The Heavenly Sign — Page 20
20 Nish a n-e- A sm a n i understand from the Hadith: 20 quoted by Ibni M a ja and Ha kam, that only he can attain the perfect status of Mahdi as who has first become ‘ I s a a s. This means that when a person becomes so perfect in devotion to Allah, that he become a pure soul, only then does he become ' R u hullah' in the sight of Allah and is known in heaven by the name of ‘ I s a as. God Almighty bestows upon him a spiritual birth, which is purely by His Grace and not through a corporeal father. To be so completely free from all kinds of darkness of the corporeal self, as to become soul incorporeal, is the consummation of self-purification and self-annihilation for the sake of Allah. This is the state of ‘ I swiyyat which Allah bestows to perfection upon whomever He pleases. And the highest stage of Dajj a liyyat , according to: 21 is that a person becomes progressively more and more inclined towards mundane desires till he falls into the abyss of darkness and becomes darkness itself. He acquires a natural amity with darkness and an innate antagonism to light. The existence of Dajj a liyyat, as opposed to ‘ I swiyyat , is imperative, because opposites can only be recognized by contrast. These opposites have 20 Mahdi is none other than ‘ I s a as. [Translator] 21 …he inclined to the earth… —Al-A‘r a f, 7:177 [Translator]