Since this is so, the book’s Writer will certainly make it known and explain a part of it to each group according to its capacity. He will instruct in the contents of the book the person who has the most extensive and comprehensive view, the most universal consciousness, and the greatest ability. Wisdom requires that He should take the person on a lofty journey in order to teach him the contents of such a book and its universal truths. That is, He should cause him to travel from the furthest extreme of the levels of multiplicity, which is the first page, to the sphere of divine oneness, which is the final page. Thus, by means of this comparison, you may behold to an extent the exalted instances of wisdom in the Ascension.

Now we shall consider the atheist who is listening and shall listen to his heart to learn what state it is in. It comes to mind that his heart would say: “I have begun to believe in it now, but I still do not have a clear understanding. I have three more important difficulties.

“The First: Why was this mighty Ascension special to Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace)?

“The Second: How was he the seed of the universe? And you say that the universe was created from his Light, and also that he was its farthest and most illumined fruit. [^10] What does this mean?

[^10]:See, al-Daylamī, al-Musnad, i, 171; al-‘Ajlūnī, Kashf al-Khafā’, i, 311.

“The Third: In your explanations above you say that he made his Ascension in order to rise to the celestial realm and to see the machinery and workshops of the works of art found in the realm of the earth, and the treasuries of their results. What does this mean?”

T h e A n s w e r

Your First Difficulty

Your First Difficulty: This has been discussed in detail in the first thirty Words, so here we shall set out a concise list that indicates briefly Muhammad’s (UWBP) perfections and attainments, the signs of his prophethood, and the fact that he was the person who most merited making the Ascension. It is as follows.

Firstly: Despite numerous corruptions in the texts of such Holy Scriptures as the Torah, Gospels, and Psalms, in recent times even, the exacting scholar Husayn Jisri extracted one hundred and fourteen good tidings of Muhammad’s prophethood (UWBP), which he set forth in his Risale-i Hamidiye. [^11]

[^11]:Ḥusayn al-Jisr, al-Risāla al-Ḥamīdiyya. Turk. tr. Manastırlı İsmail Hakkı. 4 vols. (Istanbul: 1308), (52-94); Suyūṭī, al-Khaṣā’is al-Kubrā, i, 26, 73.

Secondly: It has been proved historically that there were many predictions accurately forecasting the prophethood of Muhammad (UWBP), like