performing it, according to the saying of the Exalted: {And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House - for whoever is able to find thereto a way} (Al-Imran 97).

The outward matter is known to the People of the Outward, which is the intention toward the House situated in Bakkah [Mecca] built by Abraham and Ishmael (peace be upon them). Seeking it is an obligation upon the General Public [al-Amma] who stopped at the outward appearances of things without their inward realities. Their understandings did not cross over to the manifestation of the Sign within the concealed expression; thus, they were veiled by the Wall and the Mountain from the Cause of Causes [Illat al-Ilal].

That is part of the Burdens [Asar] carried upon them and the Shackles [Aghlal] placed around their necks because they stopped at the "outward of the outwards" of forms and were cut off from the inward of the pre-ordained decrees.