The sagacious Súfís say, that what causes the revelation of the original Being in the gradations of divinity and in the wisdom of a book, and his appearance in whatever form, is the manifestation of his perfection, and this is of two kinds and in a twofold degree. The first degree is manifestation and exhibition in such a manner that whatever exists may prove complete, and this can take place only in the completeness of form; it is man who, according to the terminology of this sect, is indicated by it, that is, essentiality, which is the union of universalities and particularities: it is said accordingly:
“There is nothing moist—there is nothing dry, that be not in the manifest book (the Koran).” That is: Every thing is contained in the Koran.
Without him (God) there is no strength; it is by him that every thing enters into the area of form and evidence.
“Without thee is nothing in the world;
Ask from thyself, if thou desirest to know what thou art.”
(ARABIC SENTENCE.)
“Every thing has an advantage, which, at the junction of its parts, has been placed in it.”
The second degree is in the perfection of the existence of forth-bringing and exhibiting; so that every thing which exists, as it exists, is made to appear complete.
The seal, or “the last prophet,” in the terminology of this sect, is a person, to whom this office can be appropriated, and from whom the great business may proceed; but, in forthcoming it is not allowed to him to be, in form,[207] all-sufficient in dignity, and in showing this form in the world; this is not confined to a single person; but if this excellence is manifested around, it is acknowledged as the seal of dignity in this age. When this condition is established, then, by the before-said interpretation, the moon is said to be the symbol realised in this form, because, in the style of eloquence, it is generally usual to interpret the form of perfection by that of the moon, and “to divide the moon,” means in figurative language to elicit thoroughly the sense from this form, without taking into consideration the instruments of imitation and the arrangement of artful contrivances. Thus was it with regard to the promised lord of the prophetic asylum. The lord Imâm Muhammed núrbakhsh,[208] “the light-bestower,” in his treatise upon the ascent to heaven, stated: “Know that the lord Muhammed, the Selected (peace be with him!) ascended to heaven with a body, but this body was light, like that assumed in a dream, with which he went into a state of trance, which is an intermediate state[209] between sleeping and waking, and on that account it is said in the first tradition of the ascent:
“I was between sleeping and waking.”