from him, as we were also informed in the aforementioned Book of al-ʿUqūd.

He—may God sanctify him—does not mean by his words an absolute abandonment of the exoteric—meaning that we abandon the knowledge of its modality or abandon its performance among the Opposites (al-Aḍḍād) entirely. This is why he followed it with:

For that, by God, is a matter that is not valid

nor did the Book bring it. For it is not permissible for a believer to "untie this knot"—meaning the obligation—until its "Tier" [the one who tied it] unties it. This refers to Muhammad bin al-Hasan al-Hujjah, who manifests through unveiling (al-kashf) at the end of time, as narrated by the author of al-Risālah al-Miṣriyyah (The Egyptian Epistle). And Ali bin al-Hakam narrated, on the authority of Sulayman bin Ja'far bin Ibrahim al-Ja'fari, who said: I entered upon my Master Abu al-Hasan Musa [al-Kadhim]—peace be upon us from him—and I asked him about several matters, to which he answered me. Then I stood to leave, and he said to me:

"Do not spoil your fast."

I said: "My Master, I am not fasting."

He said: "Indeed, the believer is fasting eternally in the State of the Opposite (Dawlat al-Ḍidd); so do not speak of anything of [the knowledge] you possess until the time of your breaking the fast (ifṭār)."