and His Attributes; the majesty of His Essence; the connection of his heart to the rays of those lights; his partaking (1) of their distinctive gifts and loftiest tastes; his passage from the outward to the inward, from the realm of witness to the unseen, from the unseen back to witness, from the world of creation to the world of command, and other realities that cannot be set down in a book.

Your shaykh—may Allah support you—is a gnostic (2) of Allah’s prescriptive rulings, a gnostic of His decreed rulings, and a gnostic of the rulings that pertain to His Names ⦗111⦘ and Essential Attributes. One endowed with such gnosis may, through his inner sight, behold the descent of the Divine command between the tiers of heaven and earth, as the Exalted says: “Allah is He who created seven heavens, and of the earth the like thereof; the command descends between them…” (3) [at-Talaq 65:12].

Ordinary people perceive only what occurs in the visible realm, whereas the inner eyes of these men are fixed upon the unseen. They await what the decrees will bring, and sometimes sense them at the very moment they descend.

So do not belittle such people when you see them freely mixing with others and letting their time be taken up by them. As was related about al-Junayd—may Allah have mercy on him—someone asked, “How often do you summon people to Allah while among them?” He replied, “I summon the people while standing before Allah.”

Therefore, for Allah’s sake, maintain proper etiquette with him, comply with his directives, safeguard his inviolabilities both in public and in private, love those he loves, keep away from anyone he dislikes, censures, or disparages (4), repel those who backbite him, and stand up for him in what is right.