What Has Been Said Regarding Occultation (Ghayba) and Manifestation (Zuhur)

Abu Muhammad bin al-Hasan al-Baladi (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated it, saying: It was narrated from one of the Gnostic believers (al-Mu'minin al-Arifin) that he met a man and said to him: "From where have you come, O my brother?"

He said: "From the Mashhad (Shrine/Place of Witnessing)."

He said to him: "When was He absent so that He could be witnessed?"

He said: "From the Mi'raj (Ascension)."

He said: "When did He descend so that He could ascend?"

He said: "Then how should I say, O my brother?"

He said: "[Say: From] the place of the Occultation and the renewal of the Manifestation."

And of that is that our Master al-Husayn (Mighty is His Glory), when it was the night whose morning would be the Battle, appeared to his Shia and his family in the form of incapacity (human frailty) and said to them: "Indeed, these people have no desire other than me; and if they capture me, they will not seek you.