"They (Mulla Sadra and the Sufis) have been mistaken.
They have taken the effulgence of the Essence upon the existences to be the
very being of God. That is why they have erred when they say that the realities
are fixed in the essence. And this they have said to establish the knowledge of
God. They say that the Reality of existence is simple to establish the
causality of the essence; and they speak of the relation between the Essence
and the acts and attributes, and the unity of existence between the Creator and
the created. But all this, for the people of God, is naught but absolute
association...Even as God hath no need for another besides Himself, likewise He
hath no need in His knowledge for the existence of objects of knowledge. In
truth, the Essence hath no connection with anything. Verily, the cause of the
contingent existences is one creation of God, and it is the Will. God created
the Will, from itself without a fire coming to it from the Divine Essence. All
of the existences were created by the intermediary of this Will, and this Will
always telleth of God's own being and reflecteth nothing but Him. In the
contingent existences, however, there is not a single sign which demonstrateth
the essence of God, for the Reality of God alienateth all of the contingent
existences from His knowledge and the Essence of God rendereth impossible
comprehension by all the essences. In truth, the relation of the Will with God
is like that of the House (the Ka'bih) with the Supreme Being. This relation is
a relation of honour for the creature, but not for the essence, for God is
pure."
- The Báb (From Risaliy-i-Dhahabiyyih, provisionally translated by
Keven Brown from Nicholas' French translation in Le Beyan Arabe, pp. 10-12)
