As for the meaning of His—Glory be to Him—saying: {and finds Allah before him}, it means that he knew God when he realized the [nature of the] mirage symbolized by their outward deeds and corrupt creeds regarding the outward forms of worship and the attribution of humanity to the realms of Light. This is because the outward forms indicate the Inward gnoses (Ma‘arif) and luminous persons. When the believer knows that He—the Almighty—only intends by their outward deeds—symbolized by this mirage—the Inward persons and gnoses, he has then known God Almighty, exalted Him, and singled Him out from those outward deeds. For the ambiguous Truth is only known by people upon the clarification of the obscuring Falsehood, as the Master [Ja'far] al-Sadiq—mercy be from him—said: "Verily, faith is more hidden than the crawling of an ant, and disbelief is even more hidden." That is because disbelief is hidden by its concealment and its shrouding with good outward deeds and sayings. Likewise, faith (Al-Iman) is hidden through its concealment and the outward display of evil deeds and sayings. The Creator (Al-Bari)—Exalted be He—manifested incapacity, humanity, and their [various] states upon Himself so that the disbeliever may manifest his disbelief, and so that the believers may avoid him and disavow him; and He manifested Power (Al-Qudra) so that the believer may manifest his faith, and so that the believers may know him and grant him allegiance.