and to it they shall return. The disbelievers are falling short of its recognition, rejecting it; their designation is darkness because they were created from disobedience, and to darkness they shall return due to the rust [al-ran] covering their hearts because of what they used to earn."

And the Sheikh Muhammad Mahmoud Qurful said in his "Clarification of the Proximity of Exposition" [Risalat Taqrib al-Bayan]: "And the spirits of the believers who grew intimate with His recognition share a single origin from the Supreme Master [al-Sayyid al-Akbar], and concerning this, there are two views:"

The first view: Verily, the Master Muhammad is the Seventh Cosmos, and he is the holiness of recognition [quds al-ma'rifah] that shines upon all existing things. As for the believers, his illumination takes effect within them; they accept it, draw sustenance from it, and his lights and insights are poured forth upon them—such as their affirmation of that which he summoned them to while in the human form, whereby they speak with wisdom. This spiritual sustenance shares a single origin upon reaching them, and a single element by virtue of their acceptance of it. As for the disbelievers,