BB00677: Treatise on the education of children

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

Praise be to God Who hath brought forth the Primal Will from non-existence—by itself, for itself, in itself—and hath made it the embroidery upon the robe of the dawning of the camphor-like, eternal Sanctuary of His Being; by it were all adornments adorned in the effulgences of the heaven of the world of Divinity, and it giveth witness unto its Lord without any embroidery being required to guide unto aught beside Him, nor any ornament to point save unto Him alone.

And the manifestation of the station of the Will—which God hath ordained to be the locus of the being of His majesty—hath He arrayed with Volition, and hath made Volition its own station; and by its manifestation through Decree hath it adorned its very essence, that the architectures of substances might be ordered in the realm of Dominion (Jabarut), and the essences of realities in the kingdoms of earth and heaven (Mulk and Malakut).

By the appearing of Decree was Judgment woven with execution, and bada’ (renewed manifestation) set in motion in the world of origination, that every atom might tremble and vibrate with what the Will hath embroidered upon the patterns of beings, the Purpose upon the patterns of essences, the Decree upon the patterns of souls, and the Judgment upon the patterns of “I-nesses”; that the vesture of the abstracted might shine by the denial of form from their dawning-place, the vesture of the bound imprisoned spirits by the existence of form in their direction, the vesture of the dwellers in Paradise by the sobriety of form in the court of their nearness, and the vesture of the “super-paradisal” realities by the Tree of love in the contemplation of the beauty of the robe of their Manifestation—

Until all, after these radiant, flashing, abstract and transforming embroideries, may know that these are the seven patterns of Permission, Term, and Book; that, thereby, every soul who standeth within the broad plain of bounty may be borne up to the loftiest summit of bounty; and that he may glorify God, his Creator and the Manifestations of His Self, above all mention of essential description and bare predication—remaining, for God, among those who prostrate themselves in adoration.

And now, after this, bear thou witness, O thou who art acquainted with the patterns of infinitudes and effulgences, with the glories that flash and the manifestations that gleam, with the quiverings that sparkle and the scintillations that shine forth, that the light of the dawn of Permission hath shone upon the temples of all atoms alike. Thus the creation of the Will in the reality of its substance is as the creation of the Point in the truth of its essence; and whoso hath had the ruling of the ontological states of the abstract realities determined by that which hath been manifested in the orbit of His tokens, such an one is indeed worthy to distinguish the ordinances of the leaves of the eternal Tree of Divinity according to what hath been decreed in the knowledge of God—exalted be His remembrance.

And I allude, with but a drop from the surging deep, to that whereby Decree is completed, that the manifest beings from among the sons of those endowed with hearts and with the Bayan may receive their portion, and that all thereby may be numbered among the thankful.

When, then, thou hast comprehended what We have made thee to know of the first causes and of the ordinances of grace in these darksome nights, begin to implement that which is now indicated, on the first day when the child desireth to know the Cause of his Lord that he may become of them that understand.

O Hajji! In the name of God, exalted and blessed, let him open with the mention of the Name of God, the One, the Single, the Eternal, He beside Whom there is no God, the Most High, the All-Subduing, the Most Exalted. Then let him testify that there is no God but God, even as He Himself hath testified unto His own Self by His own Self, that there is no God but He, the All-Mighty, the All-Glorious, the All-Bountiful.

And let him bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God and His Beloved, whom He hath chosen for His own Self, and made Him overshadowing all things by the manifestation of His deeds, such that in His knowledge none can ever be compared with Him; He, verily, is a noble Messenger.

And let him testify that Ali, Hasan, Husayn, Ali, Muhammad, Ja’far, Musa, Ali, Muhammad, Ali, Hasan, and the Proof, the Lord of the Age, are the trustees of the Messenger and the proofs of God over whatsoever is in the heavens and on the earth, all together; that they are honoured servants, who outstrip Him not in speech and according to His command do perform.

And let him bear witness that they who truly know the right of their Cherubic followers are, in very truth, the foremost, the ones brought nigh, honoured in the presence of their Imams; and that such as turn away and deny the right of their followers are, verily, the idolaters and the most great losers.

Then let him say:

“O my Lord, expand my breast for me; make easy my task for me; loose the knot from my tongue, that they may understand my speech.”

Unto this point it is incumbent upon the teacher to instruct the child, that the pillars of faith may be made firm within his heart and that he may be numbered among the believers.

After that, let him teach him, from the Book of God, this blessed Surih—for it is the root of all good, and unto it, by God’s leave, do all things return. It is this:

“In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds, The Compassionate, the Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment. Thee do we worship and Thee do we beseech for help. Guide us in the straight path, The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed Thy grace, Not of those who have incurred Thy wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.”

Know moreover that the letters, in the realm of the unseen, are in their origin seven, by the loftiness of which the degrees of action are ordered. When they descend into the world of visibility they appear as fourteen, corresponding to the pure natures of the dwellers of the All-Highest, which are the manifestations of existence; and this is the word: “The path of ʿAli, truly his rite.”

After this pattern, God created fourteen other letters from the spiritual clay of glorification, which are the manifestations of “I-ness”; then did the All-Merciful shake and ring them in this world, and thus was the accursed tree, mentioned in the Qur’an, sent down. From the believer there issue the letters of “essence”, and from the infidel the letters of “reality”; God shall judge between them all, and each shall return unto its origin.

God hath likewise appointed, in that world, the station of the Isthmus, the “barzakh” between the two mingled seas—two letters, which are two in number: a letter created from the alif and the lam—a luminous letter, a secret of self-sufficiency, a divine manifestation. From this did the Christians take the form of the cross and the notion of the union of Lahut (the realm of Godhead), which is the alif, with Nasut (the realm of manhood), which is the lam. Exalted be God above what the wrongdoers describe of the letters of His origination and the meanings of His invention, contrary to that which He sent down in His Book upon Adam, the primal one brought forth upon the primordial nature which is the first Will.

That Book descended as this alphabet:

A, B, T, Th, J, D, Dh, R, Z, S, Sh, S, D, T, Z, ʿ, Gh, F, Q, K, L, M, N, H, W, Y—upon which all stations and significations revolve; by which are enacted the ordinances of all effulgences and manifestations. These letters are, in regard to the beginning, nearer than all signs; by them is made manifest what lay hidden within the heart, for they are the pole round which all letters circle; from them have multiplicities gone forth and existents appeared.

Thus hath ʿAli—peace be upon him—said. And when the veil is lifted from thine eyes that thou mayest behold the dawning of the pure theophany in its exalted manifestations—as when thou sayest: “Ya Allah! Ya Rabbah!”—this is witnessed in the camphor-like purity of thy heart and the simple nakedness of thine identity. That outpouring floweth through all worlds; there is naught more noble and more precious than the letters, for they are the point of effusion that streameth through all realms, with an unending unto unending, without exhaustion, by the command of God, exalted be His remembrance.

By their effects is he made happy who is destined for happiness, and he made wretched who is foreordained to wretchedness; for, had the servant not uttered these four words, the ordinances of faith would not, this day, be applied to him among the people of the Bayan; and that ordinance runneth not over the servant save through confession by means of these letters, inasmuch as, in that station, they are the signs of the four Manifestations before whom all creation hath bowed in humility. When, therefore, he believeth and saith them, his Lord enacteth over him the ordinances of the people of unity. This is of a certainty supported by the ruling of reality, since the possessors of understanding know naught of what is “there” save by what is “here”—a fore-ordained decree from the presence of the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.

When, then, thou—O man of knowledge—hast taught the child the Surih of Praise, and the forms of these twenty-nine letters, thereafter instruct him in these letters as they are combined in the station of number; for the science of arithmetic, in its entirety, is subtle in its consideration, and by it he may advance, if God, his Lord, so willeth. The science of arithmetic, in its totality, is subtle in its considerations, and by means of it doth one advance, if God, his Lord, so willeth. It is:

abjad, hawwaz, hutti, kalaman, sa’fas, qarashat, thakhadh, dazagh.

From the letters of the first series up to ten, there is, beyond one, the addition of one upon one and whatsoever is thereby increased. Then, after ten, there is the increase of ten upon ten upon ten, until it reacheth a hundred; and beyond the hundred, an increase of hundred upon hundred, until it attaineth a thousand.

Its configuration, in the inscribed numerals according to the people of the “geometry of being”, is thus:

ab, j, dah, ha, war, zah, ta, ya, kaf, lam, mim, nun, sin, ʿayn, fa’, sad, qaf, ra’, shin, ta’, tha’, kha’, dal, dad, za’, ghayn.

And for the letters there are (yet further) letters, and for number there are fractions, which God shall make manifest, if He so willeth, in the days of the return of His chosen friends—those who have borne witness to the truth with full knowledge.

For the present, however, its mention is not severed, nor is the unifying power dispersed, in the case of the child at the moment of his practical training. It sufficeth him, in instruction, to learn the Surih of Praise, the letters of the alphabet, their words and their numerical values. What lieth beyond this, for now, I have not followed as the ordinance of God; and sufficient is God, for the believers, as a proof.

And know, O thou learner, that the right of the teacher is derived from the judgment of God—exalted is He—for the solitary Sun of Truth hath said:

“Whoso teacheth me a single letter hath verily made me his bondsman.”

Recognize, then, his right; magnify his rank; reverence his presence; and show forth toward him the truest manners of courtesy. This is that thou shouldst not laugh in his presence, nor point toward him with thine eyes or thine hands, nor sit, at the time of learning, save facing him directly, at a distance of about one-third of a legal cubit. Supplicate God on his behalf in every matter touching him, and convey unto him, so far as in thee lieth, what may benefit him.

For, if all that is within the realm of possibility were to be ransomed between his hands in return for the letter ba’ which he taught thee in the first degree of thy learning, it would still not be befitting to his station nor commensurate with his right. Such is the ordinance of God concerning thee; follow it, that thou mayest be of the triumphant.

I counsel, moreover, in this station, the teacher of the leaves of the Tree of Eternity in the Ridvan, that he never wax wroth with the child, nor ever wholly turn away from him, nor strike him save with three light taps. If he refrain not from excess in this, it would be incumbent upon God never to be displeased with him—for the child’s heart is more delicate than glass, and the slightest thing shattereth it. God is not pleased that the heart of any one be thus broken; for it is the locus of that to which He hath alluded in the exalted Word:

“Neither My earth nor My heaven can contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant containeth Me.”

Glorified be God above the hearts of the idolaters! Though I stand upon this station of mercy which is fastened to the Throne, yet would I never pronounce a judgment such as theirs; but they who have waxed proud against God do that which they themselves perceive not.

And as I have begun, in the station of the mention of its beginning, with an exposition from the people of discernment, I now point to that station which they need in the science of Arabic, namely this:

Know that the Pre-eternal Essence hath never been known by aught other than Himself, nor described by aught besides Himself. No path is there unto Him, whether by description or by sanctification. Before His descent there was with Him naught; and now God is, in very truth, even as He ever hath been—there is with Him no thing, there is nothing like unto Him, there floweth from Him naught that can encompass Him, there ascendeth unto Him naught that can attain Him, there entereth upon the carpet of His self-subsistence no thing whatsoever.

He is that simple, camphor-like Essence, whose very being sunders the substances of contingent things from the knowledge of Him, and whose very identity cutteth off the abstracted realities of existent things from mention of nearness unto Him. None knoweth how He is, save He Himself. There is none other God but He, the Most Great, the Most Exalted.

God, moreover, hath brought forth the Primal Will from nothing, by naught but itself—as the Imam hath alluded, and his word is the truth—for every “thing” must needs possess existence: this is the rank of Will in its own realm; and (then) it must have a “quiddity”: this is the rank of Volition in its own degree; and the nexus between them is the world of Decree and the secret of possibility in its station.

Part 2: “When these three are “essentialized” and conjoined…”

When these three are “essentialized” and conjoined, the decree of Guardianship (Wilayah) is realized, and its letter is named Ali. Hence the Imam hath said that the first name which God chose for His own Self was “al-Ali al-ʿAzim” (the Most High, the Most Great). And when these three descended, the four appeared; for every unseen manifestation hath its manifestation in the world of visibility.

When, then, the complete form—comprehending all things in the realm of beings and setting forth the causes in the realm of essences—became manifest, the root of action was the Will, its branch the Volition, its boughs the Decree, its leaves the Judgment (qada’), its gardens the Permission, its firstlings the Term, and its fruits the Book.

This is that divine, eternal Tree which was kindled from the fire of His Being without its being touched by any other fire—as though it were self-kindled by its own identity, brought into being from the fire of His ipseity without being touched by the fire of aught else. Thus doth God set forth parables for men, and God is, in very truth, knowing of all things.

The root of action is a created thing in repose, unperceived as repose at the moment of quiet; and a created thing in motion, unperceived as motion at the moment of movement. When these seven descended from the world of the unseen to that of visibility, the full number of action appeared in its being.

These (in outward form) were four Temples, the signs of the fourteen “reeds” (letters) of the eternal divine Tree; their numerical pattern in this visible form is: wahaba, wahaba, wahabu—the first being the sign of the unseen Will; the second, the sign of the unseen Volition (repeated twice, hence its station of duality); and the third, the station of plurality, which is the unseen Decree.

These three constitute the singular, third-person form, which is the rank of existence: first its singularity, then its duality, then its plurality. After these three cometh the feminine: wahabat, wahabata, wahabna—the singular thereof being the unseen Judgment (qada’), its dual the unseen Permission (idhn), and its plural the unseen Term (ajal).

After these three, in the station of visibility, there are three masculine (second-person) forms: wahabta, wahabtuma, wahabtum: the first in the station of existence, which is the first rank—the testimony of the Will; the second, the testimony of Volition; the third, the testimony of Decree.

Thereafter come the feminine second-person forms: wahabti, wahabtuma, wahabtun: the first is the testimony of Judgment, the second the testimony of Permission, the third the testimony of Term.

Then, beyond these, is the unseen of the six, the rank of the Book, which is the Speaker who, alone in the world of Permission, uttereth the word on behalf of God, his Lord. Of this God hath sent down His explanation in the Qur’an, where He saith—and His word is the truth: “Verily, I am God; there is none other God but Me.”

The sixfold “testimony” is the station of the Book when in conjunction with others; for when the unseen descendeth it becometh associated with a manifestation in the realm of visibility, and this is the Speaker on behalf of God through His manifestations in Himself.

The first is the station of the Will, which pointeth to God alone and hath no direction of indication save unto its Lord. The second is the station of Volition, which speaketh from God through the mediation of the Will. Thus the One addressing thee in the Qur’an, in the station of oneness, is an allusion to the outpouring of God in the Muhammadan Temple, the bearer of the Will; and the station of duality is an allusion to the dawning of the Alid Presence, the bearer of the Volition.

This is the beginning of derivation, of verbal forms and luminous letters, in the causes underlying the parables—or the exposition of the “speaking forth” of derivatives in the forms of majesty.

And if the veil were rent from thine eyes, thou wouldst see in rahaba none but Muhammad; in wahaba none but Muhammad and Ali; in wahabu none but Muhammad, Ali, and Hasan; in wahabat none but Fatimah; in wahabna none but Fatimah and Ja’far; in wahabna none but Fatimah, Ja’far, and Musa; and in wahabta none but Husayn—

For he mirrored forth the Messenger of God, inasmuch as God honoured him with martyrdom for the manifestation of the pure, eternal dawning in his being, his identity, his soul, his “I-ness”, his substance, his abstraction, and his balance.

Thus, were the veil lifted from this symbol, the saying of the Imam would be understood:

“Whoso visiteth Husayn, knowing his right, is as one who hath visited God upon His Throne.”

Then, in wahabta, wahabtuma, wahabtum, wahabti, wahabtuma, wahabtun are indicated Ali, Muhammad, Ali, Muhammad, and Hasan—peace be upon them. In the station of speech, the rank of servitude is the bearer of the Proof (Hujjah).

This is the decree of reality in the station of existence, both in the unseen and the seen. Know, then, with full recognition, that which I have made known unto thee; for until this day such an exposition hath not flowed from the pen of any of the people of understanding.

Verily, through the subtlety of His working, God hath ordained the degrees of action to be seven, that these seven might be revealed; and, in truth, all existence in the kingdom of the Worshipped is one, and no thing hath any independent power. His relation unto all atoms is the same, as the judgment of the Qur’an proclaimeth: “The All-Merciful is established upon the Throne.”

The first is the past tense of the verb, and it is the root; for it is the rank of the manifestation of the Will, as He—may my soul be a ransom for Him—hath alluded where He saith:

“It is by Thy Will, not by Thy word, that all things are directed.”

And as to His saying regarding the verb: the first of its forms is the past tense, and its number is fourteen.

Then cometh the present tense, for it drinketh milk from the breast of the bosom of the Will—a milk whose taste is not altered by the mention of aught save the command of its Lord; and this is the rank of Volition (iradih), and its number likewise is fourteen. Its forms are these: yahabu, yahabani, yahabuna, and so on unto the end.

In this station, inasmuch as the rank of duality pointeth to the present and the future—by reason of the subsistence of the existence of the beginning in the wealth of being—it is the station of Decree (qadar) and the secret of possibility. Therein is he made wretched who is foreordained to wretchedness in this third column, and made happy who is foreordained to happiness in this same third column. Its number, too, is fourteen, and its forms are these: hab, haba, habu, and so forth to the end.

Then cometh the prohibitive form, which is the rank of Judgment (qada’), and its number is also fourteen; its forms are these: la tahab, hal tahab? and so on unto the last of its patterns.

These seven, in the temples of the fourteen, are the guides and pointers unto those seven in the Temple of the unseen and the seen.

After this, in the manifestations of the Will, He hath created the rank of the agent (fa’il), and its number is six, by reason of the appearance of the six limits in the waw when it is conjoined with the ha’. Its forms are: wahib for the masculine singular; wahiban for the masculine dual; wahibun for the masculine plural; and so forth in their respective patterns.

And in the manifestations of Volition is the rank of the object (maf’ul), and its number is six likewise: mawhub for the masculine singular, mawhuban for the dual, and so on to the end of its forms.

For each one of these ordinances there are mysteries without end, unto which, from which, and by which the effusions flow. Were the sea, and the heavens, and the earth to be ink, they would be exhausted ere a single letter thereof could appear. But this is not the place for their exposition, seeing that the discourse concerneth the child of man; upon God is reliance in the world of entities and created things.

When thou hast come to know these manifestations, know thou that “appearance” (zuhur) is the rank of the Isthmus (barzakh), which is the geometry of His power, indicating unto thee the perfection of workmanship in the extremity of effusion. It is the station of “He is”, the outpouring that hath flowed from the One while remaining one—the last of the bestowals and the first of the enumerations. Beyond it there is no God for its Lord.

By it he hath known, who hath known, the ruling of the unseen existence in the seven, and the outward months in the seven, in the hidden name of the Seven; and He hath created, for the manifestation of that Name, the effulgences of the Seven in souls: the rank of the Point, then of attributes, then of letters and the Word and the significations.

Then, in the worlds, seven: which are the heavens; and their names are these …

Then their “I-nesses”: the Seeker, whose essence thou beholdest to be his “I-ness”, and whose abstraction is the sovereignty of his self-subsistence, the presence of his Dominion, which becometh manifest through the appearing of his “I-ness”.

Then the seven Gardens, and their names are these …

Then the seven Springs, and their names are these …

Then the seven Days, whose names are these: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Then the seven Acts, whose names are these: the Will, the Volition, the Decree, the Judgment, the Permission, the Term, and the Book.

He hath decreed that whoso turneth away, amidst the darknesses of plurality, from these seven, shall have seven layers (of chastisement); unto this referreth His exalted word:

“It hath seven gates; for every gate there shall be a portion allotted.”

These are their names, as they have descended in the tradition.

When, then, thou hast come to recognize these hallowed allusions in the deep recesses of these kingly words, know that the doctrine to which the grammarians have gone—regarding the beginning of derivation and the first “speaking forth” of the verb and the passive—is null and void in the school of the people of God and of their sincere followers.

For God hath created all things at the locus of His first effusion, and hath not made any thing the cause of another thing; rather hath He made every thing its own self.

Consider the Volition, which is the second effusion of the First: it found itself as the theophany of the Will, in its own rank, which is itself and none other; and it is not the cause of “wahaba” save itself—the same which God hath originated for His own Self, and made the cause of all existing things. Unto this alludeth His exalted saying: “God created all things by the Will, and created the Will by itself.”

No “being-ness” (kaynuniyyah) preceded “wahaba” in its identity; rather did “wahaba” grant unto the souls its self-manifestation, by itself and through itself. Unto this referreth the saying: “He manifested Himself unto it by it, and by it He withheld Himself from it; He cast into its identity His likeness, and brought forth from it His acts.”

Thus is the ruling in all the degrees of action: for they are all light from light, and radiance from radiance. Unto this alludeth the saying of the Imam, in the Ziyarat-i-Jami’ah:

“I testify that your spirits, and your light, and your clay are one; He made some of you to purify others. God created you as lights and made you encircle His Throne, until He graciously favoured us through you.”

This is in the rank of manifestation; but in the nearness of the court of the presence of the All-Subsisting, the First, the ranks are these:

The rank of the Will, which is the station of the Point;

Then the rank of Volition, which is the station of the hidden alif;

Then the rank of Decree, which is the station of the soft alif;

Then the rank of Judgment, which is the station of the unjoined alif;

Then the rank of the extended alif, which is the station of Permission;

Then the station of Term, which is the rank of the letters;

Then the station of the Book, which is the rank of the Word.

Thus have the substances of all contingent things been essentialized through the indication of this exalted Word. Blessings of God be upon her Father, the station of the Point; and upon her Spouse, the station of the hidden alif; and upon her Son, the station of the soft and the unjoined alif; then upon her Son, the Riser, the station of the joined alif; then upon her sinless offspring, the station of the letters; and upon the Word, which is her own station.

No adornment hath been embroidered save through the embroidery of the eternal divine pattern, nor have the gleaming effulgences flashed save through the tracings of this everlasting lordly ornament. This is the ruling of the unseen and the seen in the rank of this pattern.

O thou who listenest unto these abstract, radiant warblings—the patterns of the purity of Paradise in the Height of the Throne; and unto these essential, sparkling “becomings”, the patterns of this dove, chanting beneath the dark boughs of the Most Great Paradise upon the prison of earth; and unto these goodly theophanies, the patterns of this fathomless ocean, surging between God and the world of creation; and unto these majestic, ringing melodies, the patterns of this peacock, moving in the air of the realm of bounty and justice—

When thou hast come to know what We have made thee to know, and when there hath shone within thee that which We have caused to shine, then praise thy Lord, the All-Merciful, and send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and their Shi’ah, who are the manifestations of thine aim and desire.

Otherwise, leave it, and cast it into the ear of the spike of existence, and let the ordinances of the unseen and the seen take effect; for unto every people there is their witnessed portion in the mist of their Beloved, and their praised portion in the patterns of existence, wherein the Worshipped One is adored through that wherewith God revealeth Himself unto them, without “how” and without allusion.

These are the stations of attribute: whoso reacheth unto them attaineth the seat of knowledge.

And I send blessings upon Muhammad, and upon His family, and upon His Shi’ah, at the beginning and at the end, with a blessing that hath no end—unto it, from it, and by it—bestowed by the Creator of all beings, He save Whom there is no God, the Creator of all things, Whom the eyes perceive not, and He is the Subtle, the All-Informed.