Let the mature believer be a Gnostic of the outward commands and an establisher of them in their [the public's] presence, so that it is not said: "The Jafari sect are disbelievers," just as Allah said in His Mighty Book: {And not alike are the two seas: this one is fresh and sweet, pleasant as a drink, and this one is salty and bitter. And from each you eat tender meat and extract ornaments that you wear} (Fatir 12).

Among what was narrated in "The Egyptian Treatise" [Al-Misriyya] is that the "fresh, sweet" [sea] is the science of the Inward [Batin]. His saying: {And from each you eat} means that from all of it you recognize, study, and learn; {and you extract from it ornaments that you wear}—meaning that through the Outward [Zahir] you find your way to the science the Inward, and you cloak yourselves with it against the People of the Outward, according to the saying of Allah the Exalted: {and you extract ornaments that you wear}—and it is the Ornament [Hilya].

And His saying: {And they say, "Why was there not sent down to him an angel?" But if We had sent down an angel, the matter would have been decided; then they would not be reprieved. And if We had made him an angel, We would have made him [appear as] a man, and We would have covered [clothed] them with that which they cover themselves} (Al-An'am 8-9).