Allah has crowned him with dignity and has enveloped him...

Allah has crowned him with dignity and has enveloped him with the Light of His Might. He makes a rope to stretch up to heaven, whose provisions are not cut off from him. Nothing can be obtained from what is with Allah except by means of him, nor does Allah accepts the good deeds of His creatures except through their recognition of him. Thus, he knows (with certainty) what reaches him of the ambiguities of darkness, the obscurities of the paths and the complications of the disturbances.

Allah, the Blessed, the Sublime, has not ceased to select them for His creatures from the sons of al-Husain (as) after each Imam. He prefers them for this and chooses them, He approves them for His creatures and is well pleased with them. Whenever one Imam from them passes away, He sets up an Imam after him for His creatures, as an evident sign, a brilliant light, a custodian leader (Imam) and a knowledgeable Proof.

They are Imams from Allah, who guide to the truth and by it act with justice[^3] They are the Proofs of Allah, the callers to Him and His shepherds for His creatures through whose guidance the people practice the religion. Places of habitation are lit up by their light, what they (people) have from old is revived through their blessing (increase, Barakah). Allah has made them life for the created beings, lamps for the darkness, keys for speech and pillars for Islam.

Allah’s determining for them occurred in this way with certainty. Thus, the Imam is the one who is selected and approved; the guide, the one entrusted (by Him); the upholder, the one in whom there is hope. Allah has preferred him in this way and has formed him in His sight, in the (world of) scattering when He scattered him, and in the (world of) fashioned things when He fashioned him.

He was a Zill before the creation of any living thing, on the right side of His throne, being gifted with wisdom because of the hidden knowledge which was with Him. Allah has selected him (through) His knowledge, and has chosen him for His purity. The Imam is what remains of Adam, the best of the seed of Nuh, the preferred one from the progeny of Ibrahim, the descendant of Ismail and the elite of the relatives of Muhammad (s.a.w.s.).

He does not cease to be watched over in the sight of Allah; He protects him and guards him with His covering, being kept far from the net of Iblees and his hordes; the gathering darkness and the blowings of every evil-doer is repelled from him, and he is free from any physical defect.