manifestation mentioned, he was named Muhammad, and at this time when he appeared to us, he was named Muhammad?"

He said to me: "Indeed, this manifestation is unlike those previous manifestations."

I said to him: "Inform me of the explanation of that."

He said to me: "Every thirty-six thousand years, there is a Cycle (Kawr), a Revolution (Dawr), and a Return (Raj‘ah). This manifestation which he will manifest after this time—in which he guided us and we saw him—is the Head of the Revolution (Ra’s al-Dawr)."

I asked him: "From which place will he appear?"

He said: "From the place he mentioned to us when he said: 'From where I vanish, there I shall appear.' His vanishing was only from beneath the rays of the Sun, and from beneath the rays of the Sun he shall appear, with Dhu al-Fiqar drawn in his hand."

I said to him: "O my Master, is the one we saw named Muhammad—whose existence we verified and who is Muhammad ibn al-Hasan—the same as the Anza' who appears in this Cycle and at the conclusion of the Revolution?"

He said: "Yes."

I said: "What is the proof of that?"

He said: "The proof for that is what he said of himself when some Shias asked him, Exalted Glory: 'O our Lord, who are you?' He said: 'I am the First Muhammad, I am the Last Muhammad, and I am the Middle Muhammad. Every Muhammad, I am he.' It is as if you denied what you heard from the words of your Lord: 'The first of us is Muhammad, the middle of us is Muhammad, and the last of us is Muhammad; all of us are Muhammad.'¹"