لَمْ يَسْتَضِيئُوا بِأَضْوَاءِ الْحِكْمَةِ، وَلَمْ يَقْدَحُوا بِزِنَادِ الْعُلُومِ الثَّاقِبَةِ; فَهُمْ فِي ذلِكَ كَالاْنْعَامِ السَّائِمَةِ، وَالصُّخُورِ الْقَاسِيَةِ. قَدِ انْجَابَتِ السَّرائِرُ لاِهْلِ الْبَصَائِرِ، وَوَضَحَتْ مَحَجَّةُ الْحَقِّ لِخَابِطِهَا، وَأَسْفَرَتِ السَّاعَةُ عَنْ وَجْهِهَا، وَظَهَرَتِ الْعَلاَمَةُ لِمتَوَسِّمِهَا. What is the matter with me!
I see you just bodies without spirits and spirits without bodies, devotees without good, traders without profits, wakeful but sleeping, present but unseen, seeing but blind, hearing but deaf and speaking but dumb. مَا لي أَرَاكُمْ أَشْبَاحاً بِلاَ أَرْوَاح، وَأَرْوَاحاً بِلاَ أَشْبَاح، وَنُسَّاكاً بِلاَ صَلاَح، وَتُجَّاراً بِلاَ أَرْبَاح، وَأَيْقَاظاً نُوَّماً، وَشُهُوداً غُيَّباً، وَنَاظِرَةً عُمْيَاً، وسَامِعَةً صُمَّاً، وَنَاطِقَةً بُكْماً!
I notice that misguidance has stood on its centre and spread (all round) through its off-shoots. It weighs you with its weights and confuses you with its measures. Its leader is an out-cast from the community. He persists on misguidance. So on that day none from among you would remain except as the sediment in a cooking pot or the dust left after dusting a bundle.
It would scrape you as leather is scraped, and trample you as harvest is trampled, and pick out the believer as a bird picks out a big grain from the thin grain. رَايَةُ ضَلاَلة قَدْ قَامَتْ عَلَى قُطْبِهَا ، وَتَفرَّقَتْ بِشُعَبِهَا، تَكِيلُكُمْ بِصَاعِهَا، وَتَخْبِطُكُمْ بِبَاعِهَا .
قَائِدُهَا خَارجٌ مِنْ الْمِلَّةِ، قَائِمٌ عَلَى الضِّلَّةِ; فَلاَ يَبْقَى يَوْمَئِذ مِنْكُمْ إِلاَّ ثُفَالَةٌ كَثُفَالَةِ الْقِدْرِ، أَوْ نُفَاضَةٌ كَنُفَاضَةِ الْعِكْمِ، تَعْرُكُكُمْ عَرْكَ الاْدِي، وَتَدُوسُكُمْ دَوْسَ الْحَصَيدِ ، وَتَسْتَخْلِصُ الْمُؤْمِنَ مِنْ بَيْنِكُمُ اسْتَخْلاصَ الطَّيْرِ الْحَبَّةَ الْبَطِينَةَ مِنْ بَيْنِ هَزِيلِ الْحَبِّ. Where are these ways taking you, gloom misleading you, and falsehoods deceiving you? Whence are you brought and where are you driven?
For every period there is a written document and everyone who is absent has to return. So listen to your godly leader and keep your hearts present. If he speaks to you be wakeful. The forerunner must speak truth to his people, should keep his wits together and maintain presence of mind. He has clarified to you the matter as the stitch-hole is cleared, and scraped it as the gum is scraped (from the twigs).