Epistle to the Son of the Wolf — Paragraph 168

Every one who hath turned aside from Me hath clung to his own idle words, and therewith voiced his objections to Him Who is the Truth. Gracious God! Such references as have been made to Divinity and Godhead by the holy ones and chosen ones of God have been made a cause for denial and repudiation. The Imam Sadiq hath said: "Servitude is a substance, the essence of which is Divinity." The Commander of the Faithful (Imam ‘Alí) answered an Arab, who had questioned him concerning the soul, as follows: "The third is the soul which is divine and celestial. It is a divine energy, a substance, simple, and self-subsistent." And further He - peace be upon him - said: "Therefore it is the Most Sublime Essence of God, the Tree of Blessedness, the Lote-Tree beyond which there is no passing, the Garden of Repose." The Imam Sadiq hath said: "When our Qá’im will arise, the earth will shine with the light of her Lord." Likewise, a lengthy tradition is attributed to Abi-'Abdi'llah - peace be upon him - in which these sublime words are found: "Thereupon will He Who is the All-Compelling - exalted and glorified be He - descend from the clouds with the angels." And in the mighty Qur’án: "What can such expect but that God should come down to them overshadowed with clouds?" And in the tradition of Mufaddal it is said: "The Qá’im will lean His back against the Sanctuary, and will stretch forth His hand, and lo, it shall be snow-white but unhurt. And He shall say: \‘This is the hand of God, the right hand of God, that cometh from God, at the command of God!'" In whichever manner these traditions are interpreted, in that same manner let them also interpret that which the Most Sublime Pen hath set down. The Commander of the Faithful (Imam ‘Alí) hath said: "I am He Who can neither be named, nor described." And likewise He hath said: "Outwardly I am an Imam; inwardly I am the Unseen, the Unknowable." Abu-Ja'far-i-Tusi hath said: "I said to Abi Abdi'llah: \‘You are the Way mentioned in the Book of God, and you are the Impost, and you are the Pilgrimage.' He replied: \‘O man! We are the Way mentioned in the Book of God, - exalted and glorified be He - and We are the Impost, and We are the Fast, and We are the Pilgrimage, and We are the Sacred Month, and We are the Sacred City, and We are the Kaaba of God, and We are the Qiblih of God, and We are the Face of God.'" Jabir hath said that Abu-Ja'far - peace be upon him - spoke to him as follows: "O Jabir! Give heed unto the Bayán (Exposition) and the Ma'ani (Significances)." He - peace be upon him - added: "As to the Bayán, it consisteth in thy recognition of God - glorified be He - as the One Who hath no equal, and in thy adoration of Him, and in thy refusal to join partners with Him. As to the Ma'ani, We are its meaning, and its side, and its hand, and its tongue, and its cause, and its command, and its knowledge, and its right. If We wish for something, it is God Who wisheth it, and He desireth that which We desire." Moreover, the Commander of the Faithful (Imam ‘Alí) - peace be upon him - hath said: "How can I worship a Lord Whom I have not seen?" And, in another connection, he saith: "Nothing have I perceived except that I perceived God before it, God after it, or God with it."