He is the One who takes charge of them and is the Judge between them in the ends of the earth and its center. He is the Speaker within them so that no truth or aspect of reality remains except that He uses it as a proof against them. The prophets are beneath Him and the angels are beneath Him; for each there is guidance, yet they are not the actors. He is the Actor through their hands and the Speaker through their tongues; the Power is not borrowed. The ultimate disbelief and denial of Him is to say that another speaks through His tongue, or to invoke another while you intend Him."

(225) My lord and sheikh Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn al-Hasan—may God be pleased with him—narrated to me, saying: Abu Bakr Dalaf ibn Juhdur al-Shibli¹ narrated to me in the year three hundred and twenty-five. He was among those who believed the Truth with us and was one of the unique masters of Oneness whom I met, for I traveled to him, heard the tradition from him, and was among his companions and those who found intimacy with him. He narrated to me one day while a group of his elite companions was present: I was sitting in my house alone, having secluded myself and locked my door, reflecting upon the Lord of the worlds and His Oneness. Suddenly, the door was opened for me and a man entered wearing two clean rags, with a face more beautiful and perfect in grace and form than any I had ever seen. I said: "Who are you?" He—peace be upon him—replied: "I am your Lord, Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr." I said to him: "Stay where you are." I rose, brought some wood, and kindled a fire, saying: "If you are as you mentioned, then enter this fire." He said: So he entered it. I saw the fire and heard it glorifying and sanctifying beneath his feet. I said: "Truth, Truth, it is You, O my lord! I have believed in You and trusted You; repeat Your statement to me." He—peace be upon him—replied: "I am your Lord through a Lord who possesses me, originates me, and creates me; He is the Greatest Veil and the Supreme Light. My Lord and his Lord is the Lord of lords and the Master of souls, who is a God in the heaven and an Imam in the earth—the One of vast knowledge, who manifested to the world as a world so that form might draw near to form." Then he vanished from me and my eye saw him no more.