[235] And the Shaykh Muhammad Farqul said in his treatise Manarat al-Hayat: I asked my master, my reviver, and the one who is my grandfather in religious lineage, the Shaykh Ahmad Salman al-Khatib, to explain to me an exposition regarding the seven obstacles which our master al-Sadiq, His glory is might, mentioned in the Book of the Path in his narration to al-Mufaddal, peace be upon him, by his saying: "They are seven that the gnostic traverses."

He said: The first obstacle is that the believer initially enters into the communal gathering with the believers, and chooses for himself a teacher to attain the knowledge of the Possessor of Existence, because of the statement of the Master, His glory is might: "Verily, the first obstacle that the seeking gnostic traverses is the obstacle of the tested one." Then he said: And upon his choice of the master and his capacity to share the gathering with him, he stands upon this obstacle serving his master. If he bears [the burden], endures, and does not turn away, he seeks the second obstacle, which is his steadfastness upon the binding—and that is listening and contracting upon the knowledge of the one from whom he takes the covenants and conditions, and his acceptance of them.