they shall attain unto the Presence of their Lord, and that unto Him shall they return."(102) Also in another instance He saith:  “They who held it as certain that they must meet God, said, ’How oft, by God’s will, hath a small host vanquished a numerous host!’"(103) In yet another instance He revealeth:  “Let him then who hopeth to attain the presence of his Lord work a righteous work."(104) And also He saith:  “He ordereth all things.  He maketh His signs clear, that ye may have firm faith in attaining the presence of your Lord."(105)

This people have repudiated all these verses, that unmistakably testify to the reality of “attainment unto the Divine Presence.”  No theme hath been more emphatically asserted in the holy scriptures.  Notwithstanding, they have deprived themselves of this lofty and most exalted rank, this supreme and glorious station.  Some have contended that by “attainment unto the Divine Presence” is meant the “Revelation” of God in the Day of Resurrection.  Should they assert that the “Revelation” of God signifieth a “Universal Revelation,” it is clear and evident that such revelation already existeth in all things.  The truth of this We have already established, inasmuch as We have demonstrated that all things are the recipients and revealers of the splendours of that ideal King, and that the signs of the revelation of that Sun, the Source of all splendour, exist and are manifest in the mirrors of beings.  Nay, were man to gaze with the eye of divine and spiritual discernment, he will readily recognize that nothing whatsoever can exist without the revelation of the splendour of God, the ideal King.  Consider how all created things eloquently testify to the revelation of that inner Light within them.  Behold how within all things the portals of the Ridvan of God are opened, that seekers may attain the cities of understanding and wisdom, and enter the gardens of knowledge and power.  Within every garden they will behold the mystic bride of inner meaning enshrined within the chambers of utterance in the utmost grace and fullest adornment.  Most of the verses of the Qur’an indicate, and bear witness to, this spiritual theme.  The verse:  “Neither is there aught which doth not celebrate His praise"(106) is eloquent testimony thereto; and “We noted all things and wrote them down,"(107) a faithful witness thereof.  Now, if by “attainment unto the Presence of God” is meant attainment unto the knowledge of such revelation, it is evident that all men have already attained unto the presence of the unchangeable Countenance of that peerless King.  Why, then, restrict such revelation to the Day of Resurrection?

And were they to maintain that by “divine Presence” is meant the “Specific Revelation of God,” expressed by certain Sufis as the “Most Holy Outpouring,” if this be in the Essence Itself, it is evident that it hath been eternally in the divine Knowledge.  Assuming the truth of this hypothesis, “attainment unto the divine Presence” is in this sense obviously possible to no one, inasmuch as this revelation is confined to the innermost Essence, unto which no man can attain.  “The way is barred, and all seeking rejected.”  The minds of the favourites of heaven, however high they soar, can never attain this station, how much less the understanding of obscured and limited minds.