author. I know not what this people have understood by the beginning and ending of God (Exalted is His Name!). If by beginning and ending, a temporal beginning and ending be intended, the worldly things have not yet come to an end. How then can ending be true of that Essence of Oneness? Nay rather, in this station the beginning is none other than the ending, and vice versa.
To resume: As in the station of " Beginning before which there is no beginning/' the station of the " End " becomes true of that Educator of the Seen and Unseen, likewise the same becomes true of His Manifestations. While the name " Beginning " is true (of them) , at the same time the name " End " is also true, and while they are established upon the seat of being the " Beginning," at the same time they occupy the throne of being the " End." Should a discerning sight be found, it will perceive that these Holy Essences, Abstracted Spirits and Divine Souls are the Manifestors of the "First," the "Last," the "Manifest," the "Hidden," the "Beginning," and the "End." Shouldst thou soar in the atmosphere of "There was God and nothing was with Him," thou wilt find all these Names as mere nothingness and utter absence in that court, and then thou wilt not be masked by these veils, allusions and sayings. How pure and lofty is this station, to which even Gabriel cannot find the way without a guide, and whereunto the celestial bird cannot soar without the Invisible Assistance!
