witnessed by the generality and the elect alike. The world witnesses the Real in belief and directly, and witnesses the world through sense perception. These people witness the Real directly and the world through faith, because the Real has told them that there is a world. They believe in it without seeing it, just as the people of the world believe in God without seeing Him.
These knowers are therefore witnesses of the Real through the Real, and occupy “a seat of truthfulness” [al-Qamar 54:55] in what they have realized. If they are told, “Your speaking of witness and witnessed introduces distinction,” they reply, “Do you not witness your own essence through your own essence? Are you then other than yourself?” In all this their discourse is with the Real through witnessing, while believing that there is a world through courtesy and faith. They are thus “the believers in truth” [al-Anfal 8:4, 74], and the scholars in truthfulness.
This is some of what we have come to know of the Real’s mutual encounters. They are too numerous to be encompassed by counting or confined by a limit. God “speaks the truth, and He guides the way” [al-Ahzab 33:4].
(The Transition to the Poles and Constant Invocations)
Now, through God’s praise, assistance, and inspiration, we begin with the Poles[92] and the constant invocations they practiced. Through this I seek to make known that whoever acts accordingly will find what they found and witness what they witnessed. I built this book—rather, God built it, not I—to benefit creation. All of it is an opening from God Most High.
I have also followed the path of brevity in response to a servant’s asking his Lord concerning this, for our state requires only conveying what the Real has commanded us to convey, and “God does whatever He wills” [Ibrahim 14:27]. God “speaks the truth, and He
Notlar
[92]
(The previous version read wa-l-hāmma. It was corrected to wa-ilhāmihi, “and His inspiration,” by comparison with the new edition, volume 10, page 354.)
