I said to him: "Where shall I seek one who guides me toward the gnosis of Allah — Exalted Glory —?" He said: "If you demand of your soul these traits and conditions, and struggle with it in patience upon what I said to you and conditioned upon you, and you find it fulfills that—then seek one in whom you find the likes of what you find in your soul. Then take from him the landmarks of your religion and ask him about the gnosis of Allah — Exalted Glory —, for he shall guide you toward that. And act by the report related from Amir Al-Muminin — Exalted Glory —." I asked: "And what is the report?"

He said: It is related from Amir Al-Muminin — Exalted Glory — that he said: "Whosoever claims that he is from our Shia and is holding fast to our Guardianship (Walāya), let him follow our traces and not contradict our Sunnah."

From him — Exalted Glory — that he said: " There is no man among our followers who truly believes while there is in his neighborhood one who is more faithful than him, or one who is better than him."

From him — Exalted Glory — that he said: "There is no one among our Shia but that in his neighborhood there is no one more well-informed than him."

I said: "To what do these reports lead?" He said to me: "That you should know all the causes of goodness and act by them." I said to him: "Why did you not mention all the causes of goodness to me so that I may perform them and act by them?" He said: "As for the causes of goodness, piety, and righteous action, Allah — Exalted Glory — has said: «Indeed, Allah is with those who fear Him and those who are doers of good»¹. He also said: «And spend in the way of Allah and do not throw [yourselves] with your [own] hands into destruction. And do good; indeed, Allah loves the doers of good»².