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A VERY IMPORTANT, SUBTLE MATTER TO UNDERSTAND PROPHETHOOD AND SAINTHOOD
- Why do saints
differ greatly in their visions and discoveries of some
hidden truths although they are all agreed upon the principles
of faith? Why do their discoveries mainly based on (direct)
witnessing or observation, sometimes turn out to be opposed
to reality and contrary to the truth?
- Also, why in their
opinions, which they consider to be as true as if they are
based on decisive proofs, do thinkers and scholars draw
contradictory conclusions in searching for the truth? Why
does a truth appear in different colors?
- Why did the early
Prophets not concentrate on some pillars of faith like bodily
resurrection and elaborate them as much as the Qur‘an, being
content with brief exposition, so that in later times some
among their followers went so far as to deny them?
- Also, why among
the saints who have been well-versed in the knowledge of
God have some advanced only in the affirmation of Divine
Unity; and, although they have even attained in the truths
of belief the absolute certainty coming from direct experience,
why do some of the pillars of faith appear in their paths
to have been relatively neglected? Because of this, those
coming in later times in their footsteps have not given
the necessary importance to those pillars, resulting in
the deviation of some among them. Although true perfection
is attained through full development in all the pillars
of faith, why have the people of truth advanced greatly
in some of them, while remaining very backward in others?
Whereas the noble Messenger of God, upon him be peace and
blessings, who was endowed with the manifestations of all
the Divine Names to the greatest degree, and who was the
prince of the Prophets, and the wise Qur‘an, which is the
most luminous chief of all the sacred Divine Scriptures,
described in detail all the pillars of faith, clearly, and
in a most serious and concentrated form and deliberate way.
The reason for those
undeniable facts is this:
Man is the object of
the manifestations of all the Divine Names and has a capacity
for all the perfections. However, although he has a partial
will and power, and various abilities and different desires,
he searches for truth amid thousands of veils and barriers.
So, in discovering the reality and witnessing the truth, barriers
intervene. Some people cannot pass over the barriers. Abilities
differ, and some are unable to understand some of the pillars
of faith fully. Moreover, the manifestations of the Names
take on different colors according to people who receive them.
Some people cannot receive the full manifestation of a Name.
Also, while some succeed in receiving the manifestation in
its universality and originality, the others can receive it
only partially and in shadowy form. In some, only one Name
becomes predominant and prevails exclusively over the others.
In order to understand
this profound, subtle matter and reality having universal
purposes, heed the following comprehensive and true, but enigmatic
and somewhat complex, comparison:
Let us suppose three
things—a luxuriant flower, a living drop of water in love
with the moon, and a simple dew drop which looks to the sun,
each of which has consciousness and some goal of perfection
to attain. Together with pointing to many truths, these three
things also allude to the journeying of the soul, the mind,
and the heart in the way of truth. They also correspond to
the three groups of those who search for the truth.
Groups
searching for the truth
- The first group consists
of the thinkers, or those who pursue the truth by striving
for their particular level of perfection only through the
physical senses and intellectual faculties, or those who,
without forsaking egotism, are plunged in the multiplicity
of things in the material world, and try to reach the truth
through deduction and reasoning only.
- The second group
comprises the saints or saintly scholars or those who pursue
the truth by striving through employing the mind and refining
the soul, or those who search for the truth through science,
reason and learning and by acquiring knowledge of God.
- The third group comprises
the Prophets or those who pursue the truth through belief,
submission, and purifying the heart, or those who reach
the truth swiftly through faith and the Qur‘an, and worship
and acknowledgement of one’s poverty before God.
Now under the titles
of Flower, Drop and Dew Drop, I will
try to point out by means of a comparison how and why these
three groups progress [to reach the truth] in the way particular
to each.
Three
kinds of manifestation of the Sun
For example, by its
Creator‘s leave and at His command, the sun has three kinds
of manifestation, reflection, and radiance:
1. its reflection
on flowers.
2. its reflection on the moon and the planets,
3. its reflection and imaging itself in shining objects
like glass and water.
- If, according to
the theory that flowers receive their colors from the
changing reflections of the seven colors in the sun‘s
light, the sun’s reflection on flowers has also three
types: one is a universal and general manifestation and
reflection whereby the sun encompasses flowers all at
the same time. The second is a special manifestation whereby
it encompasses each species with a special reflection.
The third is a particular manifestation whereby it is
reflected in a certain flower according to its individual
character.
- The second is the
light which, by the leave of the Wise Creator, the sun
gives to the moon and planets. The moon sends out its
light, which comes from the sun and is therefore a shadow
of the sun‘s light, onto the seas, air, and reflective
earth, and, in a particular form, onto the bubbles on
the sea and translucent parts of earth and the molecules
of air.
- The third is that
under God‘s command the sun has a pure, universal, and
direct reflection or self-imaging in the atmosphere and
the surface of the seas, which it makes into mirrors.
Besides, the sun gives to each of the bubbles on the sea,
and the drops of water, and the molecules of the air and
the snow-flakes, a particular reflection and tiny image
of itself.
The
way of Prophethood and the way of sainthood
Thus, the sun reflects
or images itself on every flower, and in every drop of water
and dew drop in two ways in each of the three kinds mentioned
above:
- The reflection or
manifestation representing the way of Prophethood. This
is direct, and without barrier and veil.
- The reflection or
manifestation representing the way of sainthood. The second
way is that in which barriers intervene. The capacities
of the mirror, of the objects receiving the images or reflections,
add color to the manifestations of the sun. This way represents
the way of
Thus, on the first way
the Flower, Drop and Dew Drop can each say: ‘I am a mirror
to the sun of all the world’. But on the second way they cannot
say that; they can rather say: ‘I am the mirror to my own
sun, or the mirror to the sun which is manifested in my species.’
For that is the way in which they know the sun. They cannot
see the sun in its direct, universal manifestation. The sun
appears to each of them or to its species from behind barriers
and under restrictions. For this reason, it cannot attribute
to that ‘particular, restricted sun’ the works of the unrestricted,
unconfined, absolute sun. For it cannot ascribe in full conviction
to a sun which it sees within narrow confines and restrictions
the majestic works like heating and illuminating the whole
face of the earth, stirring the plants and animals to life,
and making the planets revolve around it. Indeed, even if
those three things (which we suppose to have consciousness)
attribute those wonderful works to the sun which they see
under restrictions, they can only do so, not through conviction
and submission of the heart, but through superficial reasoning
and belief—through a superficial submission to the fact that
that restricted thing is the majestic absolute sun. Therefore,
this judgment of Flower, Drop and Dew Drop (which we suppose
to be intelligent like a human being) depends on or arises
from reasoning, it does not arise out of thorough enlightenment
coming from direct witnessing and observation. It may even
sometimes occur that their conclusion depending on belief
conflicts with what they witness or observe in the outer world.
So they can believe with much difficulty in what they are
told or they themselves reason concerning the reality of the
sun.
Supposing
ourselves to be the Flower, Drop and Dew Drop
In order to be able
to have a better understanding of the matter we should ourselves
be a part of the comparison, supposing ourselves to be Flower,
Drop and Dew Drop. Because we receive enlightenment from our
immaterial sun in the way they receive from their physical
sun.
So my friend, who has
not been able to renounce the world and is preoccupied with
physical subjects, and whose soul is dense! You be ‘Flower’.
Flower takes on a color as an effect produced by a ray of
the sun’s light of a particular wavelength and makes of it
an adorned form to be clothed in. You may suppose yourself
to have the same capacity as it has.
Let that philosopher
who has studied secular science and therefore explains everything
in terms of cause and effect like the Old Said be ‘Drop’,
which is in love with the moon. The moon sends to a drop the
shadowy light which it receives from the sun, and the drop
shines with that light, through which it can only see the
moon. It cannot see the sun; it can only believe in its existence.
Then, let that poor
fellow be ‘Dew Drop‘, who knows everything to be directly
from Almighty God and considers cause and effect to be a veil
only. Such a Dew Drop it is that it is poor in itself; it
has nothing to depend on so that it could rely on itself as
Flower does. Nor has it any color through which to make a
display of itself. Neither has it anything else that it should
feel an inclination towards it; all that it has is a sheer
purity and simplicity of heart by which it holds the image
of the sun in the ‘pupil of its eye’.
Now that we have taken
the place of these three things, we must consider ourselves:
What do we have? What must we do?
We
see that through His favors a Most Munificent One is adorning,
enlightening, nurturing, and bringing us up.
We see that through
His favors a Most Munificent One is adorning, enlightening,
nurturing, and bringing us up. Man has an inborn tendency
to adore one who favors him. He wants to be close to one worthy
of adoration, and desires to see him. That being so, in accordance
with our capacities, each of us will journey through the attraction
of love.
You
who are like ‘Flower’
You who are like ‘Flower’,
you are advancing, so advance as if a flower. See, you have
advanced until you have reached a universal rank, as if a
universal flower to represent all flowers. However, Flower
is a dense mirror, where light is refracted and the seven
colors in it dissolve. Therefore it veils the reflection of
the sun. You will not be able to see the face of the Sun that
you love, for the colors and qualities, which are restricted,
draw a veil over It and obscure It. Therefore, you cannot
be freed from the separation caused by the barriers interposing.
However, you can be freed on condition that you raise your
head that is sunk in the love of your selfhood, and withdraw
your gaze fixed on the merits you ascribe to your selfhood,
and direct it to the face of the Sun in ‘heaven’. Further,
you should turn your face, looking down to the earth to attract
your sustenance, up to the Sun. For you are a mirror of It,
your duty is to act as a mirror to It. Whether you know It
or not, your sustenance will come to you from the earth, which
is the door to the treasury of Mercy.
Just as a flower is
a tiny mirror to the sun, so also the huge sun is a drop-like
mirror to a gleam from the Name of Light of the Eternal Sun.
O heart of man! Know
from this to what a Sun you are a mirror. Only after you become
conscious of this, will you attain the level of perfection
assigned for you. However, you cannot see that Sun in Its
essential identity; nor can you grasp Its truth in Its naked
form; rather, your attributes give It a color and your cloudy
telescope attaches a form to It, and your limited capacity
restricts It.
O
wise thinker who represents the Drop!
Now, you O wise thinker
who represent the Drop! Through the telescope of your intellect
and by the ladder of science and philosophy, you have advanced
as far as the moon and landed on it. Look, of itself the moon
is dense and dark; it has neither light nor life. Your endeavor
has all been in vain, and your knowledge has proved to be
profitless. You can only be saved from the darkness of hopelessness,
the desolation of loneliness, the pestering of evil spirits,
and the terror of that frightening solitude on condition that
you abandon the night of naturalism and turn toward the Sun
of Truth, and believe with certainty that the lights of that
night are but the shadowy reflections of the lights of the
‘Sun of Daytime’. When you fulfill this condition, you will
attain to perfection and find the tremendous Sun in place
of the poor and lightless moon. However, like your previous
friend, you will not be able to see the Sun clearly. You will
rather see it beyond the veils with which your reason and
philosophy are familiar, and behind the screens woven by science
and learning, and in a color produced by your capacity.
As
for Dew Drop, our third friend, who is both poor and colorless
As for Dew Drop, our
third friend, who is both poor and colorless: the dew drop
swiftly evaporates in the sun’s heat and, free from egotism,
rises into the air. The dense matter in its structure burns
in the flames of love and changes into light. It holds on
to a ray from that light and draws close to the sun.
O friend resembling Dew Drop! Since you act as a direct mirror
to the Sun, whatever your rank, you can find a window through
which you can look at the Sun without any barriers. You will
not experience any difficulty in ascribing to the Sun Its
amazing works. Without hesitation you will be able to attribute
to It the majestic attributes It deserves. Nothing will be
able to withhold you from attributing to It the awesome actions
of Its essential sovereignty. No negative factor like the
thickness of barriers or the limitation of capacities or the
smallness of mirrors will confuse you, nor drive you to the
opposite of truth. Because, since you are turned directly
towards It with pure heart and sincerity of intention, you
have understood that what appears in the objects and is observed
in the mirrors, is not the Sun Itself but manifestations or
colored reflections of It of some sort. However, although
those reflections belong to Its titles, they cannot display
all the works of Its majesty in their proper splendor.
In
this comparison bearing the color of reality, there are three
different ways to perfection.
Thus, in this comparison
bearing the color of reality, there are three different ways
to perfection. They differ greatly in the merits of the perfections
they lead to and in the details of the rank of certainty reached
in the end. But in conclusion and in submitting to truth and
affirming the reality, they are in agreement. Consider a man
of the night who has never seen the sun and only sees its
shadow in the mirror of the moon. He cannot comprehend the
splendid light and awesome gravity particular to the sun,
and only submits to those who have seen it and imitates them.
In just the same way, one who cannot attain to the most comprehensive
rank of the Names like the All-Powerful and Life-Giver through
succession to the mission of Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, accepts the resurrection of the dead and Great
Gathering imitatively, declaring that it is not a matter that
can be understood through the reason. For the Resurrection
and the Last Judgment will take place as a result of the most
comprehensive manifestation of God’s Greatest Name and certain
other Names. Whoever cannot comprehend it is compelled to
believe in it by way of imitation. Whoever, by contrast, can
understand it fully, sees the destruction of the world and
the resurrection of the dead together with the building of
a new world as happening as easily as the alternation of night
and day, and of winter and spring, and accepts it with full
conviction of the heart.
A
basic difference between the Qur’an and other Scriptures and
the Prophet Muhammad and other Prophets
It is because of the
fact mentioned that the Qur‘an speaks of the Resurrection
and Great Gathering with full emphasis and in the most perfect,
detailed manner, and our Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings,
who was endowed with the Greatest Name of God, taught it.
As for the other Prophets, as required by the wisdom in their
mission of guiding people to Divine truths, they did not instruct
their communities, which were at a somewhat simple and primitive
level, in the resurrection of the dead at the same level and
in the same extensive details as the Qur’an and our Prophet
did. It is also due to the same fact that some saintly people
have not seen or could not demonstrate some of the pillars
of faith to the greatest degree. It is again owing to the
same fact that there are great differences in the degrees
of those who have knowledge of God. Numerous other matters
of consequence arise from this fact. However, since this comparison
contains some aspects of the reality, and the reality is extremely
extensive and profound, I will content myself with the comparison,
and not attempt to explain the other matters which are beyond
my limit and capacity.
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