(435) From Abu al-Hasan al-Hayyaji from Abu Sa'id Maymun ibn al-Qasim al-Tabarani—may God sanctify his soul—who said: I asked the Sheikh Abu al-Husayn al-Jali—may God raise his degree—regarding the saying of the Messenger—exalted be his glory: "Begin with salt and end with it"?

He replied: The Salt is the person of the Gate; with him we began and with him we ended, thus we found security. With him we ended, thus we were secured from the defects and from the seventy [levels] mentioned by our Master and the deliverance from them.

Its meaning is: if a man begins with salt at the start of his meal and ends with it—that is: if it is recognized that Lord Salman is Gabriel in the first of the Cycles, and he is Lord Abu Shu’ayb in the last of the stations—then he is cured from seventy layers that the disbeliever enters in the state of metamorphosis (al-musukhiyya).