Third Chapter:

Concerning the Need for Prophets, Upon

Whom Be Peace, for ManJs Cu ltivation
God Almighty said: "Those it is whom God has guided: follow
then their guidance. " 1

The Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings, said: "The

prophets are leaders and the scholars are masters . " 2

Know that when God Almighty sealed the talisman o f the

worlds of Kingship and Dominion by wedding man's spirit to his
frame, He fashioned it so strongly and closed it so firmly with
different locks that no man or angel can open it by his own ef­
forts and deliberations, however much he may try. For the talis­
man is sealed with the lock of seventy thousand veils of light
and darkness, and if the talisman could be opened, the spirit
would never remain in the prison of this world- "This world is a
prison for the beliver."3 When a monarch imprisons someone, he
always closes the door of the prison so firmly that the prisoner
cannot open it. God set His supreme talisman in place in his own
di vine person and permitted none to see it: "I did not cause
them to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor
their own creation. " 4 He possesses the true power of opening,
and the key is in His command: "He has the keys of the heavens
and the earth."5 Only He may open the locks on this talisman, or
one to whom He entrusts the key.

When God Almighty wished Adam's progeny to exist in the

world, He firs t created Adam out of dust, with neither mother
nor father, and then created Eve out of Adam, her father, but
without mother, in order to demonstrate His power. He then
entrusted to Adam and Eve as His deputies the task of creating
Adam's progeny. They j oined together, and He caused offspring
to come forth from them.

IQur'an, 6:90.
2A Tradition recorded by Dey1ami.
3A Tradition recorded by Terme�i, Tabarani, and Ebn I;Iabban.
4Qur'an, 18:52.
5Qur'an, 39:63, 42:12.

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Similarly, when He wished to open the supreme talisman of

all created being, to free the human spirit from confinement in
the fetters of the frame and to bring it back to the world of near­
ness with all the benefits it had acquired on its journey, He chose
in each age and epoch one from among His creatures whom He
exalted over all His bondsmen and honored with the gaze of His
grace:

One day on my wretched self thou cast a gaze;

All that I ever gained, from that gaze it came.

The seed of this felicity had been sown in the world of spirits,
in the station of immediacy. The spirit won the fruit of accep­
tance and unhindered nearness, and hence the Prophet, upon
whom be peace and blessings, said: 'The spirits are armies pre­
pared for battle." 6 In the primordial age, the spirits were arranged
in four ranks, like armies drawn up in lines. The first rank was
that of the spirits of the prophets, upon whom be peace, stand­
ing in the station of immediacy; the second rank was that of the
spirits of the saints; the third, that of the spirits of the believers;
and the fourth, that of the spirits of the unbelievers. The spirits
in the first rank were nurtured in the station of immediacy with
the intimate gaze of God Almighty, and thus were enabled to act
as the Adam of the age in opening the talisman of the world of
form. Through their guidance, all men may learn how to open
the talisman-"Those it is whom God has guided; follow then
their guidance. " ?

The divine intention i n this verse i s the following: "I have

taught the prophets in My divine person, without intermediary,
the science of opening talismans. For many years they received
the radiant light of My gaze in the station of immediacy, and
thus became worthy for the door of their hearts to be opened by
the workings of M y divine attraction, descending from the un­
seen. We taught them the secret art of the talisman in the school
of ' the Compassionate One, taught the Qur'an,'s for 'those it is to
whom We gave the Book and wisdom and prophethood. '9 But as
6Tradition recorded by BokarT, Moslem, Abu Dli.'ud, and Ebn I:IanbaI.
7Qur'an, 6:90.
8Qur'an, 55:1-2.
9Qur'an, 6:89.

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for those who first received the affluence of Our grace in the
world of spirits from behind the veil of prophetic spirits, they
cannot today approach Our presence without intermediary nor
open unaided the talisman We have set. 'This is the custom of
God that has been in past ages; and thou shalt find no changing
in God's custom.' 10 Let them serve, then, as apprentices in the
shop of the prophets and diligently observe the command of
' this is my path, the straight; follow it, then, shunning all others,
for they would lead you astray from His path.' 11 'Dost thou wish
for union with the bride? Attend then to the broker. ' " 12

They must first learn the alphabet of the Law at the school of
divine legislation, for each commandment of the Law is a key to
one of the locks on the supreme talisman. When you faithfully
fulfil a commandment in the prop.er manner, one of the locks
enclosing the talisman will be opened and a breeze from the ex­
halations of divine grace will be wafted to your soul: "God sends
His exhalations to you in the days of your life; will ye not re­
ceive them? " 13 Receiving them is by heeding the commands and
prohibitions of the Law. Each footstep taken on the road of ad­
herence to the Law is a means for approaching God Almighty,
for traveling one stage on the path that leads back to the world
whence man came: "There is naught that brings men nigh unto
Me as performing that which I have made incumbent upon
them." 14 When you plant your feet on this path with sincere in­
tent, God's sustaining grace will come forth apparently to greet,
but in reality to aid you: "Whosoever approaches Me a hand's
breadth, I shall approach him a cubit; whoever approaches me a
cubit, I shall approach him a span; whoever comes to me walk­
ing, I shall go to him running. " 15

If thou should plant thy foot firmly on the path

of loverhood,
I OQur'an, 33:62.
"Qur'an, 6:153.
12Apparently a proverb indicating the necessity of recourse to intermediaries.
13Tradition generally quoted with a slightly different wording ("your Lord" in-
stead of "God"); see ForOzanfar. Abiidf,s-e Ma,snavf. p. 20.
HOpening part of a {wdf,s qodsf. generally recorded with a slightly different
wording. See Zeyn ai-Din al-I;Iaddadi. al-Elbii/iil al-sanfya be'l-abiidf,s al-qodsfya
(Cairo, 1388/1968), p. 149.
15Fusion of two badf,s qodsf. recorded by Moslem and Ebn I;Ianbal.

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. The beloved will come to thee at the first step thou

takest.

Since the lock on the talisman of man's being cannot, then, be

opened except with the key of the Law, know it to be truth that
the Law needs such as will bring and proclaim it, these being
the prophets, upon whom be God's blessings.

There are certain other aspects of the matter that are to be

set forth, God willing, in the chapter concerning the need for a
shaikh, where it will be shown that if there is need for a shaikh,
there is even greater need for a prophet.

And God knows best concerning the truth.

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