and the brain/marrow [al-mukh] is the richness and froth of the blood.'

[135] And the Sage—His glory is mighty—said: 'The believers are lights intermingled within the darkness, except for those whom Allah the Most High has protected; and the disbeliever possesses no protective bond alongside the believer.'

[136] He said: It has been transmitted in the prophetic tradition: 'Verily, Allah possesses seventy thousand veils of light and darkness; if He were to remove them, the radiant splendors of His Face [subuhat wajhihi] would surely consume whatever His sight reaches among His creation.'

[137] And it is stated in the sacred prophetic tradition [al-Hadith al-Qudsi]: "My close friends [Awliyai] are beneath My domes; no one recognizes them save Me."

Hasan ibn Hamza al-Sufi—Allah sanctified his soul—said in the third rule of the Book of Admonition [Kitab al-Tanbih]: "Since the soul of man is the closest of all things and the most indicative guide whose recognition yields proof of his Lord—the Most High—whereby he returns to Him, it is the most deserving of strenuous effort in its recognition. For it is his ladder of ascension [mi'raj] to that which is above it,