And he intensified the emphasis to establish the truthfulness of his sayings in the Sermon of Lights (Khutbat al-Anwar): “O assembly of people, hear and comprehend! Who is there to boast against me or to refute my word?”

Similar to this is his saying therein as well: “Is there any debater to debate me or to refute my word?”

Then he repeated the emphasis on the truthfulness of his sayings and warned whoever doubts them with the severest punishment in the Hereafter, saying: “Whoever doubts me—for I am the father of al-Hasan and al-Husayn—and whoever belies me and denies me, I shall return him to the earth cycle after cycle because he belied me. And whoever belies me has belied Allah in His Throne; and whoever belies Allah in His Throne, He shall punish him with His severest punishment and burn him with His most evil fire.

And similar to it is his saying: “Does anyone claim the like of what I have claimed except one whose life Allah has cut short, whose trace He has severed, and whom He has punished with His punishment that never ends, and burned with His fire that is never extinguished?”

I say: This confirms that his explicit declaration is neither a matter of ambiguity nor an allegory, but rather a manifestation of the Absolute Truth. Anyone who claims divinity other than him is an insolent liar and an accursed disbeliever. From this point, the believer in him is distinguished from the disbeliever; for he who believes him and holds