Proof, His fortified castle, His guarded sanctuary, His speaking tongue, His Noble Face, His Ancient Science, His Overpowering Power, and His manifest signs. His gnosis is not attained except through Him and is not found except with Him—a Name that did not separate from its Named One, and the supplication is not answered except through Him, nor is the calamity lifted except by Him.' Some say: 'That which they saw is a form not like forms, and a body not like bodies.' Some say: 'The one who looks at Him only sees himself.' Each has argued for his saying with clear proofs and manifest evidences."

The idolater said: "What is the argument of the one who says: 'The one who looks at Him only sees himself'? He knows that if it were as he mentioned, the white would see Him as white, the black as black, the youth as a youth, and the elder as an elder." The Muslim said: "The one who looks at Him only sees himself, as we say: 'The onlooker only sees his own image.' You have known that the soul (nafs) is not perceived by the senses even though it exists; it only witnesses its own essence and is inferred by its actions. Likewise, the Creator — may His secret be hallowed and His mention be exalted — is present and witnessed, inferred by what appeared of His actions. They proceeded toward:

The saying of our Master al-Sadiq — Exalted Glory —: 'None shall know his Lord except he who knows himself.'

They have an argument whose explanation is long." The idolater said: "As for the one who claims that what was seen and witnessed is a body not like bodies and a form not like forms—is he correct in his speech or mistaken?" The Muslim said: "If he is a gnostic scholar, then he is in a manifest error." The idolater asked: "Explain the aspect of that to me?" The Muslim said: "Do you not know that every form has a former, and everybody has a densifier? Also, we say: his saying 'a form not like forms' cannot escape one of two states: either he is truthful in saying 'a form' or he is a nullifier. If he is truthful in saying 'a form,' then he is a nullifier in saying 'not like forms,' and there was no benefit in his saying 'not like forms.'"