(226) He narrated to me from Abu Bakr al-Shibli—may God be pleased with him—who said: My lord Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd ibn Muhammad al-Qawariri—the dervish of Iraq and sheikh of Sufism—narrated to me, saying: I met al-Fath ibn Shukhruf, the dervish of Khorasan, and said to him: "What do you say regarding the Supreme Veil?" He replied: "I say regarding him what the Lord Sin—peace be upon him—said: 'Indeed, he is not a creature, out of glorification and magnification; rather, God the Meaning is above him.'" Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd said: I said to him: "O brother in God (Baradar-e Khoda), the Meaning is the secret of Abu Talib (Ma'na sar-e Abu Talib)." Al-Fath ibn Shukhruf said to me: "Yes, O friend (Areh ey Dust)."

Abu Bakr al-Shibli said: Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd was my cause for knowing the Truth. He was from the House of the Lord Abu Shu'ayb—peace be upon him—from which the laws branched out. Inwardly, he is connected to the Mim; outwardly, he is separated from him, but not as the separation of one thing from another. He said: I heard him one day as he was exhorting the people, and within his exhortation, he alluded to words understood by none but its people. That was when he recited:

I saw You, my lord, approaching, While all creatures had lowered their gaze.

In caution for the light of their vision, Each one anxious for his own soul.

They were called from the atmosphere: "If you look, By the light of His lights, you shall be burned."

He said: I memorized from him this supplication: "O Sought-after One among the first and the last; O Witnessed One among the first and the last. O He against whom the Pharaohs and the Adversaries strove to extinguish His light, to refute His proof, and to deny His knowledge, yet they reached not the perception of that. O He whose acts of power guided to His Lordship; O He whose Name guided to His Meaning. O He whose Throne is in the heaven and whose Sovereignty is in the earth.