BB00064: Tablet to Mirza Sa’id Ardistani on Basitatu’l-Haqiqah, qadim wa hadith

Part 1: “Praise be to God Who hath created…”

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

Praise be to God Who hath created in the essences of creation the signs of His power’s manifestation, that all beings might know Him through His revelation unto them of the signs of His eternality, and might acknowledge His unity through that which His Essence hath testified of Itself from time immemorial—that there is no God but Him, the Single, the One, Whom no description can describe, no attribute can qualify, with Whom nothing can be mentioned, and to Whose station none can ascend, nor can anything be mentioned in His rank. Glorified and exalted is He! He hath ever been without change and will ever be; He existeth as He hath always existed. He hath no likeness in His Essence nor peer in His attributes.

Glorified and exalted is He! He hath brought forth Will for the existence of essences, Purpose for the determination of quiddities, Destiny for the ordering of beings, Decree for the manifestation of meanings in essential realities, and Permission, Term, and Book for the perfection of capacities in the realm of concrete existence—that all might know, through mention of these ranks, the truth of the Manifestations of His sanctity and the signs of His uniqueness in the kingdom of names and attributes, and whatsoever God hath ordained in the knowledge of ultimate ends and purposes unto infinity in the rank of essences, until it reacheth the station of dust.

Praise be to God Who hath created the essential realities of existing things for the manifestation of His power’s traces in creation, that all atoms might witness, in the stations God hath ordained for them, the light of His countenance, the manifestation of His will, and the signs of His all-sustaining power—that there is no God but Him, the Mighty, the Most High.

To continue: When His Honor the pious Siyyid and trusted, pure support—may God perpetuate his grace upon him and cause him to attain his ultimate desires in matters both spiritual and temporal—inquired regarding three intricate questions which had confounded minds from comprehending and before which the feet of certain philosophers had slipped in their exposition, he sought asisstance from God through following His command, for he desired naught save knowledge of the truth of exposition through what God hath placed in existence made manifest to sight. And I say: There is no power nor strength save in God, the Most High, the Most Great.

It is evident that the essential meanings of knowledge cannot be grasped through the words of those who engage in disputation, for the reality in the understanding of such questions is the removal of veils from the sacred court of the Divine Majesty without reference to separation or connection, even as Ali told Kumayl ibn Ziyad an-Nakha’i when asked about reality, saying: “The removal of veils of glory without indication.” Then he said, “Tell me more,” and Ali replied: “The effacement of the imagined and the dawning of the known.” He asked for more, and Ali said: “The rending of the veil due to the triumph of the mystery.” Again he asked for more, and Ali said: “The attraction of Divine Unity to the quality of Oneness.” He asked for more, and Ali said: “A light shining from the morn of eternity upon the temples of unity through its traces.”

I have indeed explained the intimations of this tradition in its proper place, though this is not the occasion for exposition. I have mentioned it regarding the understanding of true exposition, for certain questions cannot be comprehended by the servant except after the removal of veils and barriers, and the subjection of the soul to the spiritual disciplines mentioned in the sacred texts, for the soul is in the station of nature. And one must enter the depths of divine unity, concerning which Ali said:

“Lord, cause me to enter into the depth of the sea of Thy unity and the ocean of Thy oneness,”

that one might be enabled, if God willeth, to perceive the realities of knowledge as they are.

Therefore hath God lifted from the servants the obligation to comprehend sciences which they are unable to grasp, such as the knowledge of divine decree, whereof when the Imam was asked, he said: “A deep ocean without shore.” When asked a second time, he said: “A dark night—ask not!” Then when asked a third time, he said: “None knoweth it save the Knowing One, or he whom He hath taught.” And thus spoke that tradition from ʿAli—may my spirit and all within the kingdom of command and creation be a sacrifice for him—where he said: “Destiny is a secret among God’s secrets, and a sanctuary among His sanctuaries, raised up in God’s veil, folded away from God’s creation, sealed with God’s seal, foreordained in God’s knowledge.

God hath relieved His servants of its knowledge and lifted it above their witness and the reach of their minds, for they cannot attain it through Divine Reality, nor comprehend it through Eternal Truth, nor through Luminous Grandeur, nor through Mighty Oneness. It is a surging, billowing ocean, pure for God, the Mighty and Glorious. Its depth is between heaven and earth, its breadth between East and West, black as darkest night, full of serpents and fish, rising at times and sinking at others. At its bottom is a sun that shineth—none should seek to discover it save the One, the Single. Whoso seeketh to discover it hath opposed God, the Mighty and Glorious, in His decree, and disputed His sovereignty, and unveiled His secret and His veil. Such shall incur God’s wrath, his abode shall be hell—an evil destination.”

When thou didst witness the matter in the essentials of knowledge through what was recited unto thee of traditions shining from the suns of grandeur, there is no doubt that these questions are among the complexities of wisdom whose reality cannot be discerned through the analogies of the Greek philosophers. But God, through His grace, taught me true knowledge through the nature of faith without instruction or explanation. I shall indicate it through a proof of wisdom whereby questions are established at the ultimate station of mystical knowledge, and it concerns the “Simple Reality” which the philosophers have advanced to prove an existence betwixt the existent and the nonexistent—verily this is, beyond doubt, false in the sight of whoso inhale the fragrance of fairness and weigh with conclusive proofs.

Among these proofs is reason itself, which testifieth that the Eternal Essence hath none beside Him and possesseth no attributes distinct in meaning from His very Essence; otherwise, there would ensue composition, conjunction, change, and separation. For the existence of the Pre-Eternal is His very Self and none other; and the existence of created things is His origination of them, a bringing-forth from naught and not from aught beneath Him. There is thus no escape for him who asserteth the contrary save to confess either the pre-eternity of multiplicities within the Essence, or the descent of the Essence unto the rank of dust—both a sheer impossibility and utter absurdity. For the Essence hath never descended, nor is there, within His station, any mention of other than He. He is the Truth; whatsoever is besides Him is creation—His creation—and there is no third besides these twain.

That which hath confounded the philosophers is their mention of the immutable archetypes within the Essence and their discourse on the Simple Reality: it springeth, exalted be He, from their saying that knowledge must needs have an object of knowledge; and when knowledge is established, the multiplicities within the Essence are thereby established. Exalted is God, the Sovereign, the All-Just! Their creed is naught but analogy; they would fain know the Essence by likening Him to the creation of the possibles. Far exalted is God above that! For the knowledge of God is His Essence, His life is His Essence, and His power is His Essence. Even so is the ruling concerning the Names which are mentioned for the sake of His dominion over hearts and imaginings, without any change in the conceptual meaning thereof.

And since it hath been established that His Essence is His Life—and Life, in itself, requireth not the existence of any other living thing—so likewise is the decree concerning Knowledge: glorified be He! He was, in the pre-eternity of pre-eternities, All-Knowing, without the existence of an object known. Whoso maketh a distinction, within the Essence, between Life and Knowledge hath verily strayed, for within the Essence there is no differentiation—according to the purport of the tradition recorded in al-Kafi, wherein the Imam declared: “God, exalted and glorified, hath ever been Lord; Knowledge is His very Essence without an object known; Hearing is His Essence without an object heard; and Sight is His Essence without an object seen; and power is His essence with nothing over which to exercise power.

When He brought things into being, knowledge occurred between Him and the known, hearing between Him and the heard, sight between Him and the seen, and power between Him and that over which power was exercised.” I asked, “Has God then ever been in motion?” He replied, “Exalted be God! Motion is an attribute brought into being through action.” I asked, “Has God then ever been speaking?” He replied, “Speech is a created attribute, not eternal. God, exalted be His glory, existed when He was not speaking. God in every condition knew all things as He knows them on the day when those things were not yet mentioned, and none knoweth how this is save God, glorified be He. This is evidence of the intellect witnessed by those possessed of understanding among His servants.”

The signs in the horizons and within themselves confirm this judgment, for weakness is ever manifest in all atoms of existence. Were the Essence the Simple Reality for multiplicities, nothing would exist save His own manifestation, yet intuition testifies to the falsity of this through the limitations of creation, their weakness, and their need for the Bountiful Source. The explicit text of the Qur’an confirms this in His exalted words, after refuting the Christians’ “third of three,” that “He is but one God.” For he who claims the Simple Reality removes numbers from the realm of limitations, and this is false like the Christians’ claim, for in the Essence of the One nothing else is mentioned nor is there any other with Him. This accords with the tradition of the Prophet, peace be upon Him, where He said—exalted be His remembrance—in refutation of the Christians: “From this the Christians took the form of the cross and the indwelling of the divine in human nature. Exalted be God far above what the wrongdoers say, with great exaltation!” When thou hast understood what I have detailed in these allusions, thou wilt believe in the truth of the answer regarding the station of discourse.

As for thy question concerning the matter of eternity and origination, there is no doubt that the Eternal Essence’s eternity was His Self and His everlastingness was His Essence, and there was none other with Him such that His eternity could be described. Names and attributes are cut off from His holy court, and traces are effaced from ascending to the station of His grandeur. All that His creation witnesseth and His servants know is from the portion of creation and the quality of invention. He is far more glorious and great than to be described by His creation or characterized by His servants. Glorified and exalted be He above what they describe!

When the existence of the Eternal Essence is established through His own existence and not through any other—as indicated by “O Thou Who hast proven Thy Essence by Thy Essence!”—then the existence of originated things is established through creation itself, not from anything else. It has four ranks:

Among them is the rank of manifest eternity [Azal] in the First Remembrance and manifest pre-existence in the station of action, which is the station God made in creation for the station of knowing through inference about the eternity of His Essence and His pre-existence, as Ali said: “I am the possessor of the secondary eternity,” and said in describing the Messenger of God—peace be upon Him—in the sermon of Friday and Ghadir: “And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, whom He selected from the midst of pre-existence above all nations, distinct from similarity with humankind and likeness. He established him in His own station in views, since eyes cannot perceive Him nor can thoughts of minds encompass Him, while He taketh in all vision. Verily He is the subtle, the all-perceiving.”

Part 2: “And among the stations is the Station…”

And among the stations is the Station of Sarmad, which is the plane of the manifestation of the Act that has no beginning except from itself and no end save for the perpetuity of God’s effulgence in all conditions. This is the realm of the fourteen veils, and none has any portion in the reality of the world of Sarmad except Muhammad and the Family of God. It was to this station that I alluded on the previous night to one who asked about the question of traversing the earth in a single moment and place, whereupon those present acknowledged their lack of understanding of that station after the explanation, due to the subtlety of the question and the inability of capacities to grasp the essences in understanding the exposition after its elucidation.

And among them is the world of Dahr, which has a beginning but no end.

And among them is the world of Zaman [time], which is known by the bounds of firstness and lastness in terms of hour, day, month and year, for it results from the motion of the celestial spheres and nothing else. These are aspects of origination which cannot be separated from these four, and the proof of origination is creation itself ex nihilo, for nothing else is possible in origination, nor is there any evidence in the First Mention which is the Primal Will, apart from the act of bringing into being, for the Pure Ancient Being has ever been and will never be associated with His creation.

The beginning of origination is the first creation which God created for Himself by Himself without any mention of aught else accompanying it. And all existence, both invisible and visible, is evidence of the origination of the greater world due to its limitations and variations. There is no doubt about this in actual reality, for the Divine Essence did not bring forth the effulgence by choice, and the cause of choice in all ranks of existence is the very existence of choice itself and nothing else. This is the mystery of destiny which is vaster than what lies between the heaven of potentialities and the earth of effects.

What I have mentioned regarding pre-existence and origination is from the station of limitations. What I intended to explain to you is Essential Pre-existence and the origination which philosophers deduce from the causality of pre-existence. This differs from what the heart knows, for Essential Pre-existence which has ever been existed in a mode where nothing was with it, nothing accompanied it, and nothing was mentioned at its level. It is the pre-existence of the Essence of Eternity which is by itself, without anything being mentioned with it or any multiplicity existing in the simplicity of its essence.

Exalted is God above what the philosophers say in claiming that the cause of origination is the pre-existence of the Essence, thereby attempting to establish a connection between the True One and the contingent, and to prove the existence of fixed archetypes through the pure subtlety of simplicity in the Essence. The doctrine of the People of Infallibility differs from this, for the pre-existence of the Essence has ever been and will never be associated with anything, nor is anything equal to it, nor is anything mentioned at its level such that it could be the cause of multiplicities. For the condition of causality requires association, similarity, and mention at the level of the effect, and this is impossible and inadmissible at the level of the Pure Absolute Essence in which there is no mention of anything of His creation. Rather, He brought the world of origination into being through His creation of the First Remembrance.

The philosophers were perplexed in their discussion of pure nothingness in relation to creation and its connection to the pre-existence of the Divine Essence, but this stems from the limitations of their vision which cannot perceive the true reality of things. Had they known His knowledge as they knew His Essence and Life, without altering the meaning of what is understood, the path would not have been difficult for them. For God has detailed the laws of all things through His universal manifestations in the souls and His particular revelations in the horizons.

For one possessed of insight in the knowledge of essences, they would witness with the light of the heart that pure nothingness which has no existence—like a partner to the Creator—has no mention, cannot be indicated, nor can the decree of creation apply to it. That which can be indicated are shadowy forms which God has commanded to turn away from, being in reality the falsehood of souls and the sweepings of vain imaginings. Rather, the nothingness from which God created things is the non-existence that is mentioned in the station of knowledge after existence, whereas absolute pure nothingness has no name nor existence.

What has been mentioned in the traditions is like referring to negation after affirmation, which is the thing itself and nothing less. This is evident before you and needs no elaboration of the matter, for explaining the mystery of reality does not avail in any regard.

As for what you asked about the meaning of the philosophers’ statement that “the One’s understanding is impossible” when referring to the pure Divine Essence—this is because God has never been and will never be associated with anything nor does anything emanate from Him. His attribute has been that He begets not nor is He begotten in every aspect. However, if what is meant is the First which God created by Himself for Himself, this is true, for nothing less than oneness can reflect the unity of the Essence. This is the doctrine of God’s pure Family, as indicated in His exalted words: “O Yunus, do you know the Will?” He said “No.” He said “It is the First Remembrance.”

God cannot create anything from nothing except that it be one, for the station of the First Remembrance is the sign of unity, and nothing less is possible in the beginning of abstraction. The philosophers’ statement that the cause of things is the Essence is false due to impossibility of association, change, and the requirement of similarity between cause and effect. The truth is that Causation is the handiwork of God—the act which He hath wrought by Himself for Himself—and He hath made it the cause of all His creation; even as the Imam hath indicated: “The cause of all things is His workmanship, while He Himself hath no cause.” This is proclaimed by all the signs of the horizons and of the souls, and by the verses of the Book.

For the “one” that proceedeth from the One is a “one” known through twoness, and this would necessitate a third; by reason of the gulf thus posited the claim is vain. From the One, Who is pure origination, there can issue none but the First Remembrance. There is no bringer-into-being in existence, nor creator in the realm of being, save God alone. And even as the servant is charged to confess the oneness of the Essence, so is he likewise charged to confess His oneness in the realms of attributes, acts, and worship; without this, the works of men are not accepted.

As for the First Remembrance—which is the loftiest degree of simplicity—his existence must needs be viewed in relation to the four causes: the efficient, the formal, the material, and the final. Apart from the modes of composition, origination in the realm of coming-to-be is impossible; for a thing requireth a fiery element for the manifestation of its existence, air and water for its preservation, and earth for the receptivity of those degrees. Wherefore, when the Command descended, it became seven, and thus did the Imam say:

“Nothing exists, neither in earth nor in heaven, save through these seven: Will, Purpose, Destiny, Decree, Eternity, Duration, and the Book. Whoso asserteth the absence of any one of these hath verily disbelieved.”

And after these indications, there can be no doubt that the thoughts of the people of glory shall not remain in thy mind. And though no one hath become acquainted with the reality of these sciences, it behooveth him to submit, for the non-comprehension of a thing doth not prove its non-existence. I beseech God’s pardon through His grace, and from thee also, shouldst thou discover any error from my pen. Unto God returneth all judgment, both in the Hereafter and in this world.

As for what thou didst mention regarding the philosophers’ maxim that “from the One proceedeth naught but one,” this pertaineth to the outward path. As to the inner meanings, there is no doubt that the Eternal Essence cannot be associated with His creation so as to become the source of things. Even if this matter were established in wisdom, it would pertain to the realm of creation, for the cause of Will—as is indeed the truth—was not the Eternal Essence, lest unity be necessitated in the realm of contingency. Exalted be God, the Bountiful King! He hath made the source of the One to be the One itself, and from the One proceedeth naught but One, for the first mention of creation is the station of Oneness, and naught can proceed from it save the One.

Those who say that the cause of the existence of the One in creation is the Essence—exalted be His mention—have no recourse but to assert change, as though God had one state before creating all things and another state after existence, or to assert the eternity of contingency within the Eternal Essence, which is among the established impossibilities whose invalidity they fail to perceive. The truth is that none hath access to the Eternal Essence, Who hath ever been in the state of eternity. Nothing accompanieth Him, nothing proceedeth from Him, nothing equalleth His Essence, and nothing separateth from His Command. Rather, He created the One through itself and for itself, and made it the cause for the existence of all beings, without beginning or end.

True knowledge of this matter is impossible save through what I have indicated in that station, and this is through the vision of the heart and naught else, for the intellect can only grasp that which is limited. In the world of limitations, the servant cannot perceive multiple aspects of a thing simultaneously. Hence, it is difficult for hearts to comprehend this station, and none can know the reality of the matter between the two matters except after arriving at the gate of the heart and beholding the decrees of the unseen and the visible.

When one becometh steadfast in understanding that from the One proceedeth naught but One in the station of creation—and most philosophers have attributed causation to the Essence due to their ignorance of the manifestations of the attributes, as the Imam indicated when he said:

“My God, Thy power hath become manifest, but Thy majesty hath remained hidden. Thus have they missed Thee and taken some of Thy signs as lords”

- and when the servant recognizeth the station of God’s revelation to him through Him, he will testify that as nothing entereth into Him, nothing proceedeth from Him. He is the Self-Sufficient, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, Who created the One through the One and ordained the law of the simple reality for the First Mention, wherein all possibilities are mentioned, making it the first eternal mention in temporal existence, and ordained for it all that is possible through creation in the station of being.

Thus far have I taken up the pen in its flow, and I seek God’s pardon for what I have mentioned to thy noble person—may God cause thee to attain the ultimate of thy desires from the decrees of thy beginning to the Day of Return.

Glory be to thy Lord, the Lord of Might, above what they attribute to Him. And peace be upon His Messengers, and praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.