And further:
“God directed thee in the explanation of things revealed to the prophets and saints, upon whom be peace!”
That his being carried from the mosque of Mecca to the mosque of Jerusalem, is an image of the migration of the terrestrial angels from one place to another. To keep the Imámate (or presidence) during worship is to the prophet an image, that in his religion there are many heirs of the prophet, who are the saints and learned men of the age.
Borák, the vehicle of devotion, is like an image of prayer; the saddle and bridle represent the ready mind and the perfect union of religion. The members of Borák, of precious jewels, typify purity, candor, affection, submission, humility, and perfect love of God, rejecting all other desire except that tending towards the supreme Being in prayer. The restiveness of Borak, and the aid given by Jabríil in mounting Borák present a similitude of the reluctance of the human mind to the wisdom of its knowledge of God, and Jabríil figures the science of divinity.
The travelling by steps up to heaven, means the gradual elevation by steps, which are remembrance, rosary-beads, praising and magnifying by exclamation, God and the like, by which the heart arrives from this nether world of sensuality to the upper world.
By the first heaven, which is that of the moon, is understood the arrival at the station of cordiality. The opening of the heavenly door by an angel, and the appearance of Jabríil, is figuratively the victory of the heart over remembrance, as will be explained in the sequel. The arriving at the heaven of Aĺ áred, “Mercury,” is the image of elevation on the regions of cordiality on account of meditation on the knowledge of God, as—
“One hour’s meditation is preferable to seventy years of exterior worship.”
The arrival at the heaven of Zaherah, “Venus,” signifies elevation of the upper angels, on account of the delight and beatitude which are produced in the interior by the love of God. The arrival at the heaven of the sun is to be interpreted as the elevation in the inner sense, on account of accomplishing the precepts of the faith, and the promulgated orders, which are derived from it. The arrival at the heaven of Meríkh, “Mars,” denotes the elevation which may have taken place in consequence of the war made upon the spirit of fraud. The arrival at the heaven of Mishterí, “Jupiter,” offers an image of the elevation on account of purity, piety, and abstinence from any thing doubtful, which are manifested by these steps. The arrival at the heaven of Zehel, “Saturn,” is to be understood as the elevation from the state of spirituality to that of mystery by the blessing of exertion and sanctity, by choice or by force, which means overcoming a difficulty.
The arrival at Falek sábetab, “the heaven of the fixed stars,” is an image of the elevation by the blessing of firmness in the faith, and evident proof of diligent permanency in good practices, and fidelity in the love of God and of the people of God. The arrival at Falek atlas, “the crystalline sphere,” is to be interpreted as the elevation to the utmost boundary of the angels by the blessing of interior purity, and a heart free from all desire except that after God.
The remaining behind of Borák, the arch, and Jabríil, in each station indicate the meaning, that in the worlds of the upper spirits, and the empyreal heaven, there are certain extents of spiritual faculties, and limits of imagination, so that no body can deviate from the station of comprehension, and