The Lord is the unperceivable Unseen, the Angel is spiritual (ruhani), and the Messenger and the Imam are two humans.
And the Christians believe in four ranks: in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God. For the Father is in the position of the Meaning (al-Ma'na), while the Son and the Holy Spirit are in the meaning of the Light (al-Nur), the Radiance (al-Diya'), and the Shadow (al-Zill). [And the Holiness] 1 is the Mim [Muhammad], majestic is His mention; the Spirit is the Sin [Salman], peace be upon him; and the Son is the Alif, al-Miqdad, peace be upon him. However, they make the four ranks into three [and they differ] 2 in their arrangement, placing the Meaning among them, and they are equal in what they hold.
As for the term Ali, its meaning is the reality of the form. Likewise, [each one of these three] 3 has a center and two extremes—meaning an outward (zahir) and an inward (batin). Its inward is the reality of the Name, which is the light of the Essence, and the outward of the Meaning is the Name. The