176 THE KEY OF MYSTERIES

High; and therefore this unveiling which exists in this degree is called by the name of God, and there is no god but God, because all worshippers turn towards this degree in which He is unveiled, and because it is their goal, to which their souls retire to rest, and in it their hearts repose.' 1

Jilani also in the commentary on the Gulshan-i-Raz-i-Mahmudi has thus written: 'When 2 the essence of the oneness required the first self-manifestation, which is the all-embracing gulf between the necessary and the contingent, the oneness in connexion with these circumstances became the unique divine names. (And they call that first self-manifestation the universal reason, and the pen, and the greatest spirit.) And the multiplicity of these (the divine) names is in connexion with the variety of attributes. And the sources of all things,


1 The original will be found in an Appendix.
2 ذات احديّت جون اقتضاى تعيّن اوّل كرد ـ كه برزخ جامع است ميان وجوب وامكان ـ احديّت با اعتبار اين شيون اسماء واحديّه والهيّه شد ـ وآن تعيّن اوّل را عقل كُلّ قلم ر روح اعظم مى اعظم مى خونند ـ وتكثير اين اسماء با اعتبار اختلاف صفات است ـ واعيان جميع اشياء از غيب وشهادات (كه كَونَين كفته اند) بصورت اين تعيّن اوّل بسبيل امتياز در علم حق ثبوت يا فتند ـ وبدين تجلّى نفس رحماني ظهور يافت ـ ونفس رحمانى عبارت از ظهور حقيقت است بصورت ممكنات ـ واين تجلّى است كه افاضهٌ وجود بر جميع مودجودات فرموده ـ واوّل مرتبه كه قبول اين فيض نمود تعُيّن اوّل است.
DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY 177

both the invisible and the visible (which they have termed "the two existences"), attained stability in the form of this first self-manifestation by means of differentiation in God's consciousness. And in this unveiling the merciful soul appeared. And "the merciful soul" denotes the appearance of the reality in the form of the contingents (= existent things). And it is this unveiling which poured forth existence on all things that exist. And the first degree which received this grace is the first self-manifestation.'

The poet Jami also in his book entitled Tuhfatu'l-Ahrar (تحفة الاحرار) has written in verse of these matters thus:—1

The spectator of the unveiling place 2 from the first
Had promptly girt up His loins for the unveiling.
Before Him He had a mirror showing the invisible:
The whole unveiling He had with Himself.
Seer and seen too He alone was:
Except Him no one traversed this field.
The sperm of fathers in the narrow path of causes
Was hid from the womb of mothers.


بود بئ جلوه كمر كرده جست * شاهد خلوتكهٌ غيب از نخست 1
جلوه نمائى همه با خوبش داشت * آئينهٌ غيب نما بيش داشت  
غير وى اين عرصه نه بيمود كس * ناظر ومنظور هم او بود وبس  
بود مصون از رحم أمّهات * نطفهٌ آبا بمضيق جهات  
طفل مواليد بخواب عدم * بود در اين مهد فرو بسته دم  
حسن تفاصيل وشيون وصفات * كرجه همى ديد بإجمال ذات  
2 The language used is that of a wedding, when the bride shows herself in varied dress to the bridegroom.