Know, O seeker, that the People of Monotheism (Ahl al-Tawḥīd) have established that everything mentioned by the Prophets and the Executors (al-Awṣiyāʾ) in the revealed Books and elsewhere—regarding outward words and actions intended for the People of the Outward (Ahl al-Ẓāhir), the deniers and rejectors—are parables (amthāl) and depictions (taṣwīr). This is based on firm witnesses and clear proofs. Depiction and representation are of many types, not just one; some are celestial parables and images, and some are earthly parables and images. They are too numerous to count. There is no parable among those parables, nor any image among those images, except that an inward meaning is intended by it.

I will provide a parable for that, which is the saying of the Almighty: {And We sent down from the sky pure water} (Al-Furqān: 48), and His saying: {And We sent down from the rain clouds pouring water} (Al-Nabaʾ: 14)."

Lineages, She guarded her chastity The blowing of the spirit. Her pregnancy The manifestation of birth.

"Each of these two verses indicates a meaning different from the other; this is because the Heavenly Water is the knowledge of the Gate (al-Bāb), whereas the Water of the Rain Clouds (al-Muʿṣirāt) is the knowledge of the rank named the Muʿṣirāt.

Just as the People of Monotheism (Ahl al-Tawḥīd) explained to us the realities of what they intended in those celestial and earthly images and