It is proper for that master to say...

It is proper for that master to say: “I have with Allah a time which is not within the capacity of any favorable angel and prophet.”[^4] Was that time of the times of this world and the other world? Or was it the time of the Privacy of qāba qawsayn (the distance of two bows' length) and discarding the two worlds?

Moses, the interlocutor with Allah, fasted for forty days and could attain a meeting with Allah, and Allah said: “ So, the appointed time of his Lord was complete forty nights.” [^5] Yet, he could not attain a meeting like Muhammad's, and it cannot be compared with that of him. In the meeting place Moses was told: “Take off your shoes,” [^6] Which is interpreted to mean “affection to family,” while the Seal of the Prophets was told to love 'Alī.

In my heart, of this secret, there is a firebrand, of which I would not talk. You yourself, from this brief, read its detailed talk.

Chapter 2: On Watching Over The Time Dear, you too, are to seize this opportunity for supplication, as available and according to the possible measure, and apply its cordial disciplines, informing your heart that the origin [ māyah ] of the eternal Hereafter life, the source of the spiritual virtues and the capital of the unlimited generosities are in the Proximity to, and Intimacy with, Allah, the Exalted, and in supplication to Him, especially in the Salat which is a spiritual mixture [ ma'jūn ] prepared by the hand of Allah's Beauty and Majesty.

It is the most comprehensive and perfect worship among all types of servitude. So, take care, at your best, to keep its times, and select its virtuous times, for in them is a sort of luminosity not found in other times.

In those times you are to lessen, or even sever, your heart's engagements, and this can be achieved by arranging your times and assigning special times for the Salat , which guarantees the eternal Hereafter life for you, such that in those assigned times you would have nothing else to do, and the heart could have no other attachments that might rival the Salat , and the heart can be prepared and made present with ease.

Now I am going to relate some of the Hadiths about the conditions of the infallibles [the Imāms] (' a ), as needs be, so that contemplating their conditions may lead to being awake, and perhaps the importance of the situation and seriousness of the state can be recognized by the heart and it can be awakened from its sleep of negligence.