its science, its firm, its ambiguous, its outward, its inward, grammar, linguistics, and every branch of science—it leads to the gnosis of Allah and indicates His existence. So have you known Allah — Exalted Glory —?"

I said: "Indeed I know Him with true gnosis and am a jurist in His gnosis." He said to me: "You have gladdened me with your word. By what did you infer, my son, your gnosis of Him?" I said to him: "By His signs, His power, His subtle craft, and His wisdom." He brought me near to him and stepped toward me, saying: "You have increased my joy and delight in you." Then he asked me: "O my son, who is Allah?" I said to him: "«He to whom belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, who has not taken a son and has not had a partner in dominion, and has created each thing and determined it with [precise] determination»"¹. He said to me: "I did not ask you about that. I only asked you to make known to me who is Allah besides whom there is no deity. Allah — Exalted Glory — has mentioned people in His Book who said the likes of what you said and attributed them to a lack of understanding and science. He — Exalted Glory — said: «And if you asked them, "Who created the heavens and the earth?" they would surely say, "Allah." Say, "[All] praise is [due] to Allah"; but most of them do not know»². And I, my son, did not ask you to make known to me who created the heavens and the earth; I only asked you to make known to me who is Allah whose gnosis you claimed?"

I said to him: "The one you asked me about and whom I mentioned that I know is Allah besides whom there is no deity, the Creator, the Shaper." He said: "O my son, this is the speech of one who has no science. I have already known that Allah created the heavens and the earth and that there is no deity except Him, the Creator, the Shaper. So, tell me who He is if you are a gnostic of Him?" I said: "He is Allah who is Allah." He said to me: "If you had written in the middle of your palm the letters