Welcome to F.I.E.L.D.- the First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database.

07. What is the Sea the Shores of Which are Knowledge

The author then takes up the interpretation of the Xth question : What is the sea the shores of which are knowledge, and what is the precious matter it contains ? (1) (p. 15). The sea is the nature of man, turbulent and dangerous, and the salvation-bringing shore is the religion of the Imam, bringing the Divine help, inayat, and the aim, nihayat, to its existence. Light and darkness are the spirit and the matter (p. 16). In some individuals one of these elements is prevailing, in the other the opposite, but both are inseparable (p. 17).
We may give here a complete translation of an extract which maybe regarded as typical, and contains more of the author's own ideas than those of the GR (2) (p. 17).
GR. Read the hadith " I was a hidden treasure,"
If thou wantst to know the mystery.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. This particular chapter is quoted in E. Browne's Lit. Hist. of
Persia, loc. cit., from Whinfield's translation.
2. Pp. 17-19:


Back to top