And His praise be magnified: {And whatever good you put forward for yourselves, you will find it with Allah. It is better and greater in reward} (Al-Muzzammil: 20). The "reward" is the recompense from Allah the Exalted, which is manifold better than the deed itself, as the Mighty and Majestic said: {So He may multiply it for him many times over} (Al-Baqarah: 245), meaning redoubled. Within the meaning of what we have mentioned is what he narrated in his epistle in a section from which we have excerpted this report:

(62) It is from al-Alim, may His might be glorified, that he said: "Whoever does not find in his time a Station (Maqam) or a Gate (Bab), let him seek an Orphan (Yatim). If he does not find one, then a Deputy (Naqib). If he does not find one, then a Noble (Najib). If he does not find one, then a Specialized one (Mukhtass). If he does not find one, then a Sincere one (Mukhlis). If he does not find one, then a Tested one (Mumtahan). If he does not find one, then let him seek the one who is above him in knowledge, making that person his means and his salvation, and ask him about what has become obscure to him in the matter of his religion regarding what is confused to him, [referring] to that scholar regarding what he does not know, asking him until he uncovers his doubt. For if he lacks that, he remains in his doubt, wandering, and confusion."

If nothing regarding spiritual fatherhood and the urging to seek "means" had been related other than this virtue, it would be sufficient for the people of understanding. May Allah make us and you among those who know and act, benefiting from what they know and succeeding through the success granted by Allah and remaining safe. And may He protect us, through His mercy, from being among those who neglected what they knew and thus failed and regretted.