by Wahid Azal, Ecclesia Gnostica Bayani Universalis

In the Usul min al-Kafi, the great 10th-century Shia hadith collection by Kulayni, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq is recorded saying: "the first thing the Godhead created was the Intelligence." This statement, deceptively simple, became the seedbed of a vast tradition of Isma'ili, Sufi, and esoteric Islamic philosophy equating the cosmic Intelligence (al-'aql) with the Pen (al-qalam), the Plotinian Nous, the Zoroastrian Vohuman, the Hermetic Poimandres, and the Logos of the Gospel of John.

Wahid Azal (also known as Nima Wahid Azal), the principal figure of the Ecclesia Gnostica Bayani Universalis and a prolific presence in early 2000s alt.religion.bahai and alt.religion.gnostic, was an Azali Babi — a follower of the Bayani lineage that rejected Baha'u'llah and remained with Subh-i-Azal. This 2005 post is a formal theological commentary (tafsir) written in the high register of classical Islamic religious discourse, complete with Arabic phrases, Quranic citations, and hadiths from the Shia Imams.

Azal's argument is dense: the Intelligence is the Primal Will that pervades all things; the outward Imam is the human theophany of that inward Intelligence; to know the Imam is to know one's own Celestial Self, one's Angel; and the path from exoteric religion to gnosis ('irfan) is the path from blind emulation (taqlid) to self-knowledge. The climax of the commentary invokes Imam Hasan II of Alamut — the Isma'ili Imam who proclaimed the Qiyama, the spiritual resurrection — as the paradigm of the Imam-of-One's-Being. A rare primary document of contemporary Bayani theology.

Hu

In the Name of the Godhead the Compassionate, the Merciful!

Glory be upon the Splendor of the Godhead as is truly worthy of It who created the Intelligence (al-'aql), which is the Pen (al-qalam), before all-things came into existence, and in each Age manifested a First Proof (hujjat'il-awwali) for this Intelligence to the Worlds to the end that the True Upright Religion (din al-qayyim al-haqq), which is the Pure Religion (din al-khalis), that is gnosis ('irfan), may be distinguished from the false religion of the dark trickster, the accursed satan (shaytan al-la'in), whose religion is the religion of exotericism and ignorance (din al-zahir wa'l-jahl), and thus the dirty religion (din al-kathif), which is the religion of blind emulation (taqlid) and fear (din al-khawf), leading the unguarded astray on the paths of its darkness and falsehoods.

As for the matter at hand (amma ba'd): It hath been queried from this servant of the Truly Real ('abd al-haqq) regarding the statements of the Sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (upon Him be the Peace) and the other Pure Imams of Righteousness (upon them all be the Peace) as recorded in the Usul min al-Kafi (The Foundations of Sufficiency) compiled by Kulayni regarding the Intelligence (al-'aql) and as to its inner meaning.

Know ye, first, that there are infinite stations as to the meaning of the Intelligence (al-'aql). Yet the cipher most well known in the Book (al-kitab, i.e. Qur'an) relating to this Intelligence is the Pen (al-qalam), which is the first thing the Godhead created in the worlds of Its Praeternity ('awwalim azaliyatihi), that which writeth the destiny of all things upon the Well-Guarded Tablet of pre-creation (lawh al-mahfuz), for It is stated in the hadith qudsi (extra-Quranic statement of the Godhead) issuing forth from the tongue of the Prophet of the Godhead (peace and salutations be upon Him), "the first thing the Godhead created was the Intelligence (awwal ma khalaqa'Llah al-'aql)." But these are enigmatic ciphers, the universal synthetic meanings of which are only apprehended by those who have witnessed and thus seen this Intelligence with the faculty of the inner Light (nur al-batin), which is the Truth (al-haqq), "in the horizons and in themselves...(fi afaq wa anfusihim)."

But in its first station of apprehension we say that this Intelligence hath manifested in the Talisman (haykal) of the Proof (hujjah), who is the Imam, who is the Face of the Godhead (wajh'ullah), and thus the first thing the light of which the Godhead created in praeternity, for in the world of terrestriality the Imam is the Outward Proof (hujja zahira) while the Intelligence (al-'aql) is eternally already always the Inward Proof (hujja batina) in the worlds of celestiality which pervades also the worlds of terrestriality.

So this first thing created in praeternity is not the mere outward exoteric husk and human form of the reality of the Proof and Imam. Rather it is the Universal Synthetic Reality of the secreted innermost interior secret (sirr al-sirr al-mustansir) of the Proof and Imam, which is this Praeternal Intelligence which is the Primal Will (mashiyya awwal) that pervades the reality of all-things (kullu shay'). Thus hath it been stated by the 6th Imam that "...whomsoever hath no Intelligence hath no religion even if they manifest from themselves every act of outward piety and unceasingly offer worship day and night," in so far as the True Religion (din al-haqq) is the manifestation of the Intelligence (al-'aql), the Primal Will, and vice versa.

And the exoteric religious scholars and those in authority amongst the religions (ulu al-amr min al-adyan) — those who in all ages have dressed themselves in the garment of religion (hummu'l-alladhi multabis bi-libas al-din) as a craft and occupation — have led many astray by not disclosing the truth of this Truth. And just as without the Intelligence there can be no True Religion, so too the apprehension of the Book cannot be apprehended without the Speaker (al-natiq), who is the Imam and the manifestation of the Intelligence (mazhar al-'aql), because for every Silent Book (kitab al-samit) there is a Speaking Book (kitab al-natiq), and the two are inseparable, for one cannot exist without the other as this is the balance (mizan) of creation (al-khalq) and the Balance of the Godhead (mizan min 'ind Allah) Itself to the worlds. Without the True Imam the Book has no true Reality, and without the Book there is no Imam, for the very animating Intelligence of the Book is the Imam, who is the Speaking Book (i.e. logos). Thus hath the Godhead left a Proof (hujja) amongst the People of Guidance (ahl al-hidaya) in all times and in all ages, a Proof who is the Imam and the Speaker of the Book, without which the Path to the True Religion (tariq li-din al-haqq), which is gnosis ('irfan), cannot be known or be manifested.

The Intelligence in Persian and Greek Thought

Know ye that amongst the Persians and the Greeks this Intelligence (al-'aql) is signified with such terms as Vohuman and Nous. And in the parable of the Poimandres, the Imam of Imams, the Thrice Great Hermes (idris thalathati'l-kabir), hath indicated in the allegory of this parable the meaning of the Intelligence, the Nous, and how It is the Inward Proof (hujja batina) who is the very manifestation of the Mind (al-'aql) of the Sage and Imam Hermes Himself (peace and salutations be upon Him).

Thus hath the meaning of this Intelligence now been made evident, for this Intelligence is indeed the Hiero-Intelligence (nous), the faculty of apprehension which is universally synthetic and inclusive of both ratiocination as well as noesis, the first thing the Godhead created in praeternity, which is the Primal Will that pervades the realities of all-things, both inward and outward; this, for Its two Names are the Outward (al-zahir) and the Inward (al-batin) which manifests in the letters of HU as the letter ha' (the outward) and the letter waw (the inward) (= 11), i.e. the Greatest Name (ism al-a'zam).

The Imam of One's Being

And this is the meaning of which the Imam of the Resurrection at Alamut, Hassan II ('ala dhikirihi salam / upon His Remembrance be Peace), spoke of when He spoke of the realization of the Imam-of-One's-Being, for the Imam-of-One's-Being is this Hiero-Intelligence (vohuman, nous, 'aql) pervading all-things which is indicated in the parable of the Poimandres as the Mind revealing Itself to the Thrice Great Imam Hermes, which is the animated substrate of the noetic essence of Himself, since we said that the Inward Proof (hujja batina) is the Intelligence (al-'aql) just as the Outward Proof (hujja zahira) is the Imam.

Hence, whomsoever hath known their Outward Proof — whose function is that of the Divine Mirror (mirat al-ilahi) leading to the Universal Synthetic Reality of Divinity — hath indeed known their Inward Proof, which is themselves; or, rather, their Self (nafs, anima), which is their Celestial Reality (haqiqati'l-'illiyyiniyya lahum), their Angel, which is manifested as the self-disclosive theophany of the Word specific to them (al-kalima alladhi ikhtisas bi-him) which is their remembrance (dhikr-mantra) effused forth from the essence of the Proof, the Face of the Godhead (wajh'ullah), as a proof (al-hujja), for the Imam is at all times the very theophany (tajjali) of this Remembrance (dhikr) who is the Intelligence (al-'aql) and thus the outward manifestation of the Archangel (malak), for it is written in the Surah of the Pen (surat'il-qalam 68), "Nun and by the Pen and that which they write (nun wa qalam wa ma yastarun)."

The Imam is thus the Pen (al-qalam) whose inward reality is the Archangel indicated as Nun (the letter 'n', i.e. malik al-nun), the first word of the surah, who writeth the destiny of all-things upon the pearly snow-white Tablet of Destiny (lawh al-mahfuz), and who is this Intelligence, the Primal Will, the inner reality of that which animates the heavens, the earth and what is between them.

"And the Intelligence (al-'aql) is the True Upright Religion (din al-qayyim al-haqq)...[and] without the Intelligence (al-'aql) there is no True Religion [= 'irfan/gnosis]." — Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Usul min al-Kafi, vol. 1.

Thus do We disclose the sublimities of gnosis to the people, but only the Wise shall comprehend them. And no power and no strength is there save in the Godhead, the High, the Mighty, the Dearly Precious, the Best Beloved!

Colophon

Written by Wahid Azal (also known as Nima Wahid Azal), Ecclesia Gnostica Bayani Universalis, Eastern Coast, Australia. Posted on December 7, 2005 (15th day of the month of Qawl of the Bayani year 155 solar / 161 years from the Bayani Mission). Cross-posted to talk.religion.bahai, soc.culture.iranian, alt.religion.bahai, and alt.religion.gnostic. Azal was the principal figure of the Azali Bayani lineage online, a prolific commentator on Babi esotericism, Isma'ili gnosis, and Hermetic philosophy throughout the 2000s.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: <[email protected]>.

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