the ranks. Were it not for delimitation, the messengers would not have reported the Real’s transformation in forms, nor described Him as divesting Himself of forms. Thus the eye looks upon Him alone, and every judgment concerns Him alone. We belong to Him, exist through Him, and are in His hands; in every state, we are in His presence. This is why He is denied and recognized, declared transcendent and described.

Whoever beholds the Real through Him, in Him, and with His eye is one who knows. Whoever beholds the Real through Him and in Him, but with his own eye, is not one who knows. Whoever does not behold the Real through Him or in Him, but waits to behold Him with his own eye, is ignorant.

In short, every person necessarily holds a belief concerning his Lord, through which he turns to Him and within which he seeks Him. If the Real manifests Himself to him within that belief, he recognizes and acknowledges Him. But if He manifests Himself in a different form, he denies Him and seeks refuge from Him. In reality, he behaves disrespectfully toward Him, though he imagines that he has behaved respectfully toward Him. Thus no one believes in a god except through what he has fashioned from his own self. The god of beliefs is therefore a construct: they have seen nothing but their own selves and what they have fashioned within them. Consider, then, people’s degrees of knowledge of Allah Most High: these are identical with