They likewise denied the reality of the Resurrection, saying, “Souls have departed from us and taken up residence in other beings.”

He (1) argued with the devotees of “union,” steering them back to the noblest course and the most rightly guided path. He rescued them from the darkness of ignorance and blindness with light, compelling proof, and the religion of sincere counsel.

He refuted the people of incarnation, for they claim that the manifestation of the Truth appears in every form, maintaining that such epiphanies may arise anywhere—above all in the likeness of a beardless youth. Because of this notion they dance as a religious act, and in their dancing they commit every disgrace. They deem gazing at beardless boys and dancing a means of drawing near to God; woe to them for the shame of the Day of Exposure!

He (2) also rebutted the followers of Iblis when he saw them inclining toward absolute fatalism. How many sects his learning encompassed—Harurites among them, together with the crude anthropomorphists! Paltry mounts of the side-roads carried them on until they dismounted in the courtyards of estrangement. They drowned in the ocean of speculative creeds; the paltry fancies of feeble minds cast them adrift.

How often he showed every one of them the paths of guidance, and how many times he forbade them—again and again! Who besides him was the pole of the universe in his own age, the one who attained the station of substitution? A courageous hero, consummate in his qualities, he sought his goal upon the loftiest ascents. He renounced all that exists and beyond, passing through the world with a soul that held it in contempt.

Even in hardship he would give generously to the poor, offering them his very rags (3) out of love for the Creator of all beings.