the forms of the world emerged from beginningless knowledge into everlasting concrete existence, from behind the curtain of jealous protectiveness and might, after He had lit the lamps and illuminated the house of existence, while He remained in the darkness of the unseen mysteries, the forms were seen moving and speaking in different languages. The forms issue from the darkness; when their allotted time ends, they return to the darkness. Thus it continues until the time before dawn.
The perceptive person wished to discover the reality of what his sight witnessed, for the senses make mistakes. He approached the curtain and saw their speech hidden within it. He knew that there was a wondrous secret, discovered it through himself, and recognized it. He also recognized the Messenger and the duties of religious obligation he brought.
The first duty is the declaration of unity. All acknowledged it, and no one denied the Maker, although their expressions concerning Him differed. He then tested them by addressing them in the language of association: the attestation of the Messenger. Denial arose over this distinction within their own kind.
The deniers divided into two paths. Some looked at outward appearances, saw no distinction in anything outward, and denied. Others looked inwardly through reason, saw what was shared in intelligible things, forgot the special distinction, and denied.
He therefore sent him with the sword and “cast terror into their hearts” [al-Ahzab 33:26] through fear of death. Doubt entered them in proportion to their consideration. Some persisted categorically in denying the declaration of association: such a person is an unbeliever. Others persisted in it through witnessing: such a person is one learned in God. Others persisted in—
Notes
Translator’s note TN454-1: The curtain, lamps, moving figures, and concealed speech suggest the imagery of shadow theatre; the text does not explicitly name an operator. “Association” renders shirk, here applied paradoxically to adding the attestation of the Messenger after the declaration of divine unity. The pronoun in “persisted in it through witnessing” has an uncertain antecedent after the preceding denial; that ambiguity has been retained.
