denounce the Opposites as disbelievers (Takfir) before the commonality (Al-‘Amma), but hold [that belief] in your heart; and loud laughter is the allegiance to the Opposites.

He also excelled in another matter regarding the saying of the Almighty: {This is fresh and sweet water, pleasant to drink, and this is salt and bitter, and from each you eat} (Fatir: 12)? The answer: The fresh and sweet water is the Inward knowledge (Al-‘Ilm al-Batin) in its explanation, and the salt and bitter water is the Outward knowledge (Ilm al-Zahir) which is in the hands of the hypocritical dissenters...

He also excelled in clarifying a matter regarding the saying of the Almighty: {Or do you inform Him of that which He knows not upon the earth, or of the outward of speech? Nay, but their plotting is made fair-seeming to those who disbelieve, and they are barred from the way} (Al-Ra'd: 33). The answer: They are barred from the Inward knowledge, which is the path of Truth.

He bestowed favor with another matter, which is: What is the curtain (Sitar) of the Kaaba? The answer: The manifestation of the Mim [Muhammad] is the Outward knowledge, and his concealment of the Inward is within what he has displayed of the Outward.

He also excelled in another matter regarding the Rock of Jerusalem (Sakhra Bayt al-Maqdis), and what is the reason for the Mim’s prayer toward it and his withdrawal from it? The answer: It teaches us the prayer of the Inward knowledge and the return from the Outward knowledge.