was not born and has no father. Strengthen their conviction that Joseph the carpenter was his father and Mary his mother, and that Joseph the carpenter had intercourse with her as men do with women, and other such claims, for they will soon follow you.’

He said:

‘If you find that the person being approached is a Christian, gain access to him by attacking both Jews and Muslims, affirming the truth of their doctrine of the Trinity, and maintaining that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are true. Exalt the cross in their eyes and explain its esoteric interpretation to them.

If you find him to be a Mathānī, then Mathāniyya (1) stirs that which he acknowledges as his source. Approach them through the mingling (2) discussed in the sixth chapter, at the sixth degree of the stages of instruction which he describes (3) later, and mingle with light and darkness (4), for through this you will gain mastery over them. When you perceive discernment in any of them, lift the veil for him.

Whenever a philosopher comes your way, you already know that philosophers are our mainstay. We—[we ourselves] (5) and they—are agreed on invalidating the laws of the prophets and affirming the eternity of the world, were it not for the disagreement of some of them with us in holding that the world has a governor whom they do not know. If (6) they come to agree that the world has no governor, the uncertainty between us and them will have disappeared.

If you encounter a dualist among them, excellent, excellent! You have laid your hands (7) on someone with whom your toil will be slight. The way to approach him is by denying the oneness of God and affirming the Preceding One and the Following One. Present this to him in the order prescribed for you in the first degree of instruction, and its second and third.