preservation, and seeking. Whosoever is capable of this path has performed the pilgrimage to the House. As for the arrows of tribulation and the fires of purification, they are: the lowliness of Adam, the haste of Noah, the fear of Ibrahim, the excess of Dawud, the temptation of Sulayman, the distress of Ayyub, the despair of Yunus, the severity of Musa, the disclosure of al-Masih, and the ear of Muhammad."

And the Shaykh Husayn Ahmad said in his treatise The Antidote of the Ailing (Diryaq al-'Alil): "As for the liturgy (al-dustur), its increase and decrease are according to the intention of the worshiper. The reason for its institution was the occultation of the Pure Imams from this abode. During their days, the gnostic sufficed himself with establishing the outer religious law (al-shari'ah) at its designated times, while maintaining an allusion within his innermost secret (al-sarirah al-batinah) to the station standing with the Imamate in his specific era. When He willed the occultation from the final station of the Line, He instituted this liturgy to distinguish through it the People of the Esoteric (Ahl al-Batin)."