5. Al-Maaida

and they thought there would be no trial, [no] idolatrous association upon the affirmation of the unity of the acts and the manifestation of the call of Jesus, and so they were wilfully blind, to the self-disclosures of the vision of the attributes, and deaf, to hearing the knowledge thereof. Then God relented to them, by opening up the audition-channels of their hearts and their eyes, and they repented and so He accepted their repentance; then they were wilfully blind and deaf, during the call of Muḥammad to the witnessing of the Abiding Face and to hearing the knowledge of the affirmation of the unity of the absolute union; and God sees what they do, at all three stations, including [their] rejection of the calls, [their] denial of the prophets and so He will requite them in accordance with their state.

[For the Messiah said, 'O Children of Israel] worship God, my Lord and your Lord, that is to say, make your acts of worship specific to the Essence that is qualified by all of the attributes and names, that which constitutes absolute existence. Do not designate Him with any one name or attribute, for His Lordship is equally related to all [of these names and attributes]. Whoever restricts His divinity to any one form and specificies it by a particular name, word or attribute, has verily affirmed the existence of some other than Him, by the necessity of names, forms and attributes existing besides Him, and whoever affirms other than Him, has verily committed an idolatrous act of association with Him, and whoever has committed an idolatrous act of association with Him, to him God has made forbidden, the garden of the witnessing of Him through His essence, His attributes and His acts, namely, the absolute all-encompassing garden, in other words He has veiled him in an absolute way; and his abode shall be, the Fire of privation on account of the injustice which he committed by his act of idolatrous association, and for wrongdoers there shall be no helpers, to help them and save them from the chastisement.

They have indeed disbelieved, [they have indeed] been veiled, those who say, 'God is the third of three', [that He is] one thing comprising three things: the act, the exoteric aspect of the world of the kingdom; the attribute, which is the esoteric aspect of the world of the spiritual realm; and the essence, in which the attribute subsists and from which the act issues. But He is not that 'one' they have imagined. Rather the act and the attribute are in reality the essence itself and there is no distinction [between them] except in relative terms. God is but the absolute One, for otherwise there would be a god for every one of His names and there would be a plurality of deities, glorified and exalted be He greatly above what the evildoers claim. If they do not desist from what they say, of the attribute and the act being other than the essence, those [of them] who are veiled, shall suffer a chastisement, that is painful because of their falling short in their knowledge of God despite their possessing the preparedness [for it].

Will they not turn in repentance to God, by falling back from their affirmation of a plurality in God to the absolute source of the union and seek His forgiveness for the sin of inspecting their existence and the existence of others besides them; God is Forgiving, shielding them with His essence, Merciful, to them by [bestowing upon them] perfected knowledge [of Him] and affirmation of the Oneness.

[Say: 'O People of the Scripture] � [do not follow the whims of a people] who went astray formerly, by becoming veiled to the lights of the attributes, and have led many astray, and strayed, now, from the even way', the path of the [inclusive] unity of the essence, which is to be upright before God.