discipline. He named the praised and blamed persons with their names just as the People of Monotheism (Ahl al-Tawḥīd) named their Beloved with the names of Wine (al-khamra) and the Gazelle (al-ghazāl) and so forth, while their intent by that was none other than the Worshipped God. In reality, it is not permissible to believe except for what they intended of the Persons (ashkhāṣ) and the Gnosis (maʿārif), not for what they mentioned of the vanishing names which remain as they are.

From the Master al-Riḍā, he said: 'That is not in the Book of Allah alone, but even our words—the Ahl al-Bayt—there is nothing in them of what has passed; rather, those are parables struck, and persons, and meanings of figures (ashbāḥ) signaling towards lights and towards knowledge.'

Among what also indicates this meaning is what was mentioned in the Liturgy of the Basil (Quddās al-Rayḥān):

'Know and understand, O noble brothers and esteemed masters, that when Allah brought these human creatures into existence and created for them these earthly things—making from them the sweet-smelling fragrances for those who touch and inhale them—He made it obligatory upon every believer to know the Luminous Persons. It was then that He applied the naming upon them and gave each person among them a name from the names of these worldly objects, so that we might infer the Celestial Persons by the names and distinguish