T h e   A n s w e r :  It is a hundred  times  beyond  the  ability of an utterly powerless unfortunate like myself to judge those elevated stations with his limited thought. I shall just explain one or two extremely brief points proceeding from the effulgence  of  the  Wise  Qur’an.  Perhaps  they will  be useful  in understanding  the matter.

First Point

There  are many reasons  for becoming  embroiled  in the  way of the  Unity of Existence. One or two of them may be explained as follows:

The  First  Reason:  Because  they  could  not  squeeze  into  their  brains  the maximum  degree  of the creativity of divine dominicality,  nor entirely establish in their hearts the idea that everything, through the mystery of divine oneness (ehadiyet), is held directly in the grasp of dominicalit y and that all things have existence through divine power, choice, and will, those who took that way were obliged to say that everything is either Him, or does not have existence, or is imaginary, or is His manifestation or emanation.

The  Second  Reason:  The  mark  of  passionate  love  is  to  want  never  to  be separated from the beloved and to flee desperately from such separation; to tremble at the thought of parting, to fear distance from the beloved as though fearing Hell, and to abominate transience; to love union with the love of one’s own spirit and life, and to yearn  for  nearness  to  the  beloved  as though  longing  for  Paradise.  Thus,  through adhering to a manifestation of divine immediacy in all things, those who took the way of the Unity of Existence disregarded separation and distance; supposing union and meeting to be permanent, they said: “There is no existent but He;” through the intoxication  of love and as demanded  by the ecstasy of permanence,  meeting,  and union, they imagined that in the Unity of Existence was a most pleasurable way of illumination whereby they could be saved from the dreadfulness of separation.

That is to say, the first reason sprang from the fact that the hand of their intellects was unable to reach up to some of the truths of belief, which were extremely broad and  elevated;  they  were  unable  to  comprehend   them  and  had  not  developed completely  in  regard  to  faith.  And  the  source  of  the  second  reason  was  the extraordinary  unfolding  of  their  hearts  in  respect  of  love,  and  their  wondrous expansion and breadth.