In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Merciful
‘The Seventh Connection’ from the Keys to the Treasuries of Generosity, from Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty-Nine
This treasury contains the obligation of the servant’s remaining after his master’s rank, and of purifying his servanthood for God from all else, just as he acknowledged it to Him in the grasp of the primordial offspring. The Real wishes this acknowledgment to accompany him throughout his worldly life, the place of veiling and covering. The Real precedes creation in existence from every aspect, and in standing and rank. He was, while there was no creature: this is precedence in existence. He determined, decreed, ruled, and executed an execution neither repelled nor ruled upon: this is precedence in rank. ‘You do not will unless God wills’ [al-Insan 76:30] that you should will. Remaining after the Real’s rank is therefore obligatory from every aspect.
(The Oneness of Distinction and the Real’s Oneness)
The servant was given multiplicity so that Oneness should belong to Him, exalted is He. Every creature was given a oneness of distinction so that it might possess oneness through tasting. He knows there is oneness and through it knows divine Oneness, so as to bear witness to it for God, exalted is He. Had a creature possessed no oneness through tasting by which it is distinguished from all else, it would not know that God has a Oneness by which He is distinguished from His creation. It is therefore indispensable.
Multiplicity possesses the oneness of multiplicity, and every number possesses a oneness no other number possesses, like two, three, and beyond these without end
