Man, by way of cordial austerities, can be the manifestation...

Man, by way of cordial austerities, can be the manifestation [ mazhar ] of Allah's Names and the great divine sign, and his existence becomes a divine one, and the hand of the divine Beauty and Majesty manages his kingdom.

In another hadīth it is also said: “The connection of a believer's soul to Allah, the Exalted, is stronger than the connection of the sun's ray to it or to its light.”[^4] In another authentic hadīth it is said: “When the servant approaches me through his supererogatory acts, I love him, and when I love him I become his ears with which he hears, and I become his eyes with which he sees, and I become his tongue with which he speaks, and I become his hand with which he takes.”[^5] In a hadīth it is said: “Alī is Allah's eye and hand”[^6] and similar ones, as in a hadīth : “We are His Most Beautiful Names.”[^7] In this respect, rational and traditional proofs are plenty.

Generally speaking, whoever wants to get a good share and advantage from the Qur'an have to apply each of the noble āyah s to his own condition so that he may get its complete benefit.

For example, the noble āyah of the Sūrah al-Anfāl says: “ The believers are those whose hearts feel fear when Allah is mentioned, and when His āyahs are recited to them they increase them in faith, and in their Lord do they put their confidence.” [^8] A sālik must see whether he falls in line with these three attributes or not: Does mentioning Allah make his heart collapse and fear fall upon him? When the noble divine āyah s are recited to him, will the light of faith increase in his heart?

Are his confidence and trust in Allah, the Exalted? Or is he void of any one of these stages and devoid of these attributes? If he wants to know whether he fears Allah and that his heart falls down because of that, let him look at his deeds. The one, who fears Allah, would not dare to do an act of pertness, or to violate any divine law in the Presence of His Sacred Majesty. If his faith increases by the divine āyah s, the light of faith flows to his external kingdom, too.

It is impossible for the heart to be luminous while the tongue, the speech, the eye, the sight, the ear and the hearing remain in the dark. A luminous person is the one whose entire worldly and heavenly powers are radiant, diffusing light, and, besides guiding him to happiness and the straight path, they throw light on the road for others and guide them along the road to humanity.