The Bezel of the Wisdom of Expiration Exists in the Essence of Seth.
Know that the external gifts and grants in the world, which are given through people and not through them, are divided into two kinds: gifts deriving from the Essence of God and gifts deriving from His Names. The people of mystical experience distinguish between them. Also, the two kinds of gifts are given in answer to a specific or a nonspecific request. Moreover, there are gifts, whether of the Essence or of the Names, which are given without request. One who wants a specific gift will ask: "O my Lord, give me such a thing," and he will specify a certain thing, not another. One who wants a nonspecific gift will say: "Give me what You know is in my best interest for any part of my being, whether subtle or dense," without specifying a certain thing.
Those who ask are divided into two kinds: those who are motivated to ask because of natural inclination to hasten matters, for the human being was created hasty; and those who are urged to request, for they know that there are things belonging to God that cannot be attained except only after a request. One of this group says to himself perhaps what we ask God is of this kind. Hence, his request expresses a precautionary measure, because of the possibility that there are things which God can give but only on request. That is because he cannot know what God knows, nor can he know what his predisposition permits him to receive, because one of the obscure objects of knowledge is knowing one’s predisposition in each instant at that moment. However, if the predisposition did not make him request something, he would not request it.
The best knowledge attained by the People of Presence with God, who do not know their predisposition, is the knowledge of their gift at the moment of its reception. Because they are present with God, they know what God grants them at this time and that they receive it through their predisposition. They are divided into two kinds: those who know from what they have received what their predisposition is, and those who know from their predisposition what they may receive. The latter is more complete than the former. Among those who belong to the second kind are certain people who ask, neither because they want to hasten the reception of the gift nor because there are many possible things to be given, but only to obey God’s command when He says, "If you call on Me, I will answer you." Whoever does so is a pure servant. That is because this requester has no aspiration, whether specific or not, which is connected with what he requests, but he wishes to obey his Lord’s command. If his state requires making a request, he will ask for servanthood, and if his state requires the entrusting of his affairs to God and silence, he will be silent. Job and others were afflicted by suffering, and they did not ask God to remove their affliction. Then, at another time, their state required them to request the removal of it, and God removed it from them.
Hastening or slowing down the answer depends on the predetermined answer appointed by God for those who ask. If the request fits the moment predetermined for its answer, God hastens to answer, and if the time of request is delayed, whether in this world or until the world to come, the answer is also delayed. What is delayed is the thing requested, not the answer, for God is at the human being’s service, hence you should understand this.
By the second kind of request, where it is said that there are gifts that are given without request, I mean an articulated request, for essentially there must be a request, whether through articulation, a spiritual state, or a predisposition. Likewise, undefined praising is never valid unless it is articulated; however, a spiritual state necessarily restricts praising when it refers to a specific meaning. The knowledge which urges you to praise God is the knowledge which limits your praise through a name of action or of transcendence. One is not aware of one’s predisposition, but of one’s spiritual state, because one knows the motive which is the state, for predisposition is a more hidden form of request. Only the knowledge that God predetermined their actions prevents such people from requesting God. They prepare their substrate to receive whatsoever comes from God, their souls and their aims being concealed from them.
Among those persons there are those who know that God’s knowledge of them in all their states equals the knowledge of their fixed entity before their existence. They know that the Real does not confer on the concrete entities but what the fixed entity confers and they know the source of God’s knowledge of them. Among the people of God, this kind of people who do not request are higher and more receptive to revelation than others, because they perceive the mystery of God’s predetermination. They are divided into two groups: those who know it in a general way, and those who know it in a detailed manner. One who knows it in a detailed way is higher and more complete than one who knows it in a general way, for the former knows that which God knows about him, whether through God’s notification to him of the knowledge latent in his fixed entity or His revelation to him of his fixed entity whose states are endless and ever-changing. Such a one is higher than the one who knows in a general way. That is because his knowledge of himself is like God’s knowledge of him, for the source of knowledge is one. However, from the point of view of the servant, his knowledge of himself derives from God’s previous providence, which consists of God’s revelation to him of all the states of his entity. When God makes the created being know the fixed states of his entity, he knows them as concrete existents, and he cannot know them in the state of their absence from concrete existence, for they are essential relationships having no form. In this respect we say that the two kinds of knowledge, God’s and the human being’s, are equal and originate in God’s previous providence. That is why God said, "We will try you until we know which of you do your best." The phrase "until we know" has a very clear meaning, not as the meaning imagined by those who have no mystical inclination. The best the one who holds God’s transcendence can do is to state that the cause of the created knowledge is its connection to the created beings. In the gift issue, this would be the best way of the rationalist, if he did not affirm knowledge as something added to God’s essence and ascribed the connection to the created beings and not to the Essence. Through this direction, the rationalist is distinguished from the Verifier, the one among the people of God who receives revelation and has the capability of finding the truth.
Let us now return to the subject of divine gifts, which we say derive either from God’s Essence or Names. As for the gifts and donations which come from the Essence, they always originate in divine revelation. Revelation originating in the Essence is always only through the predisposition of the recipient of the revelation, not through any other way. Thus, the recipient of revelation sees only his own form in the mirror of the Real; he does not see the Real, and it is impossible to see the Real, although he knows that he sees his form only in the Real. This is comparable to a mirror in the concrete existence; if you see a form in it, you will not see the mirror itself, although you know that you see forms or your form only in it. God manifests this as a simile of the revelation of His essence, so that the recipient will know that he does not see God. There is no simile closer and more similar to vision and revelation than this. When you see a form in the mirror, try as you may to see the substance of the mirror, you can never see it. This is so true that some people, who perceived such a phenomenon concerning the forms seen in mirrors, thought that the form observed is placed between the beholder and the mirror. This is the best theory that can be known, though the matter is as we have said and thought. If you have tasted this matter, you have tasted the utmost degree of knowledge beyond which no higher degree can be reached by the created being. Hence, do not strive and weary yourself by trying to ascend to a higher degree than this, for He is not there at all, and beyond this degree there is only pure non-existence. God is your mirror, through which you see yourself, and you are His mirror through which He sees His names and the manifestation of their rules, and these names are nothing other than Himself.
The matter became confused and obscure: Some of us are ignoramuses and say: "The inability to perceive is perception." Some others among us know, but say nothing at all, and this is the best reaction: knowledge causes them to be silent, not incapable. One who is silent is the best knower of God. This knowledge belongs only to the Seal of Messengers and the Seal of God’s Friends. None of the prophets and messengers can perceive this knowledge, except through the light-niche of the Seal of Messengers. Likewise, none of God’s Friends can perceive it, except through the light-niche of the Seal of God’s Friends, so that the messengers do not perceive it—even when they perceive it—except through the light-niche of God’s Friends. That is because messengerhood and prophecy—I mean the prophecy of legislation and its messengerhood—come to an end, while sainthood never ends. Because the messengers are God’s Friends, they do not perceive that which we have mentioned, except through the light-niche of the Seal of God’s Friends, the more so concerning those who are more inferior than God’s Friends. Even if the Seal of God’s Friends follows the Law promulgated by the Seal of Messengers, this does not infringe his status nor contradict that which we have said, for from one vantage point he is inferior as he is superior from another. Accounts that appear in our plain religious sources as regards the superiority of Umar’s judgment of Badr’s prisoners and the pollination of palms support our view.
The perfect one is not necessarily superior in every respect and rank. People consider superiority in terms of the degree one can know God and strive to achieve this end. They must not think about the contingent beings. Understand what we have said!
The Prophet likened prophethood to a complete brick wall, except for one brick, and he was the missing brick. Muhammad saw only one missing brick, while the Seal of God’s Friends, who necessarily experienced this vision of the Prophet’s likening, saw two missing bricks, one made of gold and the other of silver. He saw that when these two bricks are in place, the wall is complete, and when they are missing, the wall is incomplete. He necessarily regarded himself as the two missing bricks needed to complete the wall.
The reason that entails his seeing two bricks is his following outwardly the Law of the Seal of Messengers, and this is the place of the silver brick. It is the outward aspect, meaning the rules that he follows. In like manner, he learns from God inwardly that which he follows outwardly, for he necessarily contemplates things as they really are. Regarding the inward aspect, this is the place of the golden brick. He and the angel, who reveals messages to the Messenger, acquire their knowledge from the same source.
If you understand what I have pointed to, you will attain beneficial knowledge of everything. That is because every prophet from Adam to the last prophet has acquired his knowledge from the Niche of the Seal of Prophets. Even if the corporeal existence of a prophet comes late, his reality always exists, and the following saying of the Prophet corroborates this idea: "I was a prophet when Adam was between the water and the clay." Others became prophets only when they were sent. Likewise, the Seal of God’s Friends became God’s Friend while Adam was between water and clay, and others became God’s Friends only when they fulfilled the conditions of God’s Friendship; that is, the divine qualities they assumed, because God called Himself the Praised Friend.
As regards his sainthood, the Seal of Messengers relates to the Seal of God’s Friends as the prophets and messengers relate to the Seal of God’s Friends, for he, Muhammad, is God’s friend, messenger, and prophet. As for the Seal of God’s Friends, he is the saint, the heir who learns from the divine source and witnesses all the ranks of being or of God’s Friends. The sainthood is one of the merits of the Seal of Messengers, Muhammad, the first in the community and the lord of Adam’s offspring regarding the opening of the gate of intercession. Only Muhammad among the prophets was assigned to this state of intercession. In this unique state, he precedes the Divine Names, for the Merciful does not intercede with the Avenger of the people of trial until intercession is made with them. Muhammad attained supremacy in this unique rank. He who understands the spiritual degrees and stations will not find it difficult to accept this idea.
As for the gifts deriving from God’s names, know that God’s bestowal of these gifts on his creatures shows His mercy toward them; all these gifts derive from His names. This mercy is divided into two kinds. Either it is pure mercy, such as good and pleasant sustenance in this world, which is also pure in the Resurrection. The name the Merciful gives this sustenance, and it is a merciful bestowal. Or it is a mixed mercy, such as drinking repugnant medicine which, however, relieves. This is a divine bestowal which cannot be made except through one of the guardians of the names. Sometimes God bestows on the servant a gift through His name the Merciful, and the gift is free of a mixture which does not fit the servant’s nature at a certain time, or does not cause the attainment of his aim, or something similar. Sometimes God bestows a gift through His name the All-Encompassing, so that His bestowal is general, or through His name the Wise to serve the best interests of the people at a certain time. Or He may bestow through His name the Bestower in such a way that the recipient is not obliged to respond either by expressing gratitude or carrying out an action. Or He may bestow through His name the Almighty, as it relates to a certain place and its requirements. Or He may bestow through His name the Forgiver, observing the true state of the sinner. If the sinner deserves punishment, He will forgive him, and if he does not deserve punishment, He will protect him from a sin. Hence, he will be called "immune," "protected from sins," and other names of a similar kind.
The giver is God, because He is the guardian of His treasuries. He brings forth gifts only in a known measure and only in a name unique to each gift. "He gives everything its appropriate measure of creation" according to the name Just and other names like it. God’s names are infinite, because they are known through the infinite things which derive from them, even if their sources are finite principles; that is, the foundations of the names or the presences of the names.
Truly, there is only one Reality which receives all these relations and attributions which are called the Divine Names. The Reality grants to every name, which appears endlessly, an essence by which a name is distinguished from all others. This peculiar essence constitutes the name itself, not the characteristics the name shares with others. Likewise, gifts differ from each other through their distinctive characteristics; even though they derive from the same source, it is known that each differs from all others. The reason for this is the distinction of the names, for a thing never repeats itself because of the expansion of the divine domain. This is the truth on which one relies.
This is the knowledge of Seth. Seth’s spirit supplies any spirit that talks about this idea with this knowledge, except for the Seal’s spirit, because the Seal receives this knowledge only from God, not from a spirit. Moreover, it is from the Seal’s spirit that this knowledge passes to all the spirits. If the Seal does not comprehend this procedure through himself at the moment of the composition of his material body, he knows all this, as it is, through his essence and rank. From the point of view of his material composition, he is ignorant. Thus, he is the knower and the ignorant at the same time. He is described through contraries, just as the Source is described as the Beautiful and the Majestic, the Manifest and the Hidden, the First and the Last. This joining of contraries signifies his essence, and not another trait. He knows and does not know, he comprehends and does not comprehend, he witnesses and does not witness.
Because of this knowledge, Seth was named "God’s gift," which is the meaning of Seth. In his hand is the key to gifts of different kinds and attributions. First, this key was given to Adam, and that which Seth received is from Adam, because the son is the secret of his father; from the father, he emerges, and to him, he returns. To him who has understanding from God, nothing is strange in this giving. Every gift in this world takes the same course of giving. Every gift derives from God, and there is nothing which does not come from Him, even if the forms of gifts are various. Not all persons know this and that this is the truth; only a very few of the people of God know this. If you see one who knows it, rely on him, for this one is the very purest individual of the choicest of the elite among the people of God. Every gnostic who contemplates a form which gives him knowledge he did not possess before must know that this knowledge originates in himself, and in no other entity. It is from the tree of his own self that he garners the fruit of his knowledge. It is like a manifest form which faces a polished surface and is seen in it, not another form is seen in it. However, the substrate or the plane in which he sees his form may change owing to the shape of this plane; a big thing may appear as a little thing in a little mirror, and a short thing may appear as a long thing in a long mirror, and a resting thing may appear as a moving thing in a moving mirror. A unique plane may cause the reverse form to be seen, or may reflect the exact thing which it faces, in such a way that the right side is seen as right from the point of view of the seer. However, in general, the right side appears in the mirror as the left side. But in exceptional cases, the right side appears as a right side. All this applies to the traits of the essence of the plane wherein things appear; this is the plane which we compare to a mirror. Whoever knows his predisposition knows that which he receives. Not everyone who knows that which he receives knows his predisposition except after he receives, even though he knows this in a general way. However, some people of speculation who are weak-minded hold that since it has been proved that God does what he wants, it is possible for Him to do things contrary to wisdom and to the real state of things. Consequently, some speculative thinkers come to deny possibility and to affirm the necessity through the Essence or through another entity. One who verifies affirms possibility and its attendance; he knows what the possible thing is, what turns it into a possible thing, and that it is necessary by virtue of another. He also knows why it is legitimate to designate that which requires the necessity of another thing. Only those who know God are aware of the distinction between these terms.
The last-born individual of the human species will follow the footsteps of Seth and bear Seth’s mysteries. There will be no other offspring of this species, and he will be its seal. His sister will be born with him, and he will emerge after her, his head lying at her feet. He will be born in China and speak Chinese. Infertility will spread among men and women, and there will be many marriages without procreation. He will call them to God, but they will not respond. When God will make him and the believers of his time die, those who remain will live like animals, not permitting the lawful and not prohibiting the unlawful. They will behave as dictated by nature and passion without any regard for intellect or religion. Because of them, the Last Hour will take place.