BB00090: Tafsir-i-Hadith-i-Kuntu Kanz (Commentary on the Hidden Treasure)

Part 1: “All praise be unto God Who hath exalted…”

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

All praise be unto God Who hath exalted Himself through the sublimity of His grandeur above the most elevated essence of abstract realities, and Who hath magnified Himself through His Essential Eternity above the uttermost knowledge of all essential beings. He hath ever been beyond the reach of all names and attributes, and no created thing can attain unto the ultimate understanding of Him. He is the Pure Essence Who hath ever been and beside Whom there was none other, and will forever be, and with Whom nothing else existeth in His rank. All names are but attributes of His Will, and all attributes are but descriptions of His Purpose, that the servants might know their Creator and describe Him according to what He hath revealed unto them through them, that “there is no God but Him”—the Single, the One, the Eternal. Nothing comprehendeth Him and nothing is associated with Him. Verily, He neither resteth upon anything nor is compared with anything, neither is He absent from anything nor entereth into anything. He is exalted above being called a thing. Glory be unto Him! “Nothing is like unto Him.” He is the One, the Supreme, the All-Compelling.

And I bear witness in this my station upon the surface of this mountain that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, whom He hath chosen from the midst of the apex of creation through the manifestation of His sovereignty, and whom He hath clothed with the garment of grace for the revelation of His grandeur, and made him unique among all peers and equals in the kingdoms of His earth and heaven, that those who seek proofs might know His attributes through His attributes and His qualities through His qualities. He is the Messenger from Him unto all the worlds.

And His Manifestations are twelve souls with God, whom God hath made the pillars of His unity, the banners of His sanctification, the manifestations of His uniqueness, and the signs of His sovereignty and might. None knoweth them save God Who created them and He Who is above them, and all others beside them are not mentioned in their presence, and if mentioned, are as a passing shadow—nay, I seek God’s forgiveness for even this excessive limitation. I neither describe them nor claim to know them, but rather confess my powerlessness, as God, glorified be He, hath said:

“They are honored servants who speak not until He hath spoken, and act by His command.”

And I bear witness that God hath chosen for them their followers to preserve their religion and creation, and created them from a hidden clay from the surplus of their clay, and they are witnesses from them unto all creation. They judge not except by their leave, and will naught except by their will, and they are fearful of His glory. And whosoever denieth them or shall deny their authority, none of his deeds shall be accepted, and these are they who are the lost.

And now, regarding what thou hast inscribed upon the tablet of paper and what thou hast asked concerning the verse from the Book and the tradition wherein God, glorified be He, saith:

“I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known, therefore I created creation that I might be known.”

Know thou that the seas of creation and invention would not suffice to explain the meaning of a single letter thereof, and I have no way to comprehend it, for my existence and all that pertaineth unto it is but mentioned in its shadow, according to the measure of my weakness and the extremity of my poverty and distress.

The meaning intended in the verse “Call not upon another god besides God” is that thou shouldst know the outward decree, for He is the Manifest One, there is no god but Him. The existence of aught else is nullified by the very mention of aught else, and there is no greater proof than this with God, if thou be of those who possess insight. And know thou the outward decree wherewith God hath warned you in His Book, and the Truthful One (peace be upon him) hath said in the tradition of the letters: “He hath warned you against making Muhammad a created thing, for then the Essence would be temporal and created, and this is manifest unbelief; for the Divinity, which is the pure Essence itself, none but He knoweth, and that which the servants are able to know and the people of existence describe is His Remembrance, which He hath attributed to Himself and made to stand in His place.” Therefore do the perspicuous verses bear witness to this: “Whoso obeyeth the Apostle, hath indeed obeyed God,” and this verily is the manifest truth.

Know thou that there is no difference in the knowledge of God, glorified be He, and that its highest degree for the people of love is to know Him through Him, that is, through His Manifestation of Himself by Himself, even as the Fourth Imam (peace be upon him) hath said:

“I have known Thee through Thee, and Thou didst guide me unto Thee and called me unto Thee, and were it not for Thee, I would not have known what Thou art.”

Should the servant desire to know Him through aught else, then that which is known would be other than Him, not His Self, for He cannot be known through His creation nor described by His servants. And whoso desireth to know Him through His creation is ignorant in his knowledge, and whoso desireth to describe Him through the praise of His creation is a heretic regarding His names, and whoso desireth to turn unto Him through Muhammad to know Him thereby hath disbelieved in His presence, for the call is a branch of knowledge, and knowledge is a branch of love, and love is worship itself.

Whoso worshippeth God through any of His attributes or names hath disbelieved in Him and hath worshipped naught. And whoso turneth unto Him through any of His servants hath not turned unto Him, and the face of His might veils him from beholding His countenance. All the philosophers have gone astray and the words of all the mystics have been rendered void, for they have all fabricated lies about God, their Lord, from what Satan hath cast into their souls.

Verily the clear path and manifest way is what the Imam (peace be upon him) hath said, as related in Al-Kafi:

“Whoso worshippeth the name and the meaning hath associated partners with God, and whoso worshippeth the name hath perished, and whoso worshippeth the name through the meaning hath disbelieved.”

But whoso worshippeth the meaning by applying the names unto Him—these are truly the companions of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him). This is but a drop from the ocean of the inner meaning of the outer.

And if thou desirest the outer meaning of the inner, then know the words of Ali an-Naqi (peace be upon him)—may my spirit and all who are in God’s knowledge be his sacrifice—in the Comprehensive Visitation:

“Whoso desireth God beginneth with you, and whoso professeth His unity accepteth it from you.”

Whosoever knoweth them hath known God, and whosoever seeketh them hath sought God. For the Cause returneth not to the Essence nor to the Primal Word. All that is attributed to them is attributed to God, as witnessed by that visitation prayer: “Whoso knoweth you hath known God, and whoso denieth you hath denied God.” Verily the knowledge of God appeareth only through knowledge of them, as declared by the words of the Proof in the prayer for each day of Rajab: “Through them Thou hast filled Thy heaven and earth until it became manifest that there is no God but Thee.” And the Imam, peace be upon him, hath said: “God is not known except through knowing us. Through us is God known and through us is God worshipped. Were it not for us, God would not be worshipped.”

This is but a drop from the oceans of that station for whoso desireth to know the decree of the Ever-Living Who slumbereth not, to rest upon the carpet of intimacy with the Sovereign Who cannot be oppressed, and to witness the power of the King Who cannot be resisted. And if thou desirest to know the inner essence of the inner essence, the All-Glorious hath declared in His Book, where He revealed in the Surih of Joseph: “Are diverse lords better, or God, the One, the All-Compelling?” For the manifestation of the Fourth Cause and the Perfect Word is not complete except through the manifestation of itself in itself. This verse, from the beginning of its essence to the ultimate secret of its center, returneth unto itself—this is a remembrance for whoso desireth to remember or seeketh a way unto the Lord of the Throne.

Part 2: “The truth of this matter…”

The truth of this matter is that the contingent hath ever been contingent, unable to know its Lord, and the Eternal shall never descend to be known in Its Essence. He hath brought forth, through the outpouring of His power and the sovereignty of His creative Will, a sign in the realities of souls and horizons that they might be guided thereby to His knowledge and know Him through it. It is a temporal sign indicating God, the All-Glorious, insofar as is possible within its essence, though none knoweth Him as befitteth Him save Himself, and none describeth Him save He. It is a temporal sign like thy saying “There is no god but God”—just as by it God’s unity is indicated, so is it with His likeness. It is the Supreme Example in the heavens and earth, though “there is nothing like unto Him,” and He is the Exalted, the Supreme.

Whoso intendeth by this verse other than God, the All-Glorious, or attributeth its decree to other than Him, or seeketh other than His face, hath opposed God in His decree, disputed with Him in His dominion, and warred against Him in His sovereignty—for such is a grievous punishment. The Face that shall endure after the passing of all things is the Face of God, the All-Glorious, which He hath attributed to Himself—this is the station of the Family of God, peace be upon them, as their Master declared in his sermon: “I am the Face of God that dieth not.” This attribution is like saying “House of God”—it is attributed to God to honor and glorify it. Yet none knoweth the Face of the Eternal Essence save Him, such that one could decree its subsistence and the passing of all else.

Rather it is the Face manifest from His Face, indicating His Countenance, and expressing His Features. Of this have come countless tidings from the Suns of Glory and Mystery for whoso desireth to know them or be guided by them. To this doth the Book testify in His mighty words: “And there shall fall down swooning all who are in the heavens and all who are in the earth, save those whom God willeth.” Verily the Family of God, peace be upon them, are intended, and they are the Countenance that shall never perish.

This is a mention in the outward path, but if you desire the inward path, the number of the Countenance is fourteen, which is the number of the fourteen pillars, and they are the guides unto God in the worlds of command and creation. Their first is Muhammad and their last is Muhammad, and among their names is “the Hand,” whereby God, glorified be He, has made known through the majesty of their station and the loftiness of their rank that the kingdom of the heavens and earth is in His hand—that is, in their grasp. By their hands do they rule and do as they will, and nothing in the heavens or on earth can frustrate them. Yet they will naught except as God wills, and God is ever behind them, All-Informed, All-Witnessing, and All-Encompassing.

Verily the number of the letters of the Countenance is the number of God’s name “the Generous” and “the Bestower” and “the Hand” which is above all hands. These are the number of alphabetical letters in two verses therefrom—those are the verses of God in their manifestation. The Countenance was sent down by God on the Night of Power, and it is the first and last of the outpouring. Its temple is the temple of the letter Ha’, and its number equals the number of His Word, and His Word corresponds to His hidden and manifest reality. His quintuple name in geometric figures is thus, and that is the figure that was inscribed on the seal of Solomon, son of David, peace be upon them both, by which he did what he did by God’s leave. Indeed God, glorified be He, has not created any word whose beginning reflects its end and whose inner reality reflects its outer reality except the word Ha’. Therefore it appears at the beginning of the Most Great Name “Huwa” (He), and when multiplied by itself reveals the Most Exalted Name, which is ʿAli, most exalted above all things, and all things shall perish save the face of thy Lord.

Its letters are the Alif and the repeated Ya’, and the word comprises four: the Standing One, the Self-Subsisting, the Most Holy, and the Ancient. And in each of these four, when separated from the hundred, you will find only twenty Ha’s, and every five from the word without addition or reduction of letters. This indeed is from God’s grace unto whomsoever He willeth, and this is the manifest triumph.

And at the end of the verse, what is meant by return to God is the return to His stations and His signs, for the Essence is the Eternal, from which nothing has emerged and into whose knowledge nothing enters. He has created signs for Himself and made the return to them a return to Him, to which reference is made in His words, glorified be He: “Even as He brought you forth in the beginning, so shall ye return.” Things did not emerge from the Essence nor do they return to It. “God created all things through the Will, and the Will by itself,” and He made it the station of His action in fulfillment and decree, as is clearly stated in ʿAli’s sermon on the Day of Ghadir. Rather, all things have had their realities endowed through it and return to it, and the Command of God shall never end.

And verily the meaning of the tradition is similar to the meaning of the verse “all things with God are as the greater world wherein all things are manifest.” God, glorified be He, wished to expound in this tradition the stages of the divine action: “I was” signifies the stage of the Primal Will; “a hidden treasure” the stage of Purpose; “hidden” the stage of Decree; “and I loved” the stage of Divine destiny; “to be known” the stage of Permission; “so I created creation” the stage of Term; “that I might be known” the stage of the Book. These are seven stages through which no thing from the world of non-existence can be clothed with the garment of being except by them.

God made Muhammad the bearer of the first, Ali of the second, Fatima of the third, Hasan of the fourth, Husayn of the fifth, Ja’far of the sixth, and Musa of the seventh. These are stages which, when they descend from the world of the unseen to that of witness, manifest the letters of the Face and complete the number of the Hand and reveal the Name “the Generous” and conceal the Name “the All-Giving.” And God created nothing in the heavens and earth except through these fourteen, each one of them being an angel whom God has strengthened to be established upon that Pillar and to record the deeds of all beings beneath its shade—this in the stage of outward manifestation.

And if thou desirest the path of the inward, the first is the stage of the Declaration which calls “I was” and with it is neither treasure nor hidden thing; then the second is the stage of Inner Meanings, the third of the Gates, the fourth of the Imamate, the fifth of the Pillars, the sixth of the Chiefs, and the seventh of the Nobles. And verily this interpretation is identical with the first.

And if thou desirest the inward path which is more inward than the first of the first, these are the manifestations of the Most Beautiful Names in the mention of Muhammad and Ali, peace be upon them, and Ali and Muhammad—every letter of their names indicates a rank from that holy tradition until the decree connects with the last that descends therein.

What thou hast read suffices thee to know a single letter thereof, but none can attain to this save whom God willeth, and unto Him do all matters return. I seek His forgiveness and turn unto Him in repentance from all that I have mentioned at this time, for whatsoever proceedeth from sin is sin with Him, and verily He is the Self-Sufficient, the Most High. “Glorified be thy Lord, the Lord of Glory, from what they describe, and peace be upon the Messengers, and praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.”