However, it is absolutely wrong to use the proper nouns “revelation” and “divine speech” for such inspirations, and the word “verse,” which is a noun proper to the stars of the Qur’an – the most evident exemplification of God’s Word. As is explained and  proved  in  the  Twelfth,  Twenty-Fifth,  and  Thirty-First  Words,  the  relation between the inspiration in the hearts of those making the above claims and the verses of the  sun of the Qur’an,  which  is divine  speech  directly,  resembles  the relation between the tiny, dim, obscure image of the sun appearing in the coloured mirror in your hand and the sun in the sky. Yes, if it is said that the sun’s reflected images appearing in all mirrors are the sun’s and are related to it, it would be right, but the globe of the earth cannot be attached to the suns in those tiny mirrors, nor be bound by their attraction.

Fifth Allusion

An extremely important way within Sufism is the Unity of Witnessing, which is another name for the Unity of Existence. This restricts the gaze to the existence of the Necessarily Existent, and sees other beings to be so weak and shadow-like in relation to Him that it declares that they do not deserve the name of existence. It envelops them in veils of imagination,  and in the station of abandoning all things other than God, counts them as nothing. It even imagines them to be non-existent, and goes so far  as  to  belittle  the  manifestations  of  the  divine  names,  saying  they  are  mere imaginary mirrors.

A significant fact about this way is that due to the powerful faith it inculcates and the elevated sainthood of those on it advancing to the degree of absolute certainty, the existence of contingent beings is so diminished that nothing remains in its view other than imagination and non-existence; it is as though it denies the universe on account of the Necessarily Existent One.

But this way holds dangers, the first of which is this: there are six pillars of faith, and such pillars as belief in the Last Day and belief in God require the existence of contingent beings. These firmly-founded pillars of belief cannot be constructed on imagination! For this reason, when a person following this way re-enters the world of sobriety from the worlds of ecstasy and intoxication, he should not bring them with him, nor should he act in accordance with them.

Furthermore, he should not convert this way, which pertains to the heart and to illuminations and certain states, into a form that pertains to the reason, knowledge, and words. For the laws and principles  related  to reason,  knowledge,  and speech, which proceed from the Qur’an and the practices of the Prophet (UWBP), cannot sustain that way and are inapplicable to it.