Introduction

Praise be to God, the eternal origin, the cause of causes, of lofty station and place—my great and eternal Master, Ali, Commander of the Bees. Divine tongues fail to capture your attributes; inkpots and pens are lost in you. Yet our need and poverty compel us to set down a few lines of poetry and prose, that we might describe some small fraction of your light and greatness. Hallowed and exalted are you, O our Great Father, beyond line and script. Forgive what we have described and pardon what we have attempted to portray. Truly, you are the Great Ali.

O my Master, I bear witness that you are God—the One, the Unique, the Singular, the Eternal Refuge—a testimony extending from pre-eternity through post-eternity and beyond. I remain bound to this testimony as long as a flicker of life, visible or hidden, endures within me. Inscribe it upon the tablet of my heart and make it firm, so that it may stand when the scrolls are folded and then unfurled.

I also testify that my master Muhammad is Your servant and messenger, the Name you have described, and the attribute beyond convention. He stands as fortress and stronghold for those who seek closeness to You and as refuge for those who desire to reach You and grasp the rope of Your salvation. O God, complete our light through him, relieve our distress through him, and hasten his rise against his enemies until evil is eradicated from his lands. Indeed, You are Ali—the Great, the All-Conquering, the Wise.