Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Askarī, Exalted Glory, said of himself when some Shias asked him: "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 Exalted Glory: "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 "
Another report has been narrated from him, Exalted Glory, in this regard. Some of his companions asked him: "O our Lord, who are you?" He said: "I am Muhammad ibn Muhammad," until he counted twelve Muhammads. Then he said: "And I am Ali ibn Ali," until he counted twelve Alis. Then he said: "From us is the origin of the letters, and from the Names is their Meaning (Ma‘nā).2 " He said: "Whoever knows the locations of the Attribute has reached the stable ground of Knowledge, and whoever knows the Station of the Essence (al-Dhāt) has known the reality of Divinity (al-Lāhūt)."
Then he said: "Contemplate the meanings of this speech, understand it, and preserve it, so that you may be liberated from murkiness, become pure, and attain thereby nearness."
This is some of what we found in the histories by which we inferred the meaning of what you intended. I have represented for you the lands of the People, the mountain connected to them, the isolated islands, the sea, and all the regions. I shall make known to you what you need, if Allah Exalted Glory wills.
Abu al-Tahir Sabur ibn al-Qasim ibn Sabur al-Zahid said: We remained with the King for ten years after he narrated the histories to us. We ate of what he ate at the time he chose, and drank with his drinking. When the night grew dark, he would call for clothes for us and order us to wear them, while he wore what had been on our bodies. He would call for perfume and perfume himself, then order the candles to be lit in his