In the name of Allāh, the Beneficent, the Merciful andblessings and salutations be upon our master,Muhammad, and his family. Praise be to Allāh to Whomno one is comparable, and may Allāh bless ourmaster, Muhammad – who has no shadow – his family,his companions among the Ansār and the Muhājirūn, all the prophets and saints,and their followers.

Now this extremely short treatise which we have namedSirr al-Asrār (theSecret of Secrets) will be beneficial if Allāh, theExalted, wills to those who possess insight andvision. Know, o my brother; may Allāh, the Exalted,grant you and us good fortune; that the gnostic(‘ārif) travellingupon the Ṣūfī path who has self-control must knowthat Allāh is with him wherever he is in accordancewith the words of Allāh, the Exalted, “The highestfaith of a person is to know that Allāh is with himwherever he may be.”

Likewise, he must also know the Real One (al-H̟ aqq), may He beglorified and exalted, encompasses everything as He,the Exalted, declares,“and indeed God encompasseseverything.”

If you consider how Allāh, may He be glorified andexalted, can be with us while He encompasses us atthe same time; and what the manner of thataccompaniment (mā‘iyyah) and that encompassing are, itbecomes difficult to comprehend that in our minds.Therefore, how will we accomplish the mysticintuitive knowledge (ma‘rifah) with regard to His Realitywhen there is nothing comparable to Him, may He beglorified and exalted, although He is the One toWhom everything belongs, because Allāh has nolimitation, no direction, no restriction, noequivalent, and no resemblance although He ismanifested in the totality of existence and with thetotality? It has been affirmed through theirstatement that He is unlike anything that the mindimagines or the understanding encompasses, or thatwhich comes to mind. We have limitations,directions, restrictions, equivalents andresemblances. So how much more incomprehensible isthe form relating to “accompaniment” with us; and,with respect to “encompassing” us, to us!

I declare that whatever I have stated is true, thoughthe knowledge of that is incumbent on us purely onthe basis of that faith alone, and reason does nothave the means to affirm that. So understandthat.