Divine Knowledge is the essence of the faithful soul. One destitute of it does not really exist. The Knowledge of the Creator follows from the knowledge of created objects, and leads to the safety and permanence of the knower.

One way to the Divine Knowledge is to see the whole universe as subject to the Divine Will, to sever connection from all, and to realize the Unity of God and the Eternity of His Nature and Attri­butes.

Another is through one’s own nature. “He that knows his own nature, verily knows his God.” God first shewed His Powers in the universe to enable monotheists to gain Knowledge of Him by observing it. This way being too long for the Sages, He placed in Man the essences of the entire crea­tion, thus making Human Nature the fac-simile of the whole universe and the ladder to His Knowledge. Pilgrims tread the Path of Divine Knowledge in themselves, look for the pure and the foul in themselves, and find the indication and proof of that Knowledge in themselves.

God engages some men in observation, and they know Him by pondering over His creation. He leads others to His knowledge through asceti­cism. There is another class of men whose hearts He illumines at once. Again, some are debarred from the essence of the Divine Knowledge, others from the Path itself. “The Divine Beauty has thousands of aspects, each atom presenting some peculiar one.”

Noori was asked: “What is the proof of God?” He replied: “The proof of God is God Himself.” They asked him again: “Then what is the use of intellect?” He said: “Intellect is a failure, it cannot lead save to what is a failure like itself.” Intellect can only look upon an entity either as body, essence or accident; or in Space and Time. It cannot go beyond those limitations. If it fixes any of those limitations on God, it sinks to infidelity. If, bewil­dered, it exclaims: “I do not find any existence save with these properties. So, God being without any of these properties, is perhaps naught,”—it is still dragged down to infidelity … In short, Divine Knowledge depends upon Divine illumina­tion alone.

Divine Knowledge is the knowledge of God as He is in His Essence, Attributes, and Works. The Sage should know God in the same way as God knows Himself, and as He has described Himself in the Qurân. There are two theories as to the perfection of this Knowledge. Some Intellectualists hold that the Sage knows God in the same way as God knows Himself. If he does not know Him perfectly, he knows a part of Him. But God is partless. So Sages are equal in Divine Knowledge. Intellectualists hold to the possibility of perfect Divine Knowledge. The other theory is held by the Sûfîs and a few intellectualists as well, viz., that no one knows God perfectly. They know Him to exist, and know it to the extent necessary for their salvation. They do not hold to the possibility of perfect Divine Knowledge.

With the Masters of the Path, Divine Knowledge is the actual and direct perception of God?? with the Intellectualists, it is the sound intellectual knowledge of God.

It is incumbent on a pilgrim not to be satis­fied and stand still until he reaches the Goal. The more he knows, the more he should seek … The whole world is satisfied with a smell or a word (i. e. very little), and no one has received even a drop from the holy cup. “I asked Him, ‘Whose art Thou with all this Beauty?’ He said, ‘I am My own, for I am verily ONE. I am the Lover, the Beloved, and Love; I am the mirror, the image and the beholder’.”—Letter 45.