existence were it not for its purity. In fact, He [the Gate] is purer than water and all other celestial and earthly beings, as the Great Scholar Hasan ibn Mazkun (may Allah sanctify him) said: "His purity obscured me from Him through [my] toil."

Just as those attributes which they continue to see in the water when looking at it are actually their own attributes—returning to them, existing within them, and being a likeness of them—while this water remains unchanged in its state; likewise, the attributes they continue to see in the existence of their Master when looking at Him are actually their own attributes—returning to them, existing within them, and being a likeness of them. As the Exalted informed us: {But it was made to appear so to them} (An-Nisa 157). Their Master (Glory be to Him) never departed from His essence and state as He is, but it was "likened to them" as a resemblance. The proof of this is these attributes which they see in the manifestation of their Master, for they are like their own [human] produced attributes without increase or decrease, just as they see them in pure water exactly as they are, without increase or decrease.

Just as it is permissible for us and obligatory for us to believe that these attributes which continue to appear to those looking into this water are only the attributes of those looking at it, not the attributes of the water—while the water remains in its state and essence—then it is more obligatory for us to believe and trust that these attributes which we