manifest through the Unveiled Form is [merely] 'a light from an Illuminator' and 'a power from a Powerful One.'

He says: Had he said that the one manifest through the Unveiled Form is the Essence Itself, and that there is nothing beyond it to be mentioned or sought, he would have attained the Truth."

He says: I suspect that this renegade upstart (al-nabigh al-abiq) intends to claim that the Exalted Form merely points toward a Meaning that is an inaccessible Unseen, impossible to perceive. Thus, he has rendered the Form as an attribute, yet one that does not actually lead [to the essence]. There is no point in manifesting that which cannot be perceived; to claim otherwise is manifest ignorance.

He says: Among the Sheikh’s statements in his treatise is the following: If someone asks us, 'What is the proof of His manifestation through the Visual Form?'

We reply: Had He not manifested through the Visual Form, His existence could not be established, nor could His direct vision ('iyan) or certainty (tiyaqun) be validated. It must be understood: who is this Being who, if He did not manifest through the Visual Form, would remain unknown?