Except to create one like thyself!”
He once said to a holy man: “The knowledge of evanescent objects is not properly knowledge, but bears the same relation to reality as the mirage of the desert to water: the searcher after which obtains nothing but an increase of thirst.” Shah Subhan says:
“Men favoured by fortune drink the wine of true knowledge;
They do not, like fools, quaff the dregs of infidelity;
The science acquired in colleges and by human capacity
Is like water drawn out of the well by a sieve.”
They once observed to Kaivan: “Notwithstanding the great exertions made by his highness the sincere and faithful Akbar, and the grand justiciary, the caliph Omar, and the possessor of the two lights, Osman, in the way of the faith proved by miracles, and their mighty labors in diffusing its institutes, the Shee-ites are opposed to these great personages?” He replied: “The mass of mankind are acted upon by time and place, in opposition to the seekers after truth. It is also to be observed that the people of Iran have adopted the Shee-ite faith; and as the above-mentioned great personages destroyed the fire-temples of that nation, and overturned their ancient religion, therefore rebellion and envy have remained in their hearts.”
Two learned men having a dispute concerning the superiority of the chosen Alí, “the Elect” (whose face may God honor), over the two Shaikhs and the Lord of the two lights (Osmar), (upon all of whom be the mercy of the Almighty) having referred the dispute to Kaivan, he observed:
“All four are the four perfections of the prophetic edifice;
All four are the four elements of the prophets’ souls.”