a great saint, the prayers of ordinary people like you or me, even if they are not aware of it, have a share of that light. This truth holds a mystery, even if the conscious mind does not perceive it. But the unfolding and illumination differ according to the degrees of those performing them. However many stages and degrees there are from the seed of a date palm to the mature tree, the degrees of the prayers and their stages are even more numerous. The essence of that luminous truth, however, is present in all the degrees.

O God! Grant blessings and peace to the one who said: “The five daily prayers are the pillar of religion,” [^2] and to all his Family and Companions.

[^2]:Tirmidhī, Imān, 8; Ibn Māja, Fitan, 12; Musnad, v, 231, 237; al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 76.