدِيقٍ حَمِيمٍ
“So there is no intercessor for us and no devoted friend.”
They denied intercession by their departure from obedience. They confessed to the absence of the intercessor and the beneficial devoted friend.
فَلَوْ أَنَّ لَنَا كَرَّةً فَنَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
“If only we had a return [to life] and could be among the believers!”
They say: If only we could obtain a return, we would believe, affirm, and follow. Farfetched is what they wish for, what cannot be attained. They have departed the realm of possibility (imkan) to the realm of necessity (wujub) and permanence (dawam).
We ask God for infallibility (’ismah) and peace, and steadfastness on the religion and uprightness.
Know, O brother, that I have clarified in this epistle what must be concealed, and I have explained what the time could not bear to be announced, trusting in your piety and relying on your trustworthiness. Therefore, fear God concerning its protection and concealment, and its preservation until the time of its manifestation and announcement comes. I take upon you the covenant of God and His solemn agreement which He took upon His nearest angels, His sent prophets, the guiding vicegerents, and the blessed Imams. Otherwise, I disavow all of them, unless you disclose this to a bound within the bounds of the religion without explicit permission. Guard it, and God will guard you; protect it, and God will protect you.
Were it not for my preference for your guidance and my intention to instruct you, so that you may establish guidance and rescue from error, and replace your brother in his position and be his successor, I would not have written a single letter of this.
And praise belongs to God, the Realizer of the hopes of His Awliya’s followers, and the Giver of security to them in their request through His chosen ones’ mediation. And I bear witness that there is no god but the One from whose true comprehension is incapacity to comprehend, and the deliberate pursuit of the path of negation (nafy) is nullification and destruction, and likening Him is anthropomorphism (tashbih) and associating partners (ishrak). And God’s peace be upon the best of those sent among the Messengers, and the noblest of those who legislated the best of the laws and faiths, and the caller to the best of deeds, and upon his Vicegerent (Wasi), the possessor of the most splendid grace and the heroic knight, the possessor of the interpretation (ta’wil) of the revealed Book, and upon the Imams from his progeny, the best of those who declared sacred (ahram) and permissible (ahal), and the most excellent of those who proclaimed God’s greatness (kabar) and Oneness (halal), and upon the heir of the most excellent station, and the winner of the most perfect honor, the Imam al-Tayyib Abu al-Qasim, the Commander of the Believers, and upon the Imams from his progeny until the Day of Judgment. And peace be upon them all. God is sufficient for us, and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs.