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| Foreword | |
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| Translator's Introduction | |
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| Editor's Introduction | |
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| Attraction to the invisible world is in man's primordial nature | |
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| The Straight Path means a combination of exoterism and esoterism | |
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| The Holy Qur'an calls for purification along with intellection | |
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| Mulla Sadra's recommendation for humility of the heart and acquiring intellectual sciences | |
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| The chain of gnostics during the last hundred years | |
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| Reasons and motivations for compilation of this treatise | |
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| Kernel of the Kernel | |
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| The human being in the darkness of materialism | |
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| Wayfaring and spiritual journey according to the gnostics | |
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| Difficulties in passing through the intermediate world and the realm of multiplicity of the soul | |
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| The spiritual traveler entering the realm of spirit | |
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| The goal of the traveler is companionship with God and His Image | |
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| Muraqabah, its stages, and effects | |
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| The meaning of wine (mey) according to gnostics | |
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| The traveler observes his own soul | |
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| The traveler observes Divine Names and Attributes | |
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| Immersion in the Divine Essence of the Lord and subsistence in the Worshiped | |
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| The station of being present in the world of multiplicity while simultaneously witnessing and experiencing the realms of Divine Lordship | |
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| Reasons why not everyone can reach the station of human perfection | |
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| The inability of words to describe the realities of the lights of catharsis and the Realms of Divine Lordship | |
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| The world of sincerity (khulus) and its hierarchy | |
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| Peculiarities and manifestations of sincerity of essence (khulus-i dhati) | |
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| Freedom from the world of multiplicity is one of the first and most essential necessities of spiritual journey | |
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| One's detachment from one's essence | |
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| The need for Divine Grace for total victory in the struggle against the carnal soul | |
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| The necessity of observing all religious duties throughout spiritual journey | |
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| Observing religious duties by the Perfect Man is by virtue of perfection, and not for finding proximity to God | |
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| Brief description of the realms preceding the realm of sincerity (khulus) according to Qur'an | |
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| Description of the Realms Preceding the Realm of Khulus | |
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| The Greater Islam (Islam-i Akbar) | |
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| The Greater Faith (Iman-i-Akbar) | |
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| The Greater Migration (Hijrat-i Kubra) | |
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| The Greater Spiritual Struggle (Jihad-i Akbar) | |
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| The Greatest Submission (Islam-i a'azam) | |
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| The Greatest Faith (Iman-i a'azam) | |
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| The Greatest Migration (Hijrat-i'uzma) and the Greatest Spiritual Struggle (Jihad-i a'azam) | |
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| Choosing to Die | |
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| Explanation: Special privileges granted to Muslim spiritual travelers over travelers of of previous religions | |
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| The Station of Righteousness (Suluh) | |
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| Different kinds of righteousness (Salah) | |
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| Undifferentiated Description of the Path and Methods of Wayfaring Toward God | |
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| The necessity to seek reason to prove the truth of religion | |
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| The effects of lamentation and pleading to God with humility to find faith in the World of Meaning | |
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| Conversation between the prophet Hadrat-i Idris with 'Allamah Tabataba'i in a dream | |
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| God will guide those who search guidance from Him with sincerity and purity of heart | |
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| Knowledge and action complement each other | |
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| The necessity of having bodily organs share the joy of faith | |
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| The absence of sadness and fear for the selfless traveler | |
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| Wayfaring in the Angelical Kingdom is not in contradiction with being in this world | |
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| Prayers and supplications of the Shi'ite Imams were not merely for guiding and teaching purposes | |
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| Differentiated Description of the Path and Methods of Wayfaring Toward God | |
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| The necessary conditions for spiritual journey | |
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| Abandoning conventionalism, habitual practices, and formalities | |
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| Steadfastness | |
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| Tolerance and forbearance | |
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| Loyalty | |
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| Stability and perseverance | |
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| Constant attention | |
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| One's accounting one's inward state | |
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| Self-condemnation | |
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| Expeditious action | |
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| Devotion | |
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| Observing proper manners | |
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| Intention | |
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| Silence | |
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| Abstaining from indulgence in food consumption | |
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| Spiritual retreat | |
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| Morning wakefulness | |
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| Perpetual ritual cleanliness | |
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| Constant expression of humility | |
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| Avoiding appetite and worldly pleasure | |
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| Guarding and protecting the secrets and mysteries of the path | |
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| Spiritual teacher and master | |
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| Litany and supplication | |
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| Control of mind, thoughts, and other mental preoccupations | |
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| Invocation | |
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| Meditation | |
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| Methods for control of mind and thoughts in the treatise attributed to Ayatullah Sayyid Mahdi (ibn Murtada ibn Muhammad) Bahr al-'Ulum | |
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| Methods used by the late Akhund Mulla Husayn-Quli Hamadani | |
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| Stages of muraqabah | |
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| On the chain of the author's spiritual teachers and masters in Divine sciences | |
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| The opening of the fourfold realms of tawhid before one's soul as a result of muraqabah and concentration on the soul | |
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| What do the gnostics mean by Griffin ('Anqa) and (Simurgh) | |
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| Poems by Hafiz alluding to the station of the Essence of the Invisible of all invisibles | |
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| Index of Qur'anic Verses | |
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| Index of Ahadith | |
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| Index of Quotations of the Sayings of the Shi'ite Imams | |
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| Notes on Saints, Scholars, and Authors Cited in the Text | |
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| General Index | |