performing what has been obligated upon him of the duties of faith and the religious rights of the brethren—such that he sees no right belonging to Allah except that he establishes it, and sees no falsehood except that he stones it and dissociates from it—and he stands the night in its darkness and bends the day in his cloak, no defect remaining in him to disgrace him and no doubt to expose him, and that is the limit of cutting through the sixth. Thereupon, he breaks through the seventh obstacle, which is the rank of purity, and it is the freeing of the neck from the bondage of servitude, which represents the human shirts. Oh, what a momentous obstacle and noble rank it is! It is the finest obstacle, near which is the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, worthy of praise and mention in every poetry and prose. Whoever breaks through it has sufficed himself from all the physical attachments and earthly afflictions; and alas, none break through it except single individuals out of thousands.

[236] The Imam al-Sadiq, His glory is might, said: "If Allah is the Ultimate of Goals, then the knowledge of Him is the most sublime of ends."