التعنيف والتهجين
I put my trust in al-Ḥākim, the Lord, the God, the All-Knowing, the Most High.
From a servant who has known his Imam and Lord, answered his Call, and given him allegiance; who has acknowledged the unity of his God and Creator and declared Him free from delimitation and resemblance through the blessing of His Guardian, his Guide, and the one who commands and forbids him: to all the Kutāma of Sanhūr who keep what is entrusted to them secret, to the true friends, and to the pure people of ʿAjīsa. Peace upon whoever is content with and submissive to the Imam of the Age, who has opened the eye of his insight and recognized the ranks of revelation and clarification, and whose sight rises toward the realities until the premises of proof become clear.
Now then: majesty, power, praise, holiness, might, and glory belong to the Lord, the one God al-Ḥākim, sanctified above likeness and opposites, free from companions and children, beyond numbers and rivals. He has made tawḥīd an honor and a salvation for His knowledgeable friends, and a crushing defeat and uprooting for the deficient and stubborn deniers who reject His Guardian, the Guide to the straight path. That Guide carries out the command entrusted to him, revealing the knowledge of tawḥīd and explaining the true religion. The Creator has made him a refuge for people of certain understanding, one who abrogates through tawḥīd the laws of former and later generations and points to himself through His clear written oath:
'Whenever a messenger came to you with what your souls did not desire, you grew proud: some you called liars, and some you killed. They said, "Our hearts are covered." Rather, God cursed them for their unbelief'—that is, for concealing the truth—'and little is it that they believe. When a Book came to them from God'—meaning the Imam by God's command—'confirming what they already possessed, although before that they had asked for victory against those who did not believe'—meaning that they announced tawḥīd before its proper time and spoke of its Riser before the appointed day—'then when what they recognized came to them,' that is, tawḥīd itself, 'they disbelieved in it. So God's curse rests on the unbelievers.' What unbelief could be greater, and what calamity more destructive of the manifestation, than rejecting the word of tawḥīd after the Guardian has proclaimed it with manifest proofs and demonstrations of divine support?
And have you ever heard, brethren, in past generations, amid the interpretation of revelations and sacred books, an explanation of the words 'On the day the caller summons them to a dreadful thing'? You have seen him publicly summoning people to the tawḥīd of the Lord—exalted be His remembrance—and you have rejected him in imitation of people of associationism and stubborn resistance. Are you content to occupy a station like those who renounce the Creator, mighty and exalted, and deny the Imam's rank?
By God, every one of you prides himself on being free of injustice and wrongdoing, and considers himself above malice, fraud, and deceit. How, then, can anyone attribute these blameworthy qualities to the Creator of created things, the Originator of all originated beings, the Sustainer of the earth and heavens? Would He first reveal Himself among His creatures and, in His wisdom, communicate His command to His creation, ordering people to proclaim His unity and knowledge of Him, so that His friends answered His tawḥīd, obeyed His command, restrained themselves from what He forbade, and acknowledged His signs and appointed ranks—only to appear again to them from another direction in contradiction of what He had commanded, once they understood tawḥīd and were free of doubt and denial?
God forbid! That would be a monstrous thing. Far be it from the Creator—glorified and transcendent—to test His servants with something that outrages reason and insight, or to treat them unjustly after commanding them to curse the unjust oppressor. Would He first declare their blood forfeit throughout the regions, order their killing and dragging through gatherings and markets, and issue public registers cursing them and calling for their extermination, thereby associating them with extremist sinners, violate the sanctity of religion, and strengthen the hands of impure opponents against them? Would He command their crucifixion on roads and streets, their condemnation in assemblies and mosques, and the violation of their families, possessions, and children, after ordering some to be drowned and others burned alive?
Jews and Christians would be secure and at ease in their persons and property, while true Unitarians would be terrified under the humiliation of subjection, scattered to the furthest regions and driven from their homelands. Far above such actions is the Lord al-Ḥākim! Holy and exalted is He beyond this evident, impossible falsehood. He is beyond passing away or moving from one place to another. Rather, He is established in the glory of His lordship, alone in the majesty of His unity. He initiated His servants with signs that reminded them. His friends recognized the concealment as a test and examination. Trusting in His wisdom, they are certain and believing, awaiting the accomplishment of His promise and enduring trials and afflictions with patience. Some of the friends of His Guardian He concealed behind the curtains of protection, keeping them safe so that they might establish proof against the deniers and fulfill the trust.
The apostates were given room to dispute; the winds and waves of the sea of error clashed. Dust and blindness covered the eyes of insight; veils of folly and darkness were spread because of the absence of the sun, moon, star, and shining lamp. As the fires of doubt, unbelief, and perversity intensified, the sects of apostasy and error multiplied. The souls of the misguided became inverted, so that they located divinity, the Imamate, and the rank of the Veil in the station of the one-eyed false Messiah, the impostor. They failed to understand the marks of the true religion and were ignorant of the appearance of the Riser, the guiding Master, the Messiah. Their souls returned to denial and stubbornness; in earlier ages they had given themselves to perversity and corruption, drinking their fill of foul, stagnant water and living on the vilest provisions.
Shaykhs of firm certainty, friends who profess tawḥīd: reflect upon this explanation and counsel, for whoever possesses the insight to benefit from it. I place my trust in the Guardian of Truth and seek His help.
The epistle is complete. Praise belongs to al-Ḥākim, our Lord and Bestower of favor, and thanks to His Guardian, the guiding Imam of the Imams.
Written in the month of Jumādā al-Ākhira, in the tenth year of the Qāʾim of the Age.