Those imaginings which are the snare of the saints

Are the reflections of the moon-faced beauties of the garden of God. [^2]

[^2]:From Mawlana Rumi's Mathnawī, vol. i, 72 nd. couplet.

The way of the followers of the unity of witnessing, however, is the way of those who practise intoxication and self-annihilation. The purest and best way is that of sobriety and separation.

Man is incapable of comprehending his own reality, so how can he comprehend the nature of the Pre-Eternal Compeller, Who originated things and created them? [^3]

[^3]:A paraphrase of lines from the Dīwān of al-Imām 'Ali b. Abī Ṭālib (Beirut), 158.

Note

The above are proofs of the Maker's existence in brief; detailed exposition will be the three books. If you say that you want a clear exposition of the proofs of divine unity here, even if only in summary, I would say that they are so well-known and so many that there is no need to mention them in this book. The proof tamānu', which is hidden in the shell of the verse, "Were there gods other than God in [the heavens and earth], both would have been spoiled"(21:22), is a beaming lighthouse for this way. Yes, independence is an essential quality of the Godhead, and necessary to Him.

Elucidation

The similarity between works in the universe, and the various sides of it embracing each other, and their co-operating to maintain the order, and their replying favourably to each other's questions and cries for help, and their looking to one point, and their revolving around a single orbit all hint at the Maker's unity, indeed they declare in all clarity the unity of the Pre-Eternal All-Wise One. For sure, a machine has only one maker and inventor.

In everything is a sign indicating that He is One. [^4]

[^4]:By Ibn Mu'tazz, quoted in al-Ghazālī, Iḥyā' (Cairo: 1356/1937), i, 178; and in Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-'Aẓīm, i, 24.