ath purposed.

Every one who hath turned aside from Me hath clung to his own idle words,
and therewith voiced his objections to Him Who is the Truth. Gracious God!
Such references as have been made to Divinity and Godhead by the holy ones
and chosen ones of God have been made a cause for denial and repudiation.
The Imam Sadiq hath said: "Servitude is a substance, the essence of which
is Divinity." The Commander of the Faithful (Imam 'Ali) answered an Arab,
who had questioned him concerning the soul, as follows: "The third is the
soul which is divine and celestial. It is a divine energy, a substance,
simple, and self-subsistent." And further he--peace be upon him--said:
"Therefore it is the Most Sublime Essence of God, the Tree of Blessedness,
the Lote-Tree beyond which there is no passing, the Garden of Repose." The
Imam Sadiq hath said: "When our Qa'im will arise, the earth will shine
with the light of her Lord." Likewise, a lengthy tradition is attributed
to Abi-'Abdi'llah--peace be upon him--in which these sublime words are
found: "Thereupon will He Who is the All-Compelling--exalted and glorified
be He--descend from the clouds with the angels." And in the mighty Qur'an:
"What can such expect but that God should come down to them overshadowed
with clouds?" And in the tradition of Mufaddal it is said: "The Qa'im will
lean His back against the Sanctuary, and will stretch forth His hand, and
lo, it shall be snow-white but unhurt. And He shall say: 'This is the hand
of God, the right hand of God, that cometh from God, at the command of
God!'" In whichever manner these traditions are interpreted, in that same
manner let them also interpret that which the Most Sublime Pen hath set
down. The Commander of the Faithful (Imam 'Ali) hath said: "I am He Who
can neither be named, nor described." And likewise He hath said:
"Outwardly I am an Imam; inwardly I am the Unseen, the Unknowable."
Abu-Ja'far-i-Tusi hath said: "I said to Abi 'Abdi'llah: 'You are the Way
mentioned in the Book of God, and you are the Impost, and you are the
Pilgrimage.' He replied: 'O man! We are the Way mentioned in the Book of
God,--exalted and glorified be He--and We are the Impost, and We are the
Fast, and We are the Pilgrimage, and We are the Sacred Month, and We are
the Sacred City, and We are the Kaaba of God, and We are the Qiblih of
God, and We are the Face of God.'" Jabir hath said that Abu-Ja'far--peace
be upon him--spoke to him as follows: "O Jabir