Risālat al-Balāgh wa-l-Nihāya fī al-Tawḥīd
To all Unitarians who renounce heresy
Composed by the servant of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—the Guide of the Responders, who takes vengeance upon the polytheists by the sword of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance. He presented a copy to the Divine Presence with his own hand in the month of Muḥarram, the second of his blessed years. It was copied from the handwriting of the Qāʾim of the Age without distortion, substitution, addition, or omission.
I put my trust in our Lord, the Originator of every cause, the Originator of antiquity and eternity, the Abrogator of religious laws and communities—glorified and exalted is He above the sayings of the lowly.
You have heard, community of Unitarians of our Lord—glorified is He—who worship Him alone without another and seek His mercy, what I have recited to you concerning the abrogation of religious laws, the uniqueness of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—and His transcendence above all created innovations. For all things described, created, and fashioned are necessarily paired, each requiring the other; and all attributes, languages, and admired names apply to corporeal, material, spiritual, psychic, and luminous persons.
The two greatest names in the Qurʾān, according to the agreement of the adherents of religious laws and religions, are Allāh and al-Raḥmān, “God” and “the Compassionate.” These indicate the Caller of Revelation and the Caller of Interpretation; today both are silent.
This is proof of the abrogation of the two religious laws and the invalidation of the two parties, and of the manifestation of the Truth and the pure reality of the Imamate, made visible in the third path. All the Speakers, Foundations, Legatees, Imams, and those attached to them have pointed toward this path: the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance. It is an end that cannot be attained. Rather, each of you affirms His unity according to the reach of his intellect, the extent of his ability, and the breadth of his aspiration and thought.
Now falsehood has reached its end; its fire is extinguished, its supports abolished, its pillar broken. Tawḥīd will forever be manifest over all religions, and the worship of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—will prevail secretly and openly.
Beware, beware, community of believers, of doubting our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—or denying His spiritual ranks, disbelieving in Him, opposing His religious standards and soldiers, or associating another with Him. Glorified is He: He has no partner, and none besides Him is worshipped. Know that associationism enters by a hidden passage, through a subtle secret and channel. Not one of you is free from associating others with Him without knowing it, from disbelieving while concealing it, or from denying while showing contempt.
This includes one of you saying that our Lord—glorified is He—is the Master of the Age, Imam of the Age, Qāʾim of the Age, Friend of God, or Caliph of God; or speaking similarly of “al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh,” “peace be upon him,” or “God's blessings upon him,” without understanding the true meaning of these expressions in relation to the Divine Presence. Likewise, asking for money/wealth without necessity, seeking an increase of sustenance when one has enough, raising speech [or presenting a communication] without authorization, or giving information one has not been appointed to convey: these constitute associating others with Him, following custom, and harboring rebellious rancor.
You have heard, community of believers, what our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—made obligatory for you in the Epistle of the Covenant: seven qualities. The first and greatest is truthfulness of the tongue. Therefore do not be among the liars.
Do not be among those who said, “We have heard and obeyed,” yet by their unbelief implanted the Calf in their hearts. The Calf is the opponent of the Guardian of the Age, who stands over all the ranks and is the servant of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance. This opponent is called a calf because he is deficient in understanding, hasty in his undertaking, and possessed of a bellow. He imitates the Qāʾim of the Age without truth or proof.
Do not suppose that the opponent is an opponent of our Lord—glorified is He—for He has no likeness, equal, peer, or counterpart. Opposition exists only between things of like form or kind. Our Lord—glorified is His remembrance and exalted His name—is the Cause-Maker of the Cause of Causes, and none but He is worshipped.
He has no likeness among corporeal beings, no opponent among material beings, no equal among spiritual beings, no counterpart among psychic beings, and no station among luminous beings. Neither does a Speaker of legal obligation build for Him, nor does a harsh Foundation support Him and affiliate with Him.
Yet He has shown you something of His power and poured His grace upon you without your having earned any entitlement or possessed any claim against Him. Rather, He bestowed His kindness upon you, brought you near by His mercy, and addressed you face-to-face in human form, outwardly resembling you, so that you might perceive something of His humanity (nāsūt) according to your capacity for knowledge of the Station, and behold Him by the light of completion. Yet you neither perceived Him nor knew Him. Since you have failed to understand the humanity He displayed to you in a form accessible to you, and have not grasped the reality of His human actions, how could you comprehend His universal divinity, encompass His power, or reach the truth of His eternal nature?
Glorified and exalted is He far above the assertions of the polytheists and the limitations imposed by the heretics.
You have heard in outward reports that Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad said, “Faith is speech of the tongue, assent of the heart, and action of the limbs.” You have also heard, community of Unitarians, that Islam is the gate to faith and faith is the gate to tawḥīd, for tawḥīd is the ultimate goal, above which there is nothing. If Islam and faith, though both forms of obligation, cannot be completed without conditions and righteous works, how much more is required for the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—the final goal and the steep ascent whose crossing frees the slave? That is, through the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—they are delivered from the empty constructions of the two religious laws, outward and inward.
Whoever claims to be a believing Unitarian yet does not act in a way that pleases our Lord—glorified is He—nor speak truthfully in all his statements, nor do good in all his actions, nor accept our Lord's decree, surrender all his affairs to Him, and rely on Him in prosperity and adversity, is merely a claimant in his words and disobedient in his deeds. He has adopted the name of tawḥīd while practicing association and rivalry, treating religion as diversion and play, inclining toward ease and license, and losing this world and the next. That is the manifest loss.
If you understood what I have required of you concerning truthfulness of the tongue, protection of the brethren, the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—and submission to His command, truth would become distinct from falsehood, faith from denial, and unbelief from tawḥīd. In Arabic, faith means assent by tongue and heart, and the tongue expresses what is hidden within. Whoever is untruthful with his tongue is assuredly still more false and hypocritical in his heart.
Know that truthfulness is faith and tawḥīd in their completeness, while lying is associationism and error. Whoever lies to his believing brother lies to his Caller. Whoever lies to his Caller lies to his Imam. Whoever lies to his Imam lies to our Lord—glorified is He. Whoever lies to our Lord—glorified is He—has denied His favor and deserved His wrath.
Lying includes saying of your brother what is not true of him, distorting his words, permitting him something his Imam has forbidden, or saying about our Lord what it would not be permissible to say even of His servant. Such a person has denied grace and faith and openly shown apostasy and rebellion. Far be our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—from polytheistic expressions and false, unbelieving convictions. Glorified and exalted is He above their descriptions.
His servant speaks by the strength of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—cleaves open by His support, and binds together by His authority. Whoever opposes His servant, the Qāʾim of the Age, or lies about him has opposed the command of our Lord—glorified is He—and associated another with Him, even if he believes our Lord knows it and is exalted above everything. And whoever lies to his Imam or opposes one of the ranks of tawḥīd while claiming that our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—does not know it has departed from the company of the Unitarians and become one of those who disbelieve in His grace and deny His power and majesty. Such a person denies that our Lord—glorified is He—knows the treachery of eyes and what breasts conceal. There is no secret conversation among three but He is their fourth, nor among five but He is their sixth, nor among fewer or more but He is with them. Glorified and exalted is He far above the comprehension of the worlds, the learned, the angels brought near, and all people.
Beware, beware, lest any of you say that our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—is the son of al-ʿAzīz or Abū ʿAlī. Our Lord—glorified is He—is Himself in every age and time; He appears in human form and visible appearance as He wills and wherever He wills. It is the cause within you that changes as your circumstances change and you take on another form. He—glorified is He—is not changed by the passing of ages, years, or months. What changes for your benefit is the name and attribute, nothing else. His acts pass from potentiality into actuality as He wills: each day He is engaged in an affair—that is, in every age He appears in another form, and one affair does not resemble another.
The light increases, and time is purified of its murk through the power of our Lord—glorified is He—the Originator of origination, Creator of kinds, and Revealer of the obedient Preceder and Follower. He is exalted above attributes and originated things. Directions cannot contain Him, and languages cannot describe Him. Glorified and exalted is He above their descriptions.
As for anyone who says and believes that our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—handed over His power and transferred His majesty to Prince ʿAlī, and indicated that the spiritual significance belonged to him, such a person has associated another with our Lord—glorified is He—presumed to speak ahead of Him, rivaled Him in His sovereignty, and challenged His rule. How can anyone imagine the transfer of the Eternal of eternities, the Originator of the Cause of Causes, who governs all Speakers and Foundations, from one form to another, or imagine Him entering a garment, as though the Ever-Living who does not die could migrate? Glorified, glorified is the Originator of the angels and the spirit. Whoever among you holds this belief must turn away from it, renounce it, seek forgiveness from our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—and sanctify His name.
He is forgiving to anyone who repents to Him and affirms His unity. Glorified is our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—above the encompassing of things; exalted is His authority above the judgments of tongues and imaginations. They do not anticipate His word, but act according to His command.
Let none of you wait for tomorrow or turn back toward yesterday. Yesterday has passed with all it contained; tomorrow you do not know whether you will reach; today is the time in which you are, and it is passing away. Today is a sign of the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—who is present, existent, beneficial, and powerful to harm. No one may associate a son or a father with His worship, or point to a veil in which our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—is concealed, unless and until He manifests His command and places His wisdom in whomever He wills.
Then none can reverse His decree or disobey His judgment in His earth and heaven. Glorified and exalted is He far above what the polytheists and heretics say.
Know that whoever has made lying habitual to his tongue has associated another with our Lord—glorified is He—for lying is the sign of the person of the accursed Iblīs. The word for lying, al-kadhib, is represented by three letters: kāf, dhāl, and bāʾ. In abjad arithmetic kāf is twenty, dhāl is four, and bāʾ is two; the total is twenty-six, referring to Iblīs and his wife and their twenty-four children who take their places. Whoever gives them allegiance has worshipped them; whoever worships the opponent is repudiated by the Guardian.
Truthfulness is a sign of the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance. Truthfulness and lying are alike in the number of letters, yet differ in form and meaning. Likewise, the opponent imitates the Guardian in his claims and outward display, but their true natures are different and can be distinguished by certainty.
Truthfulness, too, consists of three letters, as already stated: sīn, sixty; dāl, four; qāf, one hundred. Together these make one hundred and sixty-four. Of these, ninety-nine refer to the rank of the Imamate, as the Speaker said, “God has ninety-nine names; whoever enumerates them enters Paradise.” That is, the Imam of tawḥīd has ninety-nine Callers, and whoever knows them enters the true Call of the Imam, whose people are encompassed by its sufficiency.
Sixty letters indicate the sixty Callers of the two wings, and four indicate four higher ranks: Dhū Maʿa, Dhū Maṣṣa, the Word, and the Gate. Together they make one hundred and sixty-three religious ranks. One remains, indicating the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—and knowledge of the humanity of the Station, the complete radiant light, the worshipped One of all creation, the visible form made manifest to human creatures, known among the people as al-Ḥākim. But what can make you understand the reality of al-Ḥākim?
He was not called al-Ḥākim in this form rather than in other forms without reason. One of His servants exercises judgment over all judges: Aḥmad ibn al-ʿAwwām, the judge of outward law. The discerning Unitarians must therefore uncover the meaning of this name, the reality of “the Judge” (al-Ḥākim), and the expression “al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh,” the Ruler by God's Command.
The Qurʾān says, “God calls to the Abode of Peace.” In outward appearance, the greatest caller is Khatkīn, a weak servant; in reality the greatest Caller is the Imam, the possession of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance.
What, then, is intended by “al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh,” and what is its reality? The Qurʾān admits seven meanings, and each name within it may apply to praiseworthy or blameworthy persons; but the true meaning and reality of the name is our Lord—exalted be His remembrance.
“God” as a name signifies the Caller referred to in “God calls to the Abode of Peace.” “Peace” signifies the Imam, and the Abode is the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance. “God” as the one named signifies the greatest Imam, who is frequently mentioned in the Qurʾān. “God” as the meaning signifies the Originator of both name and named: the divinity of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—which cannot be comprehended and which encompasses the four religious natures while being exalted above them.
Here “God” signifies the universal divinity hidden from us. Yet our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—is not absent from His humanity. That act is hidden from us, and that speech is His speech. Divinity does not depart from humanity; rather, you are unable to behold it and lack the capacity to encompass its reality.
By “the Judge” is meant the One who judges over all Speakers, Foundations, Imams, and Proofs, bringing them under His judgment and power. They are servants of His dominion and possessions of His Call. He is Judge by His own essence, and that essence is the reality of His divinity. Glorified is He: He judges by Himself, not on the authority of someone else who commands and forbids.
We offer an analogy in outward form, not in reality, for His reality cannot be reached by imagination or encompassed by understanding. We give this example according to the measure of our capacity so that the Responders may grasp something of the power of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance.
Consider a speaking, corporeal person who has a subtle spirit attached to a dense body. Through that intellect he governs things, and he himself knows the reach of his intellect. Other people do not know his intellect, its place, or its reality; they perceive of it only what he reveals. The intellect is the subtle spirit, but its manifestation occurs through the dense body. No one can say that intellect becomes visible without a body, because spirit is not perceived except through a body.
Likewise, we have known our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—through the outward manifestation of His humanity, in accordance with our own condition. He addressed us in a form like ours; otherwise we would neither have known nor perceived Him. He displayed to us His visible form and human station. Yet the sovereignty of His divinity is not perceived by the eye, nor known by asking how or where. He knows your secret thought before it stirs in your hearts. Glorified and exalted is He above their descriptions.
Therefore, community of Unitarians, practice truthfulness of the tongue, protect the brethren, accept and submit to our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—in every age and time, and refrain from objecting to anything He does. Even if He demanded that one of you kill his child, that person would be obliged to do so without inward reluctance, for someone who performs an act without accepting it receives no reward for it. Whoever accepts His actions and submits the affair to Him, without acting hypocritically toward the Imam of his age, belongs to the Unitarians, who have no fear from the outward law and do not grieve over the associationism of the inward law.
Beware, beware of polytheistic speech and unbelieving deeds. Do not lean upon a ruined house or sit beneath a defective corner; do not abandon the water that is present to seek bitter colocynth and a mirage that is absent. Otherwise all of you will perish from enduring hunger and complete thirst: that is, separation from the knowledge of Truth and a return to the outward forms of religious law. Seek refuge in our Lord from this—glorified is the Originator of origination, the Gatherer of the scattered, exalted above the heavens and exalted upon the earth.
Soon our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—will manifest His sword through my hand, destroy the rebels, and expose the apostates as a spectacle and disgrace before all the world. From those who survive the sword, the poll tax will be collected in humiliation, and they will be made to wear distinctive marks against their will.
There will be three classes of distinctive dress and tax. The opponents [al-nawāṣib] will wear two lead pendants in their ears, weighing twenty dirhams; the end of the left sleeve will be dyed violet, and the annual tax will be two and a half dinars. These are described as the Jews of Muḥammad's community.
Those devoted to esoteric interpretation who remain attached to non-being will wear two iron pendants in their ears, weighing thirty dirhams; the end of the right sleeve will be dyed black, and the annual tax will be three and a half dinars. These are called the Christians of Muḥammad's community.
Those who have apostatized from the tawḥīd of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—will wear two pendants of black glass in their ears, weighing forty dirhams, a pointed cap made from fox skin, and the chest of their garment dyed a dull, leaden gray. Their annual tax will be five dinars. They are described as the hypocrites, the Magians of Muḥammad's community.
This tax will be taken from old men and young men, women and boys, and infants in their cradles. The pendants will be changed each year, and anyone who disobeys will be beheaded.
This tax will be brought in Egypt to the mosque of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, at the qibla; in Damascus to the mosque of Muʿāwiya; and in Baghdad to the congregational mosque of the city on the western side. Al-ʿAbbās will be seized with the seizure of a mighty, powerful one.
He will be paraded through all the lands until he reaches a city called Balkh in Khurāsān. There our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—will be angry with him, the Word will reach its final limit, and the Book its appointed end. He will bark into a golden basin. This will be the day of the Event and of regret. Religious laws will be abolished in their entirety, the eternal doctrine will appear, and our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—will be worshipped in all languages and be known by all names and attributes.
A proclamation will be made throughout the regions of the earth and the farthest reaches of the lands: “To whom belongs sovereignty today—and on every day?” The answer will be: “To our Lord al-Ḥākim, the Overpowering, the Mighty, the Compeller.” Glorified and exalted is He above what they describe.
Every soul will be recompensed for what it has earned, and none will be wronged.
Praise belongs to our Lord alone, without partner. Our Lord suffices us and is the best Helper and Supporter.
Its copy was written in the month of Muḥarram, the second of the years of the servant of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—Ḥamza ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad, Guide of the Responders, who takes vengeance on the polytheists by the sword of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—and the strength of His authority alone.
The Epistle of Communication and the Ultimate Goal is complete, with the praise and grace of our Lord.