[226] And from it: What Tariq bin Shihab narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (exalted is his might), that he said: "O Tariq, indeed the Imam is the word of Allah, and the proof of Allah, and the face of Allah, and the light of Allah, and the veil of Allah," up to his saying: "whoever precedes him has indeed disbelieved in Allah, for he does what he wills," up to his saying: "A pillar of light is erected for him from the earth to the heaven, in which he sees the deeds of the servants, and he looks upon the unseen, and he is given the disposal [of affairs] absolutely,

and he sees what is between the east and the west, so nothing is hidden from him of the knowledge of the physical realm and the spiritual realm," up to his saying: "looking upon the unseen things, his exoteric is a command that is not owned, and his esoteric is an unseen that is not perceived," up to his saying: "And is the affair of the one who is the point of the beings, and the pole of the circles, and the secret of the possibilities, and the ray of the majesty of greatness, and the honor of the people of the earth and the heaven, recognized, or described, or known, or understood, or perceived, or owned?" up to his saying: "So he (meaning the Imam) is angelic of essence, divine of attributes, knowing of the hidden things," up to his saying: "the knowledge of the prophets is in their knowledge, meaning the Imams, and the secret of the legatees is in their secret, and the might of the guardians is in their might, like the drop in the sea, and the atom in the wasteland. And the heavens and the earths with the Imam are like his hand from his palm; he recognizes their exoteric from their esoteric, and he knows their righteous from their wicked, and their moist and their dry."