and are reached by treading the path of the Way. The ranks of their seekers have varied, just as their modes of seeking and their states have differed. None among them has reached an end except that it became clear to him that beyond that end lies another end—at which his knowledge was severed, and his understanding fell short of perceiving.

And Gnosis (al-Ma‘rifa) of this station forbids whoever attains it from turning his face away from speaking upon what God has bestowed of Divine Knowledge—even if it be a little out of a great abundance. This is because every rank, in relation to the one beneath it, is a Heaven, and in relation to the one above it, is an Earth. There is no way for the wayfarers to reach the Heaven of Gnosis without ascending through the intermediary degrees between their own level and that supreme degree—by receiving from the culmination of each degree through which they travel, until the lines end at their origins, and intellects find their stability with their Creator (Bārī’ihā).

[1] It has been mentioned in the book entitled "The Path" (al-Ṣirāṭ),