The Twenty-Second Word

The Twenty-Second Word

[This Word consists of two stations]

First Station

First Station

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

So God sets forth parables for men, so that they may bear [them] in mind.(14:25) ∗ Such are the similitudes which we propound to men that they may reflect.(59:21)

One time two men were washing in a pool. Under some extraordinary influence they lost their senses and when they opened their eyes, they saw that they had been transported to a strange world. The world was such that with its perfect order it resembled a country, or rather a town, or a palace. They looked around themselves in complete bewilderment: if it was looked at in one way, a vast world was apparent; if in another, an orderly country; and if in another, a fine town. And if it was looked at in still another way, it was a palace which comprised a truly magnificent world. Travelling around this strange world, they observed it and saw that creatures of one sort were speaking in a fashion, but they did not understand their language. Nevertheless, it was understood from their signs that they were performing important works and duties.

One of the two men said to his friend: “This strange world must have someone to regulate it, and this orderly country must have a lord, and this fine town, an owner, and this finely made palace, a master builder. We must try to know him, for it is understood that it was he who brought us here. If we do not recognize him, who will help us? What can we expect from these impotent creatures whose language we do not know and who take no notice of us? Moreover, surely the being who makes a vast world in the form of a country, town, and palace, and fills it from top to bottom with wonderful things, and embellishes it with every sort of adornment, and decks it out with instructive miracles wants something from us and