splendours of His beauty. Blessed indeed are they that have attained unto
such a station, for this is the station of the ardent lovers and the
enraptured souls.
39 And when this stage of the journey is completed and the wayfarer hath
soared beyond this lofty station, he entereth the City of Divine Unity,
and the garden of oneness, and the court of detachment. In this plane the
seeker casteth away all signs, allusions, veils, and words, and beholdeth
all things with an eye illumined by the effulgent lights which God Himself
hath shed upon him. In his journey he seeth all differences return to a
single word and all allusions culminate in a single point. Unto this
beareth witness he who sailed upon the ark of fire and followed the inmost
path to the pinnacle of glory in the realm of immortality: “Knowledge is
one point, which the foolish have multiplied.”(27) This is the station
that hath been alluded to in the tradition: “I am He, Himself, and He is
I, Myself, except that I am that I am, and He is that He is.”(28)
40 In this station, were He Who is the Embodiment of the End to say:
“Verily, I am the Point of the Beginning”, He would indeed be speaking the
truth. And were He to say: “I am other than Him”, this would be equally
true. Likewise, were He to proclaim: “Verily, I am the Lord of heaven and
earth”, or “the King of kings”, or “the Lord of the realm above”, or
Muhammad, or ‘Alí, or their descendants, or aught else, He would indeed be
proclaiming the truth of God. He, verily, ruleth over all created things
and standeth supreme above all besides Him. Hast thou not heard what hath
been said aforetime: “Muhammad is our first, Muhammad our last, Muhammad
our all”? And elsewhere: “They all proceed from the same Light”?
41 In this station the truth of the unity of God and of the signs of His
sanctity is established. Thou shalt indeed see them all rising above the
bosom of God’s might and embraced in the arms of His mercy; nor can any
distinction be made between His bosom and His arms. To speak of change or
transformation in this plane would be sheer blasphemy and utter impiety,
for this is the station wherein the light of divine unity shineth forth,
and the truth of His oneness is expressed, and the splendours of the
everlasting Morn are reflected in lofty and faithful mirrors. By God! Were
I to reveal the full measure of that which He hath ordained for this
station, the souls of men would depart from their bodies, the inner
realities of all things would be shaken in their foundations, they that
dwell within the realms of creation would be dumbfounded, and those who
move in the lands of allusion would fade into utter nothingness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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