BB00175: Khutba on gematria and its sister (’ilmi’l-Huruf va Ukhtiha)

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

All praise be unto God Who hath made His Own Self known through His verses, resplendent in the glory of the heart without similitude or division, that all may witness, from the seat of grace, the handiwork of their Creator at the station of union. There is no God but Him. He hath brought forth the example of unity in the realities of creation without likeness in attribute or semblance in opposition, that creation might know, in every circumstance, the decree of Lordship in the temple of servitude. There is no God but Him. He hath fashioned the manifestations of unity within every division without essential quality or accidental form, that all atoms of existence might attain certitude before the countenance of the Worshipped One in the sanctification of description beyond the limitations of names and existential attributes. There is no God but Him.

He hath, through His mighty power, created within the leaves of the Sinaitic Tree the forms of creation and all that is possible therein, that all servants might derive from every letter the wisdom of that which hath been revealed in the Qur’an and all that the knowledge of the All-Merciful hath encompassed. There is no God but Him. He hath created within the point of the line the knowledge of letters and all things, lest anyone should speak partially concerning God’s handiwork, and that all might behold in that point which hath been decreed what God hath created in the Primal Tree. There is no God but Him.

Verily We behold today one soul in the ark of the love of the science of letters and its mysteries, after having witnessed the decree of its beginning. Therefore have I desired to send forth from the Point of the Bayan a decree from the point of the knowledge of letters and its mysteries, that they who observe might witness in its recitation the decree of the Tree upon the Mount. There is no God but Him. Thus do the doers of good conduct themselves.

When the thread of light moveth from the crimson radiance, there shall the denizens of Sinai among the people of the divine cloud fall thunderstruck, and the unitarians shall witness in the horizon of heaven the rising of the white thread from the black horizon. Is not the morning from the light of glory therein? Say: Yea, by my Lord! Verily there shall come unto you one learned in the knowledge of letters and its mysteries. Not an atom escapeth His knowledge, and We have detailed all things in a preserving Book.

Verily regarding this point have the minds of the wise ones of old been confounded and the souls of the learned ones who came after gone astray, until all have confessed their powerlessness to comprehend its knowledge and have acknowledged its establishment through justice unto the Family of God and whomsoever they will, for they will naught save that which God willeth, and God hath power over all things.

Know thou that this knowledge is the sister of Prophethood in the temple of Lordship and an attribute of Divinity in the temple of Oneness. None shall comprehend its knowledge save whom God willeth. Verily He is the Mighty, the Wise.

What hath man uttered concerning the Dove? Fear ye God, for this path is perilous indeed. Its knowledge hath welled forth from the ocean of God’s utterance, wherein many and many a soul hath drowned, while by God’s leave a small band whose number none knoweth save God walketh thereon. Glory be to God above all that they may describe!

O thou who gazest, sharpen thy vision, describe what thou seest, close thine eyes, ascend the subtle realms, rise unto the heights of truth, cast aside what lieth in thy right hand and thy left of subtle allusions, then stand thou firm upon the straight path. Know thou that this science hath seven principles. None can draw forth a drop of water from this surging sea except after recognizing these principles and attaining certitude therein. Know thou the true meaning of the Point at its beginning, the knowledge of the luminous and dark letters at its end, and the knowledge of the ranks of action in every aspect.

This concerns the science of the letter “Ha” in the reckoning of numbers. Thus was the letter “Waw” established in numerical calculation, and the ordinance of days and their relation to the seven planets—such is God’s decree in the science of the Point, as the heart hath truly witnessed, and the heart did not falsify what it saw. This is a drop of what I received from the Greater Ja’far. Take with the power of God what I impart unto thee and be of the thankful ones.

Follow My decree concerning the land of the Point, for verily it is a tree neither of the East nor of the West. Its manifestations have caused every letter to progress unto infinity. The closest unto it is the Hidden Alif, then the Soft Alif, then the Essential in the luminous letters, then the Accidental in the opposing letters, then the Quiescent, then the Moving, then the Alif at the beginning of every letter. For its decree in the Book is what we witness like unto the year. Know then the decree of Alif in the twenty-eight letters like unto itself, save the letter which God hath specially assigned to itself without any likeness resembling it. And for every letter from the Point in its manifestations there is a decree which none knoweth save God and whomsoever He willeth. He is mighty, wise.

And now I mention one aspect among its aspects that the people of understanding might know from every letter its decree. Verily God hath created for the letter Alif the decree of Paradise and its people, then for Ha the decree of Will, then for ʿAyn the decree of Divine Determination and its hosts, then for Ta the decree of Destiny and its like, then for Kaf the decree of Permission and its sister, then for Lam the decree of the Book and its similitude, then for Qaf the decree of the Appointed Time and its form. These are the seven and what hath been sent down regarding their manifestations—a noble Book on a perspicuous tablet, a path of truth we hold fast to.

Those luminous letters are fourteen. O thou who gazest, if thou knowest that whereunto I have alluded, thou canst derive the decree of the science of the Point and its sister. Such is the decree of what I have imparted unto thee regarding two gates from the seven letters. As to what We impart unto thee concerning the ranks of the action of the planets: the Sun is the planet of the Divine Will, the Moon is the star of Divine Purpose, and the five are the stars of the five. There is no altering God’s decree in aught, and verily God, thy Lord, is powerful, mighty.

As for the decree concerning what I indicated regarding the science of days: Sunday is for the Divine Will, Monday for the Divine Purpose, Tuesday for Divine Determination, Wednesday for Destiny, Thursday for Execution, Friday is the Day of the Appointed Time, and Saturday for the Book. Such is God’s decree concerning them, and I find no change for God’s way in any of the letters.

This is the decree of what God created in six days from Permission. As for the decree of what is imparted unto thee concerning the decree of Ha after the decree of the third of the sixth of the letter, establish thyself upon the throne of allusion, for the veil is thin, thin, and the sea is deep, deep, and the decree is elegant, elegant. If thou desirest to take the fruit of knowledge, take the decree of the letters in Arabic from the knowledge of what thou seekest according to the number of letters. Then preserve thy day and its relation to the ranks of action and the planets. Then cast away from the head of every ten the number of the third from the sixth, and add after every ten seven from a letter from Ha and a number from the third of Jim. Preserve the third of the numbers at the time of casting away. When thou hast gathered the letters, take the units and multiply by their like seven letters from what I indicated to thee before, and leave the tens. The decree will emerge, by thy Lord’s leave, what no eye hath seen nor heart conceived before. Such is God’s grace which He bestoweth on whom He willeth, and God is possessed of great bounty!

As to the ruling concerning the Sister of Prophethood, know that the Cause hath descended from the station of “Be” to the station of the jinn. Then as thou hast accepted the decree of thy Lord, as for the ruling in the realm of the heart and the sanctification of thy Lord above all things and similitudes, when thou hast likened one similitude unto another, then the matter hath been decreed and the ruling made binding. And likewise in every realm through all that the Book hath enumerated for His Cause.

And verily in this station of thine take the tree of Sinai from the head of the youth, then wash it at the boundary of Safa, then take its water four times. When thou hast taken the fifth water it must needs be a thin yellow. Then preserve it and take oil from the fourth oil of sulfur after leaving it from the first part from the first water, and likewise similar to the first. When it reacheth the boundary of seven, the Name of God, the Living, shall be made manifest. Cast it according to the measure thou wishest from God’s outpouring, for I find no cessation in the outpouring of God.