BB00354: Risala fi’l-Tasdid

Know thou—may God make firm thy feet—that God, glorified and exalted be He, is perfectly self-sufficient, and when He creates His creation, the Pen flows and destiny decrees it in its perfection, such that there is no deficiency in it in any respect. Were it not thus, God’s creation would not be complete. The All-Powerful, exalted be He, created things as they are with all possible perfection, as He indicated regarding the creation of man: “We have indeed created man in the best of forms.”

Thus everything in its station is perfect, needing nothing else, as the Truth, glorified be He, indicated: “No imperfection canst thou see in the creation of the God of Mercy” and His words, exalted and glorified be He: “The nature made by God in which He hath made mankind; there is no altering of God’s creation.”

All things when God created them were perfect, until Adam and Eve left the garden and Cain killed Abel. Then the lands and those upon them changed, and things fell into a drunken state and heedlessness, turning away from their Beloved and toward themselves, unmindful of the path of their servitude to God, glorified be He.

And since God has honored servants who “speak not before He hath spoken and act by His command,” who are His very deed and the locus of His will, unchanging throughout ancient times and future events, they appeared among themselves in the divine worlds while Adams were in disobedience and servants were intoxicated. So they showed mercy upon them with a second bounty like their bounty in first bringing them into being. They accepted the repentance of Adam and Eve and called the servants to God, teaching them the path of their servitude, saying: “If ye believe, ye believe for your own souls; if ye disbelieve, God is self-sufficient, worthy of praise.”

The stages of creation and legislation are endless paths of the beloved’s journey to the Beloved. The servants of the Most Merciful were taught again their path to God, and according to their different stations they were judged with differences—though God’s religion and decree is one:

“Had it been from other than God they would have found in it many discrepancies.”

All is revealed from God and never changes. The time of presence and absence with the Imam does not differ—both times are one time, in both times their decrees are one, their favors complete, their blessings enduring, their power continuous. They conveyed to everything what was needed, even compensation for a scratch, completing their favors upon the servants and their blessings upon the lands. Their means of conveying in absence is like their presence. They are the conveyers in creation and legislation.

In the human station there are four principles including the pillars who are the Prophets—their means of conveying is through revelation in the heart and descent of the angel in wakefulness and sleep. Among them are the Chiefs who are thirty persons in the time of absence—their means of conveying is through questioning in presence. Among them are the Nobles who are seventy persons—their means of conveying is through piety along with conformity to the Book, Tradition, consensus and reason illumined by God’s light. This group must maintain piety about Paradise in their hearts though they understand not. For all are degrees according to their deeds, and God is not heedless of His servants. He is the Self-Sufficient, the Conveyer, His proof complete and perfect, and He wrongs not His servants.

This summary is for one with heart and knowledge. Praise be to God, Knower of the seen and unseen, and glory be to God above what they describe.