the arrangement of religious laws—there is reward in this world and the Hereafter.

Likewise is the statement regarding the Outward acts of worship: for he who abandons them among the Opposites or performs them in private, he is rewarded. There is no harm or fault upon the Gnostic believer if his performance of them is for the purpose of learning and so that he does not become heedless of them, according to the saying of the Truthful Master [Imam al-Sadiq] to al-Mufaddal—peace be upon them both:

"O Mufaddal, accustom yourselves to these commands in private (al-khalāʾ) so that you do not forget them when among the public (al-malaʾ) Know that the statements reported regarding the rejection of the outward forms of worship and their performance are like the statements reported regarding the permissibility and prohibition of wine. If the intended meaning were not the Inward (al-Bāṭin), these statements would contradict one another.

Our Luminous Sheikh clarified for us the manner of using the outward and inward drink in his poetry, saying:

Do not drink the wine (al-Rāḥ) except with a brother of trust

Refined, and knowing the ʿAyn and the Mīm

And the Bāb and the Five Orphans, for they are

The pillars of religion, so know them with submission.