These sectaries, like other philosophers, always were, and are, scattered among all nations of the world, and are called in Persian vèzhahderún, “inter­nally pure,” or róuchen-dil, “enlightened minds,” or Yékána-bín, “seers of unity;” in the Hindu lan­guage, Rakhísher (Rakshasas) and Tapísher (Tapasis) Gyanisher and Gyáni (Jnánis), or Atma-jnánis. The lord Maulavi Jámi, in his work entitled Resálah-i-vajudíah , “treatise upon existence,”* states, that the universal Being is distinct from any intellectual and exterior existence, inasmuch as every individual from among the intellectual and exterior beings belongs to some class of beings; but the universal Being is not subordinate to the condition of any thing; he is absolute and sovereign, and not general, not partial, not special, not common, and not one by (the number of) unity; for, it is neither a sub­stance nor an accident, but by itself one, and not a multiple. These things however are necessary in the sovereign being, according to their degrees and stations,* but the real Being, under the condition of no substance whatever, is distinguished by the name martibah- ahadiyat,* “degree of unity,” and all names and attributes are (as it were) consumed by this degree, which the Yogis express by the title hakiket al hakáyek,* “reality of realities.” But the real Being, under the condition of all things which are necessarily himself, according to generalities and specialities, is called by names and attributes of the divine degree, and this degree is entitled Vahedet-i-mokam ,* “solitariness of station,” and jamah,* “union.” The real Being, under no condition of “a thing” (shí),* and under no condition of “nothing” (láshi),* is called húvíyat,* “essence, absolute being, objectivity,” and it is manifesting itself* in all existences, and under the condition of “a thing and nothing,” is the form of the universe.*

Some of the sagacious have stated that, in the same manner as the sun is radiant, so the real Being manifests himself at once; for in opposition to it is âdem, “non-entity,” and from the superabundance of manifestation the tongue and language (in the effort) to express and to describe, to define and to explain, become dumb. The final explanation of the two words, vojud, “existence,” and âdem, “non-entity” may be, that existence is the negation of non-entity, and non-entity the negation of existence; and the Lord of unity is the grand origin of the mul­tiplicity of names and attributes. The first attri­bute, which emerged into manifestation by this Lord from within, was intelligence; and in this degree all aâyán sabitah, “fixed realities,* were under intellec­tual forms, and in this degree the Súfis give to the true highest and absolute Being the name of “All-Wise.” The impulsion of divine wisdom to pro­cure to his fixed ideals the superiority over non-entity is by them entitled irádet,* “providence,” and the name of murid, “he who wills,” attached to God. As often as the divine knowledge becomes joined to accomplishment and victory, as having given to the existence of knowledge the superiority over contingencies, in this degree they call this vic­tory kadaret, “might;” and in this degree origi­nated the name of Kadir, “Almighty.” With respect to the seeing of God, as the meaning of knowledge is his presence in face of the existing external figures of contingencies, in this degree, the name of Básír, “the All-Seeing,” offered itself. Like­wise, the meditation upon God, by those who, pray­ing, recite his emblematic attributes, is the time of propitiating; and the granting of these prayers is called samíâ, “hearing:” whence proceeded the name samíâ, “hearer.” Further, the will of God, the Highest, becoming concentrated in this state, having joined the letter kaf (k) to the letter nún (n), so as to manifest by action kun faíkun,* “Be, and it is:” this state they called kalám, “the word,” and the name of mutkalem, “speaker,” was produced on this account.

The lord Shaikh Muhammed Shosterí,* in his treatise Hak al yakín,* “the truth of conviction,” has stated, that the action of choice prevails with the self-existent Being over necessity, because choice is presupposed in the nature of might, and provident choice, as well as vicissitudes and excitement, are parts suitable to a purpose, and providence came to succour every one of the necessitous crowd, by pro­creating remedies against the evils without number which are determined by necessity, in opposition to that necessity whence pure procreation proceeds. When the free agent is straightened in his choice, then choice assumes the nature of necessity. Thus Ibn Mâyín eddin Maibedí* relates, in his Favátah, “Prole­gomena,” that the Súfis say: The wished for, but never-found Being proceeds from the field of pure non-entity, and the bare negation puts no foot into the station of evidence and habitation of bodily existence, in the same manner as the wished-for but never-found Being never assumes the color of bodily existence; certainly, the real Being also does not take the color of non-entity. The substance of any thing cannot be caused to vanish into non-existence; thus, if thou consumest a stick in the fire, its substance is not annihilated although its form changes, and becomes manifest in the form of ashes. The self-existent Being is an essence which is stable in all conditions, and in the accidents of existence, in the forms and states which undergo changes, the divine procreation of the world is the manifested light of his abso­lute reality, under the shape of divers combinations which thou beholdest.

In the book of the sagacious is found that the beautiful of this world enjoys the advantage of his beauty, when he beholds and considers its reflexion in a looking-glass; on that account, the absolute Being, having been revealed in the mirror of existences and appropriate places, and having seen his beauty in various mirrors, and in every one of them being exhibited under a shape worthy of himself, become manifest in a series of multitudinous appear­ances.

The Súfis further say: God is pure, conformable to his essence, above all purity and comparison, and in the gradations of names and attributes praised in both ways. Whoever dispenses with the com­parison of something which has no equal, does not know that, declaring God to be without an equal, is comparing him with pure beings. The friends of God say that his name is of three kinds, viz.: he is itlák, “absolute,” by his essence, or considered as an unsubstantial (abstract) thing;* and they give him the name of zát, “essence,” like that of kadus, “pure, holy;” that is, considered as a substance, he is the Being the meaning of which is not depen­dent upon the meaning of another; they call him sifet, “excelling in attributes,” and háí, “living;” that is, considered as a substance, he is a Being whose meaning is dependent upon that of another. They name him fâl, “action,” like khálik, “Crea­tor,” which is the general name of God, as well as rahmen, “mercy;” but the great name is at last khafá, “the concealed (mysterious).” A person asked the lord Shaikh Bayezíd Bastámí:* “Which is the great name of God?” The Shaikh answered: “Communicate thou to me his least name, that I may give thee in return his greatest:” that is to say, the names of God are all great.

The sagacious say: Every era is the epoch of the fame and dominion of a name, and when this epoch expires, it becomes concealed under the name which it had at the epoch of its flourishing state.*

They say, the names of the Deity contain the dis­tinct forms in the divine science, and these are called aâyan sábitah, “fixed substances,”* whether general or partial, and these intellectual forms received existence in eternity without beginning,* by fayz,* “ema­nation,” from the essence of God endowed with most holy emanation. Further, the intellectual forms rise into evidence with all dependencies and neces­sary consequences of the most holy emanation. The fixed substances have a relation to the names of bodies, and to the external substances* of spirits, and between all beings there arises an inter­position dependent on the degree of excellence which it has with respect to God. All the reality of accidental beings lies in the external existence; the reality of individuals is dependent upon fixed times, and every one emerges into existence at his time.*

The Súfis maintain that all attributes of perfection are necessarily inherent in the supreme holy essence; that is, are fixed by the purity of his essence. What in the accidental substance is fixed by properties, for instance, thy substance, is not sufficient for the revelation of thyself; as long as the attribute of God's essence, which is the principle of that revela­tion, has not taken firm hold of thee, this revelation cannot be obtained. On the contrary, God, the most High, stands not in need of that revelation of things, on account of the purity which is inherent in him; but his essence is the principle of that reve­lation; that is, his essence and attributes are one. On this account, the Amir of the believers, Alí, said:

“The perfection of the belief in the unity of God consists in the negation of attributes.”

The lord Shaikh Dáud Kais erí says in the Sherah­fes us, “Commentary upon the bezels:”* the knowledge of God the most High, in his essence, is the identity of the essence, and the knowledge of this world is that of the forms of things in it, whether generally or partially; and if one essence is said to be the receptacle of manifold things, this acceptation is not to be feared, as the things are identic with God according to the acceptation of “existence,” and in truth are different only according to the acceptation of being either involved or manifested. Further, in reality, there is neither state nor place, but there is one object exhibited under forms of decoration and portraiture by external appearances. Kasá, “God's universal judgment or decree (predestination)” is the summary decision of the conditions of existence, as the decision for the death of all mankind; and Kadr* is “the interpretation of that decision by determined means, and in consequence of results conformable to the faculties;” for instance, the decision of the death of Záid, on such a day, by such a malady. Kasa, “predestination,” is the eternal knowledge concerning existences, and this knowledge is dependent on the âyán sábitah, “fixed substances.” Each thing demands, by disposi­tion,* a peculiar emanation of God.

The Súfis say, according to the sacred text:

We have the power of acting on account of our being the mirror of the supreme essence; if we say: “The action is ours,” it may be right; and if we say: “It is of God,” it is equally true. The master of the rose-bower says:

It is written in the glorious Koran:

“If any thing good happens to them, they say: ‘It comes from God;’ and if any thing bad, they say: ‘It comes from me;’ say: ‘Every thing comes from God.’”

The Súfis say that the whole heaven is a body, the first intelligence its soul, the breath of the whole his heart, and the spirits of the seven planets, of the fixed stars and the rest, are his power.

The Shaikh Mohí eddin* says in his Faś hawdí, “chapter of repentance:” The world is the image of God, and he the soul and governor of the universe, further he is the great mankind. The lord Maulavi Jámí, in the Nakd-al faśus, “the ready money of bezels,” states, that there are two divisions of the beings of the universe: the first consists of those who on no account have any sort of connection with the bodily world, in conformity to office and direction; these, called Cherubim, are divided into two classes: the one take not the least notice of the world and its inhabitants, and are named “the great Angels;” the other, although not connected with the bodily world, are yet entranced in astonishment as wit­nesses and valuers of God's power, standing at the curtain of the divine court, and being the ministers of the supreme bounty; before them is an angel entitled “the great spirit,” greater than whom no angel exists. According to another interpretation he is said to be “the highest secretary and first intelli­gence.” This great spirit (the blessing of God be upon him!) holds the first rank of this class. The spirit, who is called Jabríil, follows after him in this legion.

Another division is composed of those who have connection with the bodily world according to order and office; these are named “spirits,” also divided into two classes: the one are spirits who perform their office in the heavens, and these are entitled “the high angels;” the other class are those who perform their office upon earth, and these bear the name of “lower angels.” Many thousands of them are appointed to the human race, and many thou­sands to minerals, to plants, and the animal king­dom. The people of the revelation (prophets) say: “There, where seven angels are not assembled, not a leaf can germinate from a branch;” the seven angels are meant to be seven divine powers. Thus, the spirits of fire, who are called Jin and Siátín, “genii and demons,” belong to the kind of lower angels, and Iblis is their chief and ruler. The lord Shaikh Mahmúd Shósterí says, that Iblis is the power of imagination, which the learned call “the mate­rial.” The Súfis give it the name of “the founda­tion of material substance,” or Enka.* According to the Súfis, matter is mâdum, “not eternally existent.” They call the absolute body “the uni­versal body.” The Súfis say, as is found in the Favátah, that the spirit of mankind is the absolute spirit of the divinity; thus the spirit of mankind, for the sake of elocution — that is, excellence—expresses itself by sound; and sound, for the sake of elocu­tion, by various distinct modulations, which in utter­ance are made sensible, becomes a word, and by the combination of words a language acquires reality. The Shaikh Muhammed Láhaji* says, in his Com­mentary on Gulshen raz,* “the Mystery of the Rose-bower,” that the meaning of the expression “the divine spirit,” is “the revelation of truth in the circus of multiplicity,” and in the Sharh mahtaśer, “abridged Commentary (epitome)” on Gulshen, is found that, in like manner as the spirit of mankind becomes sound, and sound a word, so also the divine spirit becomes jawher, “substance,” and substances become spirits and forms; thus human nature is determined in a manner that its hidden conditions proceed from the interior to manifestation.

The presence of the universal deity, which is expansive in the divine spirit and soul), is fivefold. The first is hazeret ghaib muťlak, “the presence of the absolute mystery,” and this is one with the aâyían sábatah, “the invariable prototypes (realities of things).” The second is the hazeret ghaib muśáf ,* “the presence of the relative mystery,” which is nearest the absolute mystery, and this belongs to pure intellects and spirits. The third is the hazeret musáf ghaib,* “the presence of the mysterious rela­tion,” which is nearest the absolute evidence; this is the world of similitude, or dream. The fourth is the hazeret shahádet muťlak,* “the presence of the absolute evidence,” which reaches from the cen­tre of the earth to the middle of the ninth empyrean heaven. The fifth is the hazerát jámâh,* “the presence of the vest,” and this is the universe in an extensive, and mankind in a restricted, accepta­tion.*

The Súfis besides say: The world is life and intel­lect, as far as the mineral kingdom; but the mani­festation of intellect in every body is determined by the temperature of the human constitution. Some­times bounty attains an excellence which is uttered with ecstacy, and becomes a modulation more pow­erful than that which strikes the ear: and this is the mode of the prophet (blessing upon him!). Thus is it commonly related that Jabrííl brought to the blessed prophet the happy news, that his poor fol­lowers will enter heaven five hundred years sooner than the rich. The prophet, full of joy, said: “Can none of you recite a verse?” A person proffered these distichs:

Upon this the lord prophet, with his companions, moved about in ecstacy, with such a violence that the cloak fell from his shoulder.*

Further, the sagacious say that the forms of the sensible world are shades of seeming forms. The Súfis also maintain that a spirit cannot exist without a body;* when it breaks forth from a body, it obtains, according to its deeds and actions, an apparent body, which they call acquired.