the shell to that jewel. Existent spirit is the brother of the conceivable law. They are both enduring and come from the World of the Divine Command. If pre-eternal power had clothed the laws governing in the species of beings in external existence, they would have been spirits. And if the spirit banishes consciousness, it still would be an undying law.
20. Beings are visible through light, and their existence is known through life. Both are revealers.
21. Christianity will either erupt, or being purified will lay down its arms before Islam. It was split apart several times and Protestantism emerged. Then Protestantism was rent and approached the true affirmation of divine unity. It is preparing to be rent again. It will either erupt and be extinguished, or it will see before it the truths of Islam, which encompass the basis of true Christianity, and it will lay down its arms.
The Prophet Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace) alluded to this great mystery when he said: “Jesus will come having descended from the skies; he will be of my community and will act in accordance with my Shari‘a.”1
22. It is the sacredness of the authority more than proof that drives the mass of the people to comply with it.
23. The essentials and incontestable matters of religion, which form ninety-nine per cent, are each diamond pillars, while the controversial matters which are open to interpretation form only ten per cent. Ninety diamond pillars may not be put under the protection of ten gold pillars. Books and interpretations should be telescopes for observing the Qur’an; they should be mirrors; not shadows or deputies!
24. Anyone who is capable may make interpretations of the law for his own self; but he cannot make the law.
25. Calling others to accept an idea is dependent on acceptance by the ‘ulama; otherwise it is innovation, and should be rejected.
26. Since by nature man is noble, he seeks the truth. Sometimes he encounters the false, but supposing it to be the truth preserves it in his heart. Then, when delving into reality, without his willing it misguidance strikes him on the head; supposing it to be reality, he plunges his head into it.
27. Divine power has many mirrors, each more subtle and transparent than
Bukhari, Anbiya’, 49; Muslim, Iman, 242-7; Tirmidhi, Fitan, 62; Musnad, iv, 226.