not guardians of the unseen"»1. So, they did not testify except to what they recognized, and they denied of themselves to testify to what they did not know, since it was an unseen hidden from them." I said: "The matter is as you mentioned; so, what did you intend by this question?" He said to me: "Do you not say every day: 'I bear witness that there is no god but Allah,' many times?" I said: "It is so." He said: "When I asked you about Him, you said to me: 'He is an unseen (ghayb) not perceived and a finality not reached.' The Unseen is unknown to you, its gnosis and you are not demanded to have science of it since it is an unseen. You should only answer me with this answer if I said to you: 'What is He?' Then you would say to me: 'An unseen.' As for my question, I only told you to say to me: 'Who is He' by the name of identification (ta’rīf), not by the name of reporting (ikhbār). You have heard His saying — Exalted Glory —: «And those they invoke besides Him do not possess [the power of] intercession; but only those who testify to the truth and they know»2. So, contemplate, my son, this speech and ponder it with your intellect."
Then he intended to rise, and I said to him: "I adjure you by Allah, point me toward the gnosis of Allah — Exalted Glory —." He said: "When I sense maturity from you, I shall point you." I said to him: "Permit me not to leave your presence and to employ myself in your service." He said: "O my son, and what 'presence' do I have, and what 'service' would you serve me? The state you seek from me—I cannot mention it to you except over a long time, for I want to test you and try you. This is not possible because my age has grown great and my departure is near." I said to him: "Guide me to the path of my maturity?" He said to me: "That is not possible; however, I shall strike a parable for you, so listen to it and contemplate it." I said to him: "Speak, my master."
He said: "I inform you that a man for a long time had no child. He had a righteous brother who came to him one day and found him sad and