(173) One of the wise men was asked about the one who has no defect. He said: "There is no one in this abode but that he has a defect. This is because he who has no defect should not die." In this meaning is what was mentioned in the Gospel: God, Majestic is His Majesty, says: "O My servant, I am the Living who does not die; recognize Me with My true recognition, and I shall make you a living one who does not die."

Among what I found excellent in the Torah: God, Glory be to Him, says: "Does My servant knock at the door of other than Me in poverty while My door is open? Am I a miser that My servant should deem Me miserly? Or is My possession little that he should ask another? By Myself I have sworn: I shall surely cut off the hope of every hoper who hoped in other than Me with despair, and I shall surely clothe him in the garment of humiliation among the people." And God, Mighty and Majestic, said: "I am God, there is no god but I; the One who impoverishes the adulterers and leaves those who abandon prayer naked."

(174) Among what Ya'qub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Jallab narrated from Hisham ibn al-Hakam, peace be upon him, who said: Our Master al-Sadiq, Mighty is His Might, said: "Whoever claims that he recognizes God without vision has surely gone astray and rebelled. For what is recognized is preserved and what is unknown is cast aside. If a man doubts and suspects that which he sees, he would be even more doubting and suspicious of that which he does not see."

(175) On the authority of Muhammad ibn Sadaqa, from al-Mundhir ibn Yazid, from al-Mufaddal ibn Umar (peace be upon him), who said: Al-Sadiq, may His glory be exalted, said: "It is a characteristic of the wise man that he worships only a manifest, existing Being; for that which is absent and cannot be seen is on the verge of being nothing at all. Indeed, the Almighty, Mighty and Majestic, when He created the creation, called them to His Oneness. Then He appeared among them, moving through that which they move through. Thus, whoever recognized Him there recognizes Him here, and whoever denied Him there denies Him here—and Hell suffices as a blazing fire.”