returning soul [al-ruh al-mutabah] journeys into the Malakut [celestial realm], where the luminous souls welcome it and find stability through it, beholding its night as a continuous day." I said: "O my Master, from which aspect is that?" He said: "From the aspect of absolute purity [al-safa']. Do you not see that light never blends with darkness, nor darkness with light? Do you know the deeper meaning of these two?" I said: "No." He said: "Because they are two diametrically opposed substances [jinsan mutadaddan] that cannot truly fuse. Verily, the believers—their physical bodies and their souls—are uniform in their primordial nature [al-jibillah], their esoteric recognition, their acceptance, and their obedience; and their ultimate end is one. Whatever differences existed between them previously [were transient]; for when their Creator unified their souls, they became a single, praiseworthy jewel [jawharatan wahidah mahmudah]." And the esoteric meaning that they became a single, praiseworthy jewel from the standpoint of primordial origin [al-asl], spiritual influx [al-madad], and cosmic status [al-kawniyyah], and by virtue of their safe return unto a single, unified abode. Verily, those who reach that sublime station find absolute self-sufficiency through their static repose within their own essential substance,